Tue - October 2, 2007

Brain-Eating Amoebas and Intelligent Design


As I'm sure many of you have read, brain-eating amoebas enter the body through the nose, whereupon they travel to the brain to feed. Lately, they've killed several people.

Intelligent Design likes to claim that all creatures were created by a benevolent higher entity they call the the "designer" (which is a code word for the Abrahamic God).

Then along come brain-eating amoebas. The mere fact brain-eating amoebas exist disprove the idea of an intelligent designer.

Or, more accurately, brain-eating amoebas disprove the idea of a benign intelligent designer. [cue scary music]


Posted at 06:20 PM      

Wed - April 25, 2007

Point of Inquiry


I recently began listening to an interesting podcast called Point of Inquiry, the Center for Inquiry's radio show and podcast. The Center for Inquiry is an indirect offshoot of one of the organizations started by Paul Kurtz, a man who apparently helped put the secular in humanism in the 70s.

The podcast covers a lot of interesting stuff related to critical thinking, how being a skeptic doesn't mean being a simple doubter but an actual investigator. The podcast also features occasional reports from their paranormal detective, Joe Nickell, a magician turned investigator of of haunted houses, psychics, and so on.

I started from the first episode they recorded and am gradually moving toward the present (although I admit I listened to the recent Bad Astronomy episode out of order).


Posted at 08:34 AM      

Thu - April 5, 2007

Easter's Rabbit Connection


South Park forwards their unique theory on the connection between Easter, eggs, and rabbits.


Posted at 02:46 PM      

Thu - November 9, 2006

Jesus Camp


Reposted from:
http://www.torontodailynews.com/index.php/WorldNews/2006110814Kids-Camp

The documentary about summer camp where children would tearfully beg God to end abortion and bless President Bush prompted to close the camp.

The summer camp "Kids on Fire" where children would tearfully beg God to end abortion and bless President Bush, will shut down for at least several years after a documentary about the camp.

The film, showing young evangelical children steeling themselves for spiritual and political warfare, includes scenes with pastor Ted Haggard, the evangelical leader accused of gay sex and drug use.

In one scene, Haggard tells the audience, "We don't have to debate about what we should think about homosexual activity. It's written in the Bible."

Titled "Jesus Camp," the documentary sparked a negative reaction, said the camp's director.

"Right now we're just not a safe ministry," Becky Fischer, the fiery Pentecostal pastor featured in "Jesus Camp," said Tuesday.

The pastor, who has been accused of "brainwashing" the children, said she's shutting down the camp for at least several years.

Up to 100 children visited the camp each year.


Posted at 09:25 AM      

Wed - September 20, 2006

Religious Freedom Under Attack in Congress


At the urging of the religious right, the House of Representatives is poised to vote on the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA) this week; a bill that would weaken our nation's commitment to the separation of church and state.

If you worry that Congress is further eroding your civil liberties by promoting America as christian fundamentalist nation over all other spiritual beliefs, consider contacting your representative and asking they vote down this bill. Read more about it and contact your representative here:

-http://ga3.org/campaign/pera_house


Posted at 04:14 PM      

Tue - August 22, 2006

Armor of God PJs




Posted at 09:51 AM      

Tue - August 15, 2006

Rapturists Urge Iran First Strike


It's always frightening when the crazies inch toward political power. This is one of those Holy Crap moments (from TimesSelect):

"A small minority of evangelical Christians have entered the Middle East political arena with some of the most un-Christian statements I have ever heard. The latest gems come from people like Pat Robertson, the founder and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, and Rev. John Hagee of Christians United for Israel. Hagee, a popular televangelist who leads the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, ratcheted up his rhetoric this year with the publication of his book, "Jerusalem Countdown," in which he argues that a confrontation with Iran is a necessary precondition for Armageddon (which will mean the death of most Jews, in his eyes) and the Second Coming of Christ.

In the best-selling book, Hagee insists that the United States must join Israel in a preemptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West. Shortly after the book's publication, he launched Christians United for Israel (CUFI), which, as the Christian version of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, he said would cause "a political earthquake." With the outbreak of the war on Lebanon, he and others have called to their followers to pray for Israel, and for the continuation of the war on Lebanon. They have demanded that Israel not relent in what they call the need to destroy Hezbollah and Hamas. They seem to have completely forgotten the very core of the Christian faith."


