religion
evolvingthoughts | January 2, 2009I's an ego thing, sure, but it's also a handy way of seeing what one did this past year. Here are what I think of as the substantial posts of Evolving Thoughts from 2008. Sorry for the lateness - it's a longish list. I (and my guest blogger) have been real busy this year...
Religion and Creationism
Desecration, blasphemy in public, and manners
Why are there still monkeys?
Can a Christian accept natural selection as true?
Does religion evolve?
The heat of religion
The religious we have always with us
Agriculture and the rise of religion
The origins of agriculture now extended
Darwin, God and…
pharyngula | January 2, 2009Charlie Daniels has chimed in with a little squeak of outrage at Newdow's lawsuit. His post is titled "He Must Be a Miserable Man", and I think it must be self-referential since it is an astonishing collection of stupidities. Foremost, here's one that I can't believe anyone would say:
If we deny God His rightful place in the affairs of this nation should we expect Him to intervene when we need protection? Just what do you think has kept us safe from terrorist attacks since 9/11? It certainly wasn't the atheists.
I expect atheists did contribute, as did Christians and Muslims and other…
pharyngula | January 2, 2009I have just returned from my last long drive of the season, finally and regretfully shuttling the last beloved member of the Myers clan off to the distant Minneapolis transportation hub. Now, at last, I can relax, shed of my patriarchal obligations (speaking of which, the hair is getting a bit long and wild, and the beard is looking a bit ferocious…I may have to do something to tame them). I've also feeling the fatigue of waging the war on Christmas — my trigger finger is all calloused, and the recoil bruises on my shoulder would make you weep to see them — so it's nice to have a little…
pharyngula | January 1, 2009Somebody else is being denied the right to marry. A woman who worked at a Catholic high school was fired because her fiance was divorced.
Doesn't that just make you feel all warm inside? Our wanna-be overlords of the high priesthood promise us a future of arbitrary regulation of our private lives.
edyong | December 27, 2008
"Control - you must learn control!" These wise words were uttered by no less a sage than Yoda, and while he was talking about telekinetically hoisting spacecraft, having control has another important benefit. It protects a person from spotting false patterns that aren't there, from believing in conspiracies and from developing superstitions.
Control and security are vital parts of our psychological well-being and it goes without saying that losing them can feel depressing or scary. As such, people have strategies for trying to regain a sense control even if it's a tenuous one. Jennifer…
evolvingthoughts | December 24, 2008So what is it with Christians who are so able to debunk and demythologise the myths of everyone else, and fail to see that exactly the same logic applies to their own mythology?
A priest in northern Italy told kids there was no Father Christmas at a children's mass. Great. We shouldn't believe in magical beings that can break all physical laws just to get across a moral story. I concur.
What about Jesus? A magical being who can break the laws of physics, whose sole justification (and a not very good one at that) is that there is some moral foundation for treating folks nicely. Without a trace…
nisbetmc | December 24, 2008
In announcements and press efforts this past month, the Vatican is promoting Galileo as a symbol of collaboration between science and religion. The initiative is part of a larger campaign by the Vatican to repair the Pope's image on matters of science and to promote dialogue on the relationship between reason and faith.
Overall, the Vatican's efforts should be welcomed. In a media environment that chronically pits science and faith against each other, we need powerful cultural symbols that counter the conflict narrative and that can serve as conversation starters rather than generating…
evolvingthoughts | December 23, 2008Damn it's hot. Around here, snow is at a premium, which means our solstitial celebrations are less active than those oop north. Anyway, I got interviewed last night on national radio, the ABC's National Evening show, talking about the early ideas of philosophy to presenter Rhys Muldoon. Nice fellow. It was more like a chat than an interview (which means I did most of the talking, as my chats tend to). It seems I am the sole contactable philosopher in Australia.
So anyway, to entertain you there are some pre-solstitial items just announced. First off, I'm going to put all the internet…
gregladen | December 23, 2008It has long been known that incest is not as bad as you think. Anti-cousin marriage laws are like prohibition laws and blue laws. They arise from a Christian conservative movement that swept Western Civilization from the late 18th century through the 19th century, up to about the time of the repeal of Prohibition.
Sure, marrying, or just plain having sex with, your sibling is disgusting. I mean, think about it. No, wait, don't even think about it. But cousin marriage? That depends. Your cousin may be kinda cute, you never know.
But seriously, anthropologists have long known of ... and…
oracknows | December 23, 2008Of all the forms of quackery out there, the "energy healing" methods and "faith healing" methods have to be the most ridiculous. After all, the claims of "healers" using such modalities, when boiled down to their very essence, are nothing less (and nothing more) than claiming the ability to do magic. Indeed, "energy healing" involves the claim of being able to manipulate "life energies" undetectable by science for therapeutic intent using either ritualistic hand motions or the inscribing of symbols in the air (reiki), concentration and the laying on of hands (therapeutic touch, reiki, and…
pharyngula | December 23, 2008Yeah, the Pope babbles dicta against people who are different from him, so what else is new?
