A while back, at dinner, I made my usual complaint that Slacktivist doesn’t get enough attention. Kate expressed some doubts, because he certainly seems to have a large number of readers and commenters. The problem is, it’s not read by the people who really need to be reading it, and today provides an excellent example. […]
Category: Religion
Colbert, Atheists, and Hermaphrodites
Comedy Central is re-playing Friday’s episodes of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, which includes Stephen Colbert’s interview with Lori Lippman Brown of the Secular Coalition for America. It’s interesting to see that she doesn’t really fare any better than any of the religious nutjobs he’s had on in his various interview segments, in […]
Proportionate Response
I was just saying at dinner that I didn’t think there was anything interesting to say in response to the whole “cracker” kerfuffle. Then I got home, and saw Daniel Davies’s post, which is too good not to link. My hat’s off to him. No, I’m not going to quote what he said– it’s short, […]
An Ethical Dialogue
Just before we turn the corner, a woman goes jogging past with a Golden Retriever. As we continue on our way, I can hear the Doberman three houses up barking at them as they go past. The windows muffle the sound, but I can make out a bit of it. “Get offa my lawn! Gonna […]
Science-and-Religion Links Dump
I did a few of these a while back, and then, as usual, sort of stopped posting on the subject. There are a limited number of articles on science, religion, and culture wars that actually catch and hold my interest, so it’s hard to populate a regular links dump. Of course, I could always just […]
Torture Is Wrong
Fred Clark of Slacktivist points to the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and specifically their Banners Across America project: NRCAT is making June the month for Banners Across America! We are asking congregations of all sizes, from every state, and all faiths, to join in a public witness against torture by displaying a banner outside […]
Religion, Happiness, and History
Kevin Drum wades into a discussion over a claim that religion leads to happiness (started by Will Wilkinson and picked up by Ross Douthat), and offers an alternate theory for why religious people are happier in America by unhappier in Europe: This is way outside my wheelhouse, but here’s another possibility: Europe has suffered through […]
This Sentence Is Scientific
Here is a statement: The Red Sox are the greatest single franchise in any sport in history. Is this a scientific statement? Should it be? How can you tell whether it’s scientific or not?
Scientists Don’t Have to Do Everything Themselves
The Mad Biologist, like 80% of ScienceBlogs, is mad at Chris Mooney: Here’s the problem: you keep coming to evolutionary biologists with a problem (the perception of evolutionary biology), and you don’t have a solution. Do you think there’s a single evolutionary biologist who is happy with public opinion regarding evolution and creationism? But you’re […]
God and Physics
Via the Zeitgeist, the Templeton Foundation has asked a bunch of famous smart people “Does science make belief in God obsolete?” I wouldn’t ordinarily note this, but if you scroll down a little, you’ll find my thesis advisor, Bill Phillips, who offers an “Absolutely Not!”: [A] scientist can believe in God because such belief is […]