Over at Physics and Physicists, ZapperZ notes a fairly useless interview with Guy Consolmagno, and suggests some alternative questions: 1. How old do you estimate the universe to be based not only on your observation, but also the consensus among astronomers? Would this be contrary to the biblical interpretation on the age of the universe?… Continue reading What the Pope’s Astronomer Thinks
Category: Religion
Joshua Rosenau Deserves a Medal
I’ve grown thoroughly disgusted with most of the science-vs-religion stuff in blogdom, mostly because my views on the matter are kind of moderate, and don’t fit well with the rather extreme positions taken by most of the bloggers and commenters who focus on this issue. This dooms me to either being ignored, or called names… Continue reading Joshua Rosenau Deserves a Medal
Using Analogies on the Internet Is Like Doing a Really Futile Thing
Josh Rosenau is thinking from California about the role of analogy and metaphor in arguments. This follows from a series of posts arguing with Jerry Coyne et al. about the usual science vs. religion stuff. The analogy thing comes in because in the first post, he made reference to Slacktivist’s excellent post about vampires and… Continue reading Using Analogies on the Internet Is Like Doing a Really Futile Thing
Notes Toward a Unified Theory of Political Blogging
Theorem: The worthiness of a blog post on a political or social topic is inversely proportional to the number of times derisive nicknames are used to refer to the author’s opponents.
The Speed of God
Over in Twitter-land, Eric Weinstein is visiting the AMNH at the same time as a bunch of Orthodox Jews, and takes the opportunity for a little Q&A: Me: Excuse me, but how is the phylogenetic tree reconciled with Torah. Modern Orthodox Man: Lorentzian time dilation. It’s a head hurter. This is an interesting attempt to… Continue reading The Speed of God
Religion Leads to Education
There’s an interesting report at Inside Higher Ed today on a study of religiosity and college. Some of the results will probably come as a surprise to many people around ScienceBlogs: # The odds of going to college increase for high school students who attend religious services more frequently or who view religion as more… Continue reading Religion Leads to Education
Rationality Stops on Sunday
I am a fan of the New York Giants. I believe that they can win every game they play. I hope that they will win every game that they play. I get emotionally involved in their games to such a degree that my heart pounds and I get short of breath when they face a… Continue reading Rationality Stops on Sunday
Genesis 11:1-9 (Slight Variation)
A reading from the Book of Genesis: 1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to,… Continue reading Genesis 11:1-9 (Slight Variation)
On Accommodationism
Chris Mooney has an explanation of the “accommodationist” position that deserves better than to be buried in a Links Dump: I don’t see a need to pry into how each individual is dealing with these complicated and personal matters of constructing a coherent worldview. Rather, from a political and public perspective, I want them all… Continue reading On Accommodationism
Why the Silent Majority Is Silent
Chris Mooney has found new digs, and, revitalized by the more congenial atmosphere, has been taking up the science vs. religion fight again. Yesterday, he had a post asking what can be done to get moderate scientists more involved in the argument over whether science and religion can coexist: At the same time, though, let’s… Continue reading Why the Silent Majority Is Silent