godlessness
pharyngula | November 26, 2006This fellow, Bob Averill, is a Portland atheist who was attending the Art Institute there. You won't believe what happened to him recently.
In the classroom that day, Averill says one young woman was talking about her belief in energy layers and astral beings.
"I jokingly asked her if she believed in leprechauns. It turns out, she does. They live on another energy layer," Averill wrote in notes to himself later that day. "In the interest of bringing my own view to the discussion, I began to ask her how she knew these things. Again I know all too well that people can be sensitive about their…
pharyngula | November 23, 2006That guy, Larry Moran…he seems to have been the final straw to tip a whole lot of people into twitterpated consternation. In particular, Ed Brayton, that sad panjandrum of the self-satisfied mean, medium, middle, moderate, and mediocre, has declared Moran (and all those who dare to profess their atheism without compromise) to be anathema, and John Lynch, Pat Hayes, and Nick Matzke have drawn up sides to put themselves clearly against wicked "evangelical atheists" like Dawkins and Moran and even PZ Maiieghrs.
What could have prompted such vociferous contempt? What awful thing could Moran have…
pharyngula | November 21, 2006The NY Times is reporting on a wonderful meeting, "Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival". I wish I could have been there, but at least there's the promise that recordings will be available. A meeting that is denounced by a spokesman from the Templeton Foundation is my kind of place.
It sounds like there was a great deal of vigorous argument, which also makes for my favorite kind of meeting. And then there were all the scientists plainly making these kinds of statements:
Carolyn Porco, a senior research scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., called, half…
pharyngula | November 20, 2006This is hilarious: a couple of atheists get some bicycles, white shirts and ties, and travel around Salt Lake City knocking on doors and bringing the good word of godlessness to the Mormons. One old guy is an LDS bishop, and thinks that's a good enough reason for them to stop bothering him (although, of course, if someone is Catholic or atheist or Baptist, that's not enough reason to stop proselytizing to them…besides, LDS bishops are thick on the ground out there); another feebly swings a broom at them; there is some door slamming going on. Although it's funny, I think the Mormons would be…
pharyngula | November 19, 2006I have to preface this with the comment that I like Eugenie Scott, I think she does a wonderful job, and she's trying to accomplish the difficult task of treading the line between being a representative of science and building an interface with culture and politics. I couldn't do that job. I'd be inspiring rioting mobs outside the office window. However, I also think she's wrong, and that she's working too hard to pander to public superstition to be effective at communicating science.
Jon Voisey took notes on her recent lecture in Kansas. Much of what she said I can go along with, although I…
pharyngula | November 18, 2006Amazing: one short comic strip that captures my philosophy perfectly.
Gosh, now I'm done. I don't need to write anything anymore.
pharyngula | November 16, 2006After South Park made such a botch of its portrayal, this might be some vindication: Salon names Richard Dawkins as one of the sexiest men living. It's a bit gushy, I'm afraid.
Wonder is sexy. Knowledge is sexy. And embodying both as much as any man in the world today is a man in a tweed jacket riding his bike around the Oxford University campuses, the damp English breeze sweeping a curtain of silver hair from the delicate bones of his face. Yes, those cheekbones, those piercing eyes, that pursed bow of a mouth -- but that brain, oh that brain, oh, god, that brain -- is what makes Richard…
pharyngula | November 16, 2006So I passed on rending Steve Cornell's inane piece on atheists, but it's a big ol' blogosphere, and you knew someone would step in to fill the gap. Two people did. Amanda's always game, and here's someone new: the Southern Fried Skeptic gives it a twist and tells us it's not easy being a Christian.
Teamwork. It's how we'll triumph.
pharyngula | November 16, 2006Zeno sent me this link to an article by Jon Carroll—Carroll is one of those "eh, so what" members of the godless community, who probably rolls his eyes at those uppity atheists who get so obnoxious about the role of religion in our culture, while at the same time recognizing that there are some problems that need to be fought…one of those annoyingly tepid unbelievers, anyway. And that's OK. I actually agree with a big chunk of what he writes. This point, in particular, is one that's important:
But there's one idea that comes up in these discussions that I want to talk about; it's the notion…
pharyngula | November 15, 2006A lot of people don't know what atheists are, but they're sure certain about defining them, and somehow, we're always so BAD. Ophelia finds a doozy of a redefinition of atheism, but I can top it: Steve Cornell, a pastor at Millersville Bible Church, makes a long list of the sins of the atheist. In it, he nestles himself securely in the Christian tradition of babbling assertively about subjects in which he is completely and manifestly ignorant, but will sell well to his equally ignorant flock. It's the usual stuff about how it takes more faith to believe in the absence of god, atheists are…
pharyngula | November 15, 2006Make some popcorn.
