Zack Kopplin is not a troll!

jindal

Mother Jones has a good overview of Zack Kopplin’s work against the terrible Bobby Jindal, but I object to them characterizing him as a troll: he’s a good investigator who honestly exposes Jindal’s views. And they’re pretty terrible views:

Jindal, who studied biology at Brown and was considering Harvard Medical School before attending Oxford, has left a bit of a paper trail as to where he really stands. In 1995, while still a student in England, he published an essay in a small Catholic journal, This Rock, attacking atheism. He asserted that there was “much controversy over the fossil evidence for evolution,” and he put himself squarely in the camp of intelligent design. “No evolutionary biologist has produced or ever will produce a conclusion with any relevance to the necessity of God,” he argued. “At best he can push the location of the supernatural assumption from the origin of life to the origin of matter, energy, and order.”

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We’ve been sussed! Quick, hide!

indoctrination

They’re on to us. A conservative organization called Turning Point USA is distributing a pamphlet titled 10 Ways College Professors Indoctrinate America’s Youth and How to Prevent It (that’s a link to Jezebel’s deconstruction: if you want to read it in its full unedited glory, here’s a PDF). I learned many surprising things.

The # 1 goal of a leftist professor is to change the way their students view the world. Progressive professors want to make you question your beliefs and then hope that you will abandon them altogether. They want to make you think like they do. They want to brainwash you.

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In which I fail to be confused

ha-im-not-real

Have you ever wondered How to Confuse an Atheist? Apparently, theists do, and they even think they have a surefire recipe for doing it. I started reading this expecting a Big Daddy style gotcha that wouldn’t leave any atheists even slightly disturbed (except that eye rolling that hard can make you dizzy), and I was not disappointed.

Let’s take a look at the six steps to confuse an atheist. I’m going to stop at three because that’s enough to see that it’s going nowhere, but I’ll leave the last half as an amusing exercise for the reader.

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Cal