The Smithsonian is sponsoring a traveling exhibit called Exploring Human Origins: What Does It Mean To Be Human?, which is going around the country to various libraries. By all accounts, it’s an excellent exhibit, and they also promote good education: they offer workshops on human evolution to local teachers (they also offer tours to local clergy — they’re additionally sponsored by the Templeton Foundation).

The exhibit is in Cottage Grove, Oregon right now. You’ve all seen Cottage Grove — the big parade scene in Animal House was filmed there. But it’s also a nice little town south of Eugene. I’d be there right now, if I were still living in Oregon. World-class educational exhibit on evolution in my former back yard? Yes, sounds awesome.

Except…other groups are free to piggy-back on the exhibit, and wouldn’t you know it, the Discovery Institute is going to exploit it to spread their special lies all over it on 10 March.

Science and Human Origins—What does the Evidence Really Say? Thursday March 10, 6-8 PM

Did human beings evolve from earlier animals? Was the process that produced human beings guided or unguided? And does it matter? Here is your chance to learn about the current state of the scientific evidence, to separate fact from speculation, and to explore why it matters.

Speakers at this event are: Ann Gauger, co-author of Science and Human Origins, a Senior Research Scientist at the Biologic Institute, and Director of Science Communication at the Discovery Institute. Richard Sternberg is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute. He previously served as a staff scientist at the National Center for Biotechnology Information and as a Research Associate at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Event hosted by various local Cottage Grove Churches.

Ugh. I don’t even know what to say.

Did human beings evolve from earlier animals? Yes. I suspect the DI will try desperately to weasel around that question, so I’m surprised they ask it. They are opposed to natural mechanisms for evolution, some of their fellows are young earth creationists, and they’ve been trying to walk the line between just saying that life evolved, but with the assistance of intelligent super-beings, and avoiding the whole issue for fear of alienating their YEC allies.

Was the process that produced human beings guided or unguided? There is no evidence at all that it was “guided”, but this is the DIs whole schtick — they’ll be in the middle of this evolution display trying to argue that evolution can’t work, therefore this-being-they-avoid-naming-called-God.

And does it matter? Here we go, the other side of the DI: moralizing about “cultural renewal”. At least John West isn’t there so you might not hear much about Hitler. But you never know.

I hope competent, knowledgeable Oregonians will attend and call out the frauds. Hey, if you do, send me a report on the event, too.

Ken Perrott of New Zealand SciBlogs waded into the controversial Dawkins disinvitation, and wrote a load of typical bullshit. That is, he tries to logic all critics of Dawkins into some kind of fallacy, because they must be mistaken, and we cannot examine the flaws in Dawkins worldview without first dismissing everyone who disagrees with him as irrational. Therefore, suggesting that Dawkins has said some terrible things…

…is so mistaken I think only people who are already hostile or desperately searching for something to confirm their anti-Dawkins or anti-male bias would actually fall for it – or promote it. But that is the sort of thing we get on social media – especially Twitter.

This is the fallacy of faulty generalisation – or more precisely, faulty induction. Very often resorted to by people with a large axe to grind.

[Read more…]

I think I’ve been trying to say the same thing for a few years, but it’s good to see Feminace say it clearly.

On the other hand, it’s the sort of atheism that we need so badly. An atheism that goes beyond “I don’t believe in gods”. One that goes past the dictionary definition and into “Now what do I do about it?”.

That’s the atheism I’m interested in. The one that tries to make the world a better place without god. If that’s not yours, fine (okay, not fine, but I’m not going to waste time arguing with you), but get the fuck out of my way.

It’s always depressing to see how many people will wax indignant at the thought that they might be expected to make the world a better place without god. How dare we?

It’s sort of the atheist version of this cartoon.

Ken Ham.

Let’s see…diminishing the horrors of the Holocaust and Stalin’s purges, equating women’s health care and autonomy with Naziism, neglecting to mention that most abortions are spontaneous “acts of God”…you know, probably the least stupid thing in this cartoon was advocating the useless response of prayer to something Ham claims is mass murder.

Welp, I guess that means he’s going to get rewarded with a speaking gig at a major atheist/skeptic conference now.

Modern atheism continues its swirling journey down the drain hole of irrelevance.

There are two predominant reasons that can explain why sexism exists in the atheism movement. The first reason is the influence of social Darwinism. Philip Kitcher, professor of philosophy at Columbia University, wrote in The New York Times in 2012 that the first tenet of social Darwinism is the belief that “people have intrinsic abilities and talents (and, correspondingly, intrinsic weaknesses), which will be expressed in their actions and achievements, independently of the social, economic and cultural environments in which they develop.” A concept such as “men are from mars, women are from Venus” is one version of such gender-essentialist, social Darwinist ideas.

In the atheism movement, social Darwinism has played out as the justifiable assault of women by (naturally) aggressive men. Buzzfeed’s Mark Oppenheimer detailed many accounts of alleged sexism, sexual assault and coercion in his excellent exposé on the atheism movement. “Some women say they are now harassed or mocked at conventions, and the online attacks—which include Jew-baiting, threats of anal rape, and other pleasantries—are so vicious that two activists I spoke with have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder,” he writes.

In related news, NECSS has retracted their disinvitation of Dawkins to their conference. Why? What changed? They don’t say. They just had second thoughts.

Or they got a bunch of cancellations and pushback and decided to bugger principle in favor of the bottom line.

Last weekend, Richard Dawkins had a medical emergency.

Richard Dawkins has suffered a minor stroke, said the Sydney Opera House on Friday in a statement.

He is recuperating and is expected to “make a full or near full recovery”.

The well-known atheist was scheduled to deliver talks in Australia and New Zealand, which have been cancelled.

“On Saturday night Richard suffered a minor stroke, however he is expected in time to make a full or near full recovery. He is already at home recuperating,” said the announcement. “This unfortunately means Richard will be unable to make his planned Australian and New Zealand tour.”

“He is very disappointed that he is unable to do so but looks forward to renewing his plans in the not too distant future.”

Despite our differences, we should all hope for his full recovery.