pharyngula

Atheists are familiar with the Grandma Gambit — it's a common tactic used to shut us up. We're told to keep quiet because our dear sweet devout Grandma couldn't possibly deal with the news; it would break her heart and you wouldn't want to do that, would you? What kind of callous rat would hurt a…

Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Mormon Church has made some interesting remarks. In an interview Monday before the speech, Oaks said he did not consider it provocative to compare the treatment of Mormons in the election's aftermath to that of blacks in the civil rights era, and said he stands by the…

There's one thing that could make this video funnier. It would be Bill Donohue waxing apoplectic over that video. Hallelujah! My prayers are answered! Comedian Sarah Silverman appeared on Bill Maher's HBO show on October 9 attacking the Vatican. She began her monologue bemoaning the plight of…

Wow. I was in Lewiston, Maine, just a few weeks ago, and look what kind of effect my brief visit had: several of the Catholic churches in the area have simply expired. I was there, then this happened, therefore I must have caused it. Anyone want to buy me a plane ticket to Vatican City?

I am astounded. Usually AiG simply refers to me as "the Professor" or "the atheist", but in their latest screed they actually mention me by name…and they even spell it correctly! Of course, they get everything else wrong. A well-known University of Minnesota-Morris professor who has a history of…

Barbara Bradley Hagerty felt obligated to go find some rambunctious New Atheist for her series on religion on NPR, and guess who she scavenged up? Yeah, me. Just got off the phone. You'll have to listen for it sometime on Thursday morning to find out what I said. I might get some more hate mail…

The Secular Student Alliance is growing faster than their income, but that could change. They just got a generous offer from a donor to provide matching funds, up to $50,000, so you can guess what they're up to now: funding drive! They're looking for more people willing to cough up a few bucks,…

Perhaps you are a scientist. And perhaps you have wondered how badly the popular press could possibly mangle your research. Wonder no more: we have discovered a new maximum. Behold this research summary in The Daily Galaxy, and be amazed! It's about a paper in the ACS Journal of Physical Chemistry…

I woke up this morning after a poor night's rest, with a surly brain and tired eyes, and what do I behold as I scan through the last few day's worth of email? Stories of faith that piss me off. So allow me to purge my demons by slapping around a few religious goofballs — it'll take the edge of my…

I was sent this scan of a delightful article from Watchtower Magazine — you know, that bizarre piece of pulp from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Look at their list of wicked temptations that might lead a faithful person into a life of sin. Take special note of #2. "A well-intentioned teacher urges you…

What with all my flitting about, I got a few questions about whether I was ever planning to do any talks here in Minnesota. Yes! Yes, I am! On Monday, 16 November, I'm going to be doing a debate. I hate debates, but I've been dragged into this one. It's being promoted by the local creationist loons…

This clip is from a traffic camera in Chile — it shows a dog hit by a car, and then another dog risking the heavy traffic to pull the injured animal to the side, out of danger. I wonder what church the heroic dog attends? Keep this in mind when you encounter people — yeah, I'm looking at you,…

Bet you didn't know I'm the guy who talked the deity into using the horrifically inefficient and cruel process of evolution to create life on earth, didja? The trick to maneuvering him into doing anything? Appeal to his vanity. The guy is definitely omninarcissistic. (Psst. Notice that the deity'…

Out of a whole collection of steampunk-themed cakes, this one has to be my favorite: It looks like something out of Girl Genius — it must have been made by a spark. It's also interesting to see that there is a whole wide freaky cake-decorating sub-culture out there. Very cool.

I've recently made arrangements to come speak at the University of Ireland in Galway in early February. Hooray! I've been looking forward to visiting Ireland for some time, so it's going to be great. And then I discover that not all the Irish are sane. There are crowds listening to 'psychic'…

Surely this was misaddressed! I am not the right person to contact about pseudo-scientific 'spiritual' evolutionary seminars. Dear Evolutionary, I am happy to invite you to two free teleseminars--one with spiritual teacher and founder of EnlightenNext Andrew Cohen, and another with EnlightenNext…

Removed at photographer's request

The Discovery Channel is having a documentary about Ardipithecus ramidus at 8pm Central time (in about half an hour). I'm planning to set my work aside for a while and fix a bowl of hot soup — it's cold here, with a snow storm on the way — and see if they actually do it right. First half hour wasn…

Bill Maher doesn't believe in vaccines at all? Man, you've have got to be utterly nuts to make Bill Frist look good. The first part is pretty good, where Frist gives Maher a lesson in vaccines; the last bit is rather annoying, as they find common cause in agreeing that we don't need to make…

It's a poll. A poll with a stupid question. Do psychics have a role to play in criminal investigations? Yes: 31%No: 69% What role is that? To generate red herrings to keep the mystery alive? Come on, New Zealanders. I have a higher opinion of you than that only 69% would find that question…

Right now, people are marching on Washington with a reasonable demand: equality under the law for all gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. It's not much to ask for; it's simply what every human being in this country ought to expect. I'm not in Washington DC. I'm sitting in wintery…

I'm about to do a live podcast with Matt Dillahuntey — tune in if you'd like, or catch it later.

How wonderful to have a high-res version of this image available.

Josh Timonen has put up a video of my talk at AAI. Tear into it! One of the things I neglected to say more clearly, but should have, is that what I'm complaining about is the creationists' blithe conflation of complexity with order. We can build up immense amounts of complexity from nothing but…

That little blonde kid needs a lesson in gratitude. What if she'd been sucking on that wafer and it had turned into a toenail? She should be thankful she got a bite of something as nutritious as Jesus' holy liver.

Richard Dawkins was 'interviewed' by that awful little peabrain, Bill O'Reilly. It was a horrible spectacle, but Dawkins kept his cool. Look at O'Reilly's arguments: Hmm, let's see. O'Reilly claims we don't know everything, which is entirely true, so somehow this justifies his belief in Jesus.…

This could be ominous — we're getting our first snowfall right now. It's coming down wet and heavy, too. I knew this was going to happen. I'd made arrangements for a contractor to come by and do some fairly substantial improvements to the insulation of the house — we're having a couple of doors and…

Perhaps I was too quick to declare that previous article the worst one yet on Ardipithecus…now the Family Research Council has weighed in. Would you believe that Ardi supports their anti-gay stance? the article describes what C. Owen Lovejoy, an anthropologist at Kent State University, says about…

The Molly Award for August 2009 goes to Carlie and strange gods before me. To quote another recipient of some random award out of the blue, "accept this award as a call to action". Congratulations to both, and now that that's out of the way, you know the drill — leave comments here with your…

The dishonor goes to ABC News, which put together an appalling mess of an article that gives credibility to creationist denialists. Right from the beginning, you know this article is bunk. But despite the excitement from the paleontology community, another group of researchers, many of them with…