Jason Rosenhouse says agnosticism is unjustified fence-sitting.
John Wilkins says he's still an agnostic.
Larry Moran is egging them on.
Isn't this fun? Let's see if I can get them all pissed off at me. The agnostic/atheist conflict has been simmering for a long, long time so it's always easy to fire up an argument.
I think it's a semantic issue (there, I've already irritated Larry, who has this quote on his page: "The world is not inhabited exclusively by fools, and when a subject arouses intense interest, as this one has, something other than semantics is usually at stake…
pharyngula | November 14, 2006Unless you're one of those god-crazed fundagelical thugs, you ought to be willing to support your first amendment rights and agree that religion does not belong in government. Sign the petition! It's the very least you can do.
Now if only they hadn't used the phrase "Sound Science" to describe scientific policy free of religious bias…
pharyngula | November 13, 2006I heard good things about Dawkins' talk at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, so I let my computer crank away at downloading the video overnight—it's 113 megabytes! Then this morning Norm of onegoodmove lets me know that there are some shorter clips available from the Q&A: a reaction to the abuse of Quantum Theory,
a disparagment of blind faith, and best of all, his reaction to hearing that
Liberty University labels their dinosaur fossils as being a few thousand years old. The discussion with the audience is always the best thing about these talks, and this was a case…
pharyngula | November 12, 2006Julia Sweeney has audio samples from her new CD online—and gosh, she seems to have the same opinions of Intelligent Design and Deepak Chopra that I do! It must be something correlated with godlessness…like brains.
(Thanks to Hank Fox)
pharyngula | November 12, 2006I like this summary by Brian Flemming:
The Democrats won a mandate without excessive God-talk and without actually winning over evangelicals in significant numbers. The election results weaken the argument for religious pandering; they don't strengthen it.
This is not to say that we can tell the religious to just go away, but that what we should do in politics and government is continue to push purely secular values, and trust the sensible evangelicals to find common cause with what is right…just as I will vote for evangelicals who can promote progressive values in spite of their silly…
pharyngula | November 8, 2006Confirmed: God is dead.
Dawkins' and Harris' book sales are going to plummet.
pharyngula | November 5, 2006
The cover of Time magazine highlights the current struggle: it's God vs. Science, or as I'd prefer to put it, fantasy vs. reality. I have mixed feelings about the story; on the one hand, it presents the theological sound in such a godawful stupid way that it gives me some hope, but on the other, stupid seems to win the day far too often. It sure seems to have won over the editors of Time.
The lead article covers a debate between the forces of reason and dogma. They picked two debaters and pitted them against each other, and on our side, we have Richard Dawkins. Dawkins talked to us a bit…
pharyngula | November 5, 2006There will be no poll. It's presumptuous of me to even suggest coming up with a symbol for freethought, and seriously, this is a small corner of the internet, with a small subset of godless people, and the ones who'd respond to a poll would be such a tiny fraction of the possibilities that it would be meaningless.
So instead, we'll have discussion. Reason with each other.
Here's the agenda: make an argument for your favorite, and sway me. Whatever symbol gets the most persuasive argument (and actually, the argument that larger numbers of people will like your symbol will have some weight with…
pharyngula | November 4, 2006Richard Dawkins was interviewed in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and whips out some of his standard 'arrogance'.
Q Here are quotes about faith from two thoughtful Twin Cities clergy members. What is your response to each?
The Rev. Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in Maplewood: "I thirst for water, and water exists. I hunger for food, and food exists. I hunger and thirst for God, so I concluded that God must exist."
Dawkins: The fact that you hunger and thirst for something does not make it exist. A young man ravaged by lust might hunger for a woman he believes loves him back, but…
grrlscientist | November 3, 2006Well, I'm shocked -- simply shocked, I tell you!
After Pastor Ted Haggard publically denied allegations of a homosexual affair, senior church officials admitted that Pastor Ted Haggard has confessed to some of the claims made by a former male escort.
Thursday morning, Mike Jones, a former male escort, was a guest on a Denver radio talk show and said Pastor Haggard paid him for sex over the past 3 years. Jones also claims Haggard used drugs with him.
Tsk, tsk.
Currently, the situation is being investigated by an independent panel of leaders from four outside churches. The leaders are from…