Now on ScienceBlogs: Let the War on Christmas being. Atheist style.
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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The questions of immortality of the soul and freedom of the will, though they have called forth libraries of controversial literature, continue to appear not only utterly beyond any possibility of satisfactory proof but, instead, trivial in being so definitely personal, once the principle of an all-pervading and ordering force is accepted. And the conception of a God so constituted that we are, as individuals, of direct concern to Him appears both presumptuous — considering our individual insignificance in the scheme as a whole — and unnecessary for that feeling of helpless reverence in face of the universal order which is the essence of religious experience. Moreover, paleontologically considered, one would have to assume that such a 'personal' God existed long before the evolution of man. 'Why did He wait so long to create man?' asked Diderot. Yet reward, punishment, immortality of the soul in the theological sense, could have no meaning whatever until there had developed creatures possessing a nervous organization capable of abstract thinking and of spiritual suffering. One cannot imagine such a God occupied through millions of years, up to the Pleistocene, with personal supervision, reward and punishment, of amoebae, clams, fish, dinosaurs, and sabre-toothed tigers; then, suddenly, adjusting His own systems and purposes to the capacities of the man-ape He had allowed to develop.
[Hans Zinsser, As I Remember Him]
July 31, 2006
Category: Carnivals
The carnivals du jour: Circus of the Spineless XI Encephalon #3 Again, this is also an open thread. I got a comment on the last one that more open threads are needed. Is that true? I don't need to go...
Posted by PZ Myers at 4:25 PM • 38 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Reproduction
Suddenly, the FDA has decided to allow over-the-counter sales of the Plan B contraceptive. They've imposed an age restriction—you must be 18 or over to buy it—but it's a smart move in the right direction, and it's about time....
Posted by PZ Myers at 3:34 PM • 36 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science
The other day, I was asked a simple question that I knew the answer to, right off the top of my head, and since I'm nothing but lazy and lovin' the easy stuff, I thought I'd expand on it...
Posted by PZ Myers at 3:00 PM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Creationism
Catch 'em quick before they get deleted. In a post on Dembski's blog that is discussing their Kansas ad campaign to falsely portray the IDist's efforts as solely about teaching good science, there are a couple of interesting comments. Keep...
Posted by PZ Myers at 1:15 PM • 25 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Organisms
A reader discovered this fascinating graffiti in downtown Minneapolis, near the transit center on Hennepin Avenue. In Minneapolis! So far from the sea, but I'm not alone in pining for it. I may have to look this up. This is...
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:49 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Creationism
John Rennie deconstructs an IDist's own definition of Intelligent Design. Here's that definition: ID is the claim that there exist patterns in nature that are best explained by intelligent agency. ID doesn't claim to be a default explanation. It is...
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:34 AM • 23 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Organisms
There is now a web page dedicated to the Neoceratodus cause. If you haven't yet fired off a letter to oppose the destruction of the lungfish's habitat, there's a sample letter there to help you get started. It's not too...
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:27 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Godlessness
What an excellent demonstration of the importance of the principle of the separation of church and state: here's a conservative Christian minister whose views on society and politics I find thoroughly odious; here's a liberal Christian with whom I'd be...
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:03 AM • 49 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 30, 2006
Category: Science
Carel Brest van Kempen has posted one of his paintings of Cambrian animals—be sure to click on it to get the larger size. I wish I had a pet anomalocarid in my aquarium....
Posted by PZ Myers at 3:59 PM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Personal
I'm an exceptionally sound sleeper. I've been known to snooze through fire alarms....
Posted by PZ Myers at 2:47 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
PZ Myers 11.19.2009
Tim Lambert 11.22.2009
PZ Myers 11.19.2009
Tim Lambert 11.18.2009
Ed Brayton 11.19.2009