In comments at the Vatican that are likely to provoke a furious reaction from homosexual groups, Benedict also warned that blurring the distinction between male and female could lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race.
In his address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration, he described behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations as "a destruction of God's work" and said that the Roman Catholic Church had a duty to "protect man from the destruction of himself".
It is not…
jrosenhouse | December 22, 2008Here's your quiz for the day. Who wrote this?
There is no theistic God who exists to take care of you or me. There is no God who stands ready to set aside the laws by which this universe operates to come to our aid in time of need. There are no everlasting arms underneath us to catch us when we fall.
Or this?
When people question this theistic God in the light of the constant pain and trauma found in the normal course of human life, the pious rhetoric of theism's defenders becomes almost incoherent. One hears hysterical talk about free will, about how God allows us to bring pain upon…
clock | December 22, 2008There is no clearer and better example of Artificial controversy than the War on Christmas, as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity re-invent it every year in order to boost their tanking ratings. What War on Christmas? Just drive along a street and see all the lights on houses, go into a store and look at the merchandise while listening to the Christmas music, peer into people's windows to see decorated Christmas trees and presents, or turn on any radio station - Christmas is everywhere.
But, believe it or not, there are people who are even stupider than O'Reilly and Hannity - people who really…
gregladen | December 19, 2008... This is why we fight the war on Christmas. Watch. Then lock and load, baby.
Hat tip Doc
pharyngula | December 17, 2008This is not an auspicious beginning. Guess who is going to deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration? None other than the smilin' face of right-wing fundamentalism, Rick Warren.
As we've pointed out several times before, in 2004 Warren declared that marriage, reproductive choice, and stem cell research were "non-negotiable" issues for Christian voters and has admitted that the main difference between himself and James Dobson is a matter of tone. He criticized Obama's answers at the Faith Forum he hosted before the election and vowed to continue to pressure him to change his views on…
mikethemadbiologist | December 17, 2008By way of Scienceblogling PZ, I stumbled across a very interesting article by Max Blumenthal about the origins of the 'War on Christmas.' This passage stood out (italics mine):
Following the invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush's re-election, and the Republican sweep of Congress, Brimelow said conservative movement elites could no longer ignore the right-wing populism sweeping the nation. Suddenly the War on Christmas was gaining traction. "This issue became very popular in the conservative grassroots, so conservative media had to pay concession to it," he said.
By 2005, Fox News personalities…
nisbetmc | December 16, 2008
Many readers were shocked and disappointed last week with the forced resignation of Rev. Richard Cizik from his position heading up the Washington office of the National Association of Evangelicals. As I wrote just a day before his resignation, Cizik's work on climate change and his unique standing among Evangelicals may make him America's most important climate communicator.
With news of his resignation, the NY Times Nicholas Kristof lamented the loss of a major political "bridge maker" and noted Cizik's instrumental role in raising public concern over AIDS, Darfur, poverty and religious…
pharyngula | December 15, 2008Evangelists are suddenly experiencing rapid growth, and wow, are they happy about it!
"It's a wonderful time, a great evangelistic opportunity for us," said the Rev. A. R. Bernard, founder and senior pastor of the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York's largest evangelical congregation, where regulars are arriving earlier to get a seat. "When people are shaken to the core, it can open doors."
What, you might wonder, could possibly be driving more people into the shoutin' and yellin' and hellfire churches? Why, it's the economic downturn!
"I found it very exciting, and I called up…
laelaps | December 14, 2008Studying for finals has kept me pretty busy lately, but during a break from stressing myself out over trig I stumbled across something interesting. Presented below is a short interview in which Robert Sapolsky discusses religion, particularly why people might believe the things they do. You'll have to turn your speakers up because he is very soft-spoken, but it is certainly worth a look;
If you haven't heard of Sapolsky before, I can't recommend his writings enough. A Primate's Memoir, in particular, is one of the best books I have ever read (as well as making me more fond of baboons…
gregladen | December 14, 2008Bachmann's Religious Cult Organizes Minnesota School Assemblies that Frighten, Disturb Students. Female students are told they "... should be pretty much [their] husband's slaves." One's student's reaction: "When I graduate, I'm not going to shake my school administrators hand."
I drive through Pequot Lakes (and Pine River) several times a year. It's the town on 379 with the water tower made to look like a giant fishing float. I will never think of this sleepy little rural town again.
Anyway, here's the thing. This organization that provides these assemblies for the students is the…