pharyngula

Hmmm. I just chewed out one repulsive little Spratlin named Daniel, when I get this email from a Spratlin named Ric. It's a vaguely threatening email, too. From: Ric Spratlin Subject: There's never a shortage of smarm among evangelicals Date: October 12, 2010 3:44:20 PM CDT…

Will the denizens of the busy busy thread appreciate a lecture about pungent body odors? Sure, let's try it and see. (Current totals: 11,152 entries with 1,150,589 comments.)

There has been a recent rash of publicized suicides by young gay people who have been bullied and intimidated and shamed by their peers…and we're also getting a rash of Christian apologetics by the blind bigots of homophobia who simultaneously declaim their pious regrets that these poor children of…

I teach at a small public liberal arts college in Minnesota. We've got a lot of similar liberal arts institutions around the state, including Gustavus Adolphus, a private college with a Lutheran affiliation. We're secular (we don't sponsor church services) and public (much lower tuition, also much…

I think you should start out your day with tales of fatherhood, since I did. Sometimes my mailbox is a very depressing thing. What do you do when your son has seizures? Take him to religious authorities for diagnosis. "When my son first began suffering from this problem I took him to sheikhs to…

We've all heard about the Chilean miners trapped in a cave-in, who have been sustained for over two months by supplies delivered through a narrow tunnel drilled down to them. Their rescue is imminent, with an escape tunnel being drilled and almost at their position — they should be out this week.…

It's a standing joke that the most homophobic ranters are likely to turn up in the news some day getting their luggage lifted. As it turns out, though, some of them face a fate that's even sadder. Remember Jonathan Katz, the physicist who briefly held an advisory position with the Obama…

The insanity is continent wide, my fellow North Americans. A fringe group in Canada is calling for Christian Governance, and you know you can't believe them when they make claims like this: Judeo-Christian political theory is unique in its hostility to totalitarianism. Christian governance, and…

I will not wade into this one, it gets so tiresome over here, but Gnu Atheists aren't the only people afflicted with tone trolls. Orac points out that the anti-vaxers are now using the 'civility' argument. To people who are palpably wrong, the whole world is always going to look very rude to them.…

I just have to remind everyone now and then that we are trying to raise money for science education in the public schools, and I do have a donation page where you can pick specific grant applications you like and give them your cash. If you're feeling competitive, there's also a leaderboard page…

The Molly award for the remote and distant month of August goes to … Gregory Greenwood. Now September needs one. Leave your votes in the comments.

Tube-nosed fruit bat (via National Geographic)

Nathan Moran wrote to chastise me. I feel bad for him…I get these things all the time and the stream-of-consciousness reaction I have to them is never flattering to my correspondents. Maybe they should stop. Kent Hovind & Your Point of View/Opinion I would extremely promote you to debate Dr.…

Jerry Coyne has been given a good bit of space in the cheesy but widely read newspaper USAToday, and he used it to pen a maniacally unapologetic Gnu Atheist screed. It's beautiful. I can't wait for the indignant reactions to pour in. Distracted businessmen will be reading their free copies over…

We did an impromptu Point of Inquiry podcast this afternoon, which could appear at any time now. It's a little odd, because Jennifer Hecht was drafted to moderate, but she forgot her role, I think, and it turned into a 2-on-1 argument. I was the 1, I'm afraid. I'm going to go listen to Sam Harris…

Steve Zara has a nice article at RD.net that is actually saying the same thing I've been arguing at recent talks: There is no possibility of evidence to convince us of the existence of a god. I propose a new strident atheism. No playing the games of theists. No concessions. No talk of evidence that…

There's all kinds of depressing economics talk on the thread without an end, so let's cheer everyone up. Just remember, when a ship sinks, one end can rise up into the air, first. (Current totals: 11,137 entries with 1,147,926 comments.)

They've come out. They've revealed that all along, the Insane Clown Posse were evangelical Christians making Christian rap. Isn't it obvious with hindsight now? It's a hilarious interview. The reporter gets them to spill the beans about exactly what they were thinking in some of their notorious…

I was on a panel discussion of "Confrontation vs. Accommodation" yesterday at the Secular Humanism conference. It wasn't an entirely satisfactory format; there were four of us (Chris Mooney, Eugenie Scott, Victor Stenger, and me), and we each gave a short spiel and then answered questions. There…

Loligo plei (via the Smithsonian)

The Berkeley County jail in South Carolina has a terrifying policy: Our inmates are only allowed to receive soft back bibles in the mail directly from the publisher. They are not allowed to have magazines, newspapers, or any other type of books. First thought: I'd die if I were arrested in…

I was mystified why Chief Teabagger David Koch would invest so much in a Smithsonian exhibit on human evolution — usually those knuckledraggers object to people putting their ancestry on display. An explanation is at hand, though: his big issue is denying the significance of global climate change,…

He's come out: Behe's son has abandoned Catholicism and is an atheist. It's actually a bit sad: he comes right out and says that he's an anti-theist, but that he's never told his parents (I guess the news is out now!). It also sounds like he's a bit estranged from his father, saying "I really…

"Oh," I thought, "I've never seen a video of George Bernard Shaw before," so I clicked on the link. I've never had my opinion of someone plummet so rapidly. I was also thinking that he looks pretty old here, and probably can't carry hod or dig ditches well enough to earn his keep, so maybe…

It's so easy to find candidates who are unqualified for office. I wish it were easier to find good candidates. I was sent the campaign page for this Republican bozo in New Mexico, and one of the important issues he addresses is the atheist effort to outlaw prayer. Christians are just sick and…

The Smithsonian has opened a new permanent Hall of Human Origins exhibit, which means I need to get out to Washington DC sometime. Unfortunately, it gets a mixed review from Greg Mayer. It sounds like the museum faced the standard dilemma of whether to emphasize information or interaction, and…

There is no end to the perpetual conversation because the upcoming new generation is going to be just as 'militant'. Here's a 9th grader showing more maturity and rationality than all the believers. (Current totals: 11,127 entries with 1,145,721 comments.)

Do something, Virginia. Your attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, is on an absurd crusade against Michael Mann and the University of Virginia. His previous attempt to defame Mann with accusations of fraud was recently shot down in the courts, but now he has thrown another pile of accusations at him,…

Once again, my developmental biology students generate some science content for the web. Hannah's blog discovers that stem cells can repair damaged hearts. Lisa's Ledger covers a story I criticized about a genetic link to ADHD. We've been talking about induction and pattern formation this…

I will suspend my contempt for the HuffPo for one brief moment to link to an important message: Science Friday is being starved to death. Here's what Ira Flatow says: We at SciFri are facing severe financial difficulties, i.e. raising money. NSF [National Science Foundation] has turned us down for…