pharyngula

Salon has a peculiarly defensive article by a Christian confessing to being embarrassed about her beliefs, which seems like a good start to me. She should be embarrassed. As a fun exercise, though, try reading her article while categorizing its statements in the Kübler-Ross stages — there's a bit…

It's a little known disturbing fact that the Mormons have a set of prophecies that foretell that the Mormons will take over the leadership of the US. A candidate for the governor of Idaho has brought this out into the open — he's having meetings to talk about saving America by having the Mormon…

Wow, we're surrounded now. When will the US follow suit and join Mexico City in the 21st century? That article has other interesting information: Uruguay has legalized civil unions throughout the country, and several cities scattered throughout South America have done likewise. Good for Latin…

I live in Minnesota; Tim Pawlenty is our governor, and he's got his bland and uninteresting gaze fastened on the White House. Don't be fooled. He's just another Republican hack who has been drifting ever right-ward towards increasing lunacy. He was interviewed in Newsweek, and this will give you an…

My godlessness is shaken to the core by this miraculous manifestation of the madonna. I think she's sending a message to the pope.

People are already talking about Garrison Keillor's ghastly opinion piece, the one that basically revels in anti-semitism and preaches that only a select few are allowed to enjoy Christmas. Unitarians listen to the Inner Voice and so they have no creed that they all stand up and recite in unison,…

Seriously? The Vatican has just declared the Pope a legally protected icon. Don't you dare use it in a cartoon, you vandals, or slap the holy name up on your soap-on-a-rope to gin up extra sales from the gullible. The Vatican made a declaration on the protection of the figure of the Pope on…

Richard Dawkins will be interviewed on Australian TV tonight, at 8pm. Since the news down under is full of this nonsense about the canonization of Mary McKillop, I hope they'll talk about that madness, and that Dawkins will introduce a little reason into the media.

We just have our own special traditions. I love the phylogenetic tree. They left out roasting creationist chestnuts over an open fire, though, and the wild monkey sex.

Every time a religious nitwit says something stupid, you turn around and another one has topped him. The head of the Catholic Church in Australia, Cardinal Pell, endorses cancer quackery. "Yes obviously (cancer can be cured by prayer)," Cardinal Pell told ABC Television on Monday. "And there are…

It's coming up on the end of another year, so of course we need top ten lists. I'm impressed with the ambition of The Onion, which reports on the Top 10 Stories of the Last 4.5 Billion Years. My favorites are Woman Domesticated, Evolution Going Great, Reports Trilobite, Fire, Setting Everything in…

Probably not safe for work. But you're not working now, are you?

What kind of idiot decided to put this poll on CNN? Should information about women who get abortions be posted online? No 93% Yes 7% What kind of information are they thinking of? Home addresses, phone numbers, that sort of thing? If you read the associated article, you discover that an even…

Well, this is an odd project: Though the Bible is an ancient book, full of beautiful prose, timeless stories, and great truths, there has long been a barely spoken of dissatisfaction over the one element it sorely lacks: zombies. At Zombible, we hope to remedy the situation by carefully inserting…

Here's the entire known universe in 6 minutes:

Isn't this what the global warming debate is actually all about?

The Joliet Jackhammers, a baseball team in Illinois, have put up an interesting sign to get people to buy tickets. Some people are unhappy and want it taken down. "It's in very poor taste," Councilwoman Jan Hallums Quillman said. "To have God tell you to buy tickets? Give me a break." I wonder if…

Sepia sp. Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

Once upon a time, in vague exasperation at a persistent creationist, I opened up two of his questions to the Pharynguloid horde in a contest to see who could answer them most clearly and succinctly. I shouldn't have done this; I'm lazy, and this was too much like grading term papers. Still, there…

Since we're arguing over global warming this week, I thought I'd post a commentary piece that was published in the Morris newspaper this week, by my colleague Pete Wyckoff. Pete is our local tree and climate expert, who works in both the biology and environmental studies discipline, and is very…

Unfortunately, he still doesn't understand the gist of our complaint, but he does clarify a few issues. I do not, and did not, deny the established fact -- arrived at by extensive scientific research -- that average global temperatures have increased by a bit less than one Celsius degree. My…

We will never be able to stop this approach. We're doomed! Unless…we start touting beer and porn as the products of evolution. Get to work on it, gang.

A judge in that hotbed of liberal godlessness, Arkansas, recently decided that atheists have just as much right to publicly discuss their ideas as theists. Isn't that nice? So of course the local newspapers have to put up a poll to find out how unhappy that makes their subscribers. A judge ruled in…

It's not just crackers; they freak out over Mary's virginity. A New Zealand church put up this provocative billboard to get people to discuss the absurdity of literalism: The Catholic Church condemned it as "inappropriate" and "disrespectful." I think it's funny (although it is based on an old…

At least to me, this poll in the Baltimore Sun looks like a no-brainer. Which would imply that 59% of the people in Maryland have no brains. Think of the zombies, and do something to correct this problem! Recognizing same-sex marriage The D.C. City Council voted Tuesday to allow same-sex marriage,…

Mr Deity accidentally calls Pat Robertson…do NOT tease the zealots. Listen to the whole thing for his apology for the last episode — I think he felt a little heat.

That's what he says, anyway: he's put out a desperate call for mo' money because he is under a "demonically inspired financial attack". His ministry is facing a $3 million dollar shortfall. Coincidentally, he also had to make a big payout of $3.1 to the family of a two-year-old who was spanked to…