Posted at 10:52 AM      

Sat - July 22, 2006

Religious Rights and Wrongs


Geoffrey Stone posted a great article concerning, among other things, Bush' recent veto of the new stem cell legislation, plus a couple of other less newsworthy, but no less troubling recent government actions. An excerpt:

"In vetoing the bill that would have funded stem-cell research, President Bush invoked what he termed a “conflict between science and ethics.” But what, exactly, is the “ethical” side of this conflict? Clearly, it derives from the belief that an embryo smaller than a period on this page is a “human life” – indeed, a human life that is as valuable as those of living, breathing, suffering children. And what, exactly, is the basis of this belief? Is it Science? Reason? Logic? Tradition? Morals? None-of-the Above?"

-http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/faculty/2006/07/religious_right.html


Posted at 02:30 PM      

Thu - July 20, 2006

What Worth, Atheism?


Religious interests and popular culture conflates the label ‘atheist’ with something akin to 'Satanist’ despite it meaning exactly the opposite. So while one might claim atheism (no belief in any supernatural entity), many among the public would perceive that claim to be something far more diabolical—in fact, they’d see it as a perversion of their theism.

Because the perception of something, even if untrue, is as good as reality, I prefer the terms humanist (someone with a commitment to the search for truth and morality through human means in support of human interests), or even agnostic (someone who believes that theist claims, while possible, are inherently unknowable and improbable).

Truth to tell, I see a universe mostly filled with matter so exotic we can't even sense it directly, so agnosticism seems like a reasonable philosophy. Personally, I try to avoid claims of certainty in favor of claims of probability.

Plus, one can be an agnostic and a humanist simultaneously (and even a theist and humanist, depending on your particular flavor of dogma), but one can’t be both a theist and an agnostic.


Posted at 04:02 PM      

Sat - January 14, 2006

Fake Quotes Circulate Among the Religious Right


This doesn't seem good: "[...] numerous fake quotations from the founding fathers circulate among the religious right continually, almost all of them traced back to David Barton and his pseudo-historical books and videos."



Posted at 01:52 PM      

Tue - December 20, 2005

ID Can't Escape Creationist Roots


Judge John E. Jones's ruling is a victory for the enlightenment. Read this excerpt of the ruling on whether Intelligent Design (ID) can be taught in publicly funded science classes, with emphasis added by John Rennie (Scientific American editor):

"The proper application of both the endorsement and Lemon tests to the facts of this case makes it abundantly clear that the Board's ID Policy violates the Establishment Clause. In making this determination, we have addressed the seminal question of whether ID is science. We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents.

Both Defendants and many of the leading proponents of ID make a bedrock assumption which is utterly false. Their presupposition is that evolutionary theory is antithetical to a belief in the existence of a supreme being and to religion in general. Repeatedly in this trial, Plaintiffs' scientific experts testified that the theory of evolution represents good science, is overwhelmingly accepted by the scientific community, and that it in no way conflicts with, nor does it deny, the existence of a divine creator.

To be sure, Darwin's theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions.

The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the Board who voted for the ID Policy. It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy.

With that said, we do not question that many of the leading advocates of ID have bona fide and deeply held beliefs which drive their scholarly endeavors. Nor do we controvert that ID should continue to be studied, debated, and discussed. As stated, our conclusion today is that it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom.

Those who disagree with our holding will likely mark it as the product of an activist judge. If so, they will have erred as this is manifestly not an activist Court. Rather, this case came to us as the result of the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on ID, who in combination drove the Board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy. The breathtaking inanity of the Board's decision is evident when considered against the factual backdrop which has now been fully revealed through this trial. The students, parents, and teachers of the Dover Area School District deserved better than to be dragged into this legal maelstrom, with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources."


Posted at 11:44 AM      

Sun - October 30, 2005

Is God Real or Imaginary?


Have you wondered sometime during your life if God is real?

This site explores that question and the consequences of the answer, yes or no.

"For example, if God is real and if God did write the Bible, then we should certainly post the Ten Commandments prominently in every courthouse, school and shopping mall in the land. We should be praying to God in our schools. We should purge evolution from every curriculum, for the book of Genesis is true."

"Knowing whether God is real or not is incredibly important. For example, in Leviticus 20:13 the Bible says that we should kill all homosexuals. If God exists, and if God is the all-powerful creator of the universe, and if God wrote the Bible, then we should do that. God has commanded it and we should obey. On the other hand, if God is imaginary, we should throw the Bible away because it is absurd. The idea of human beings killing other innocent human beings is abhorrent, and a book that promotes murder and hate crimes has no place in our society."


Posted at 08:29 AM      

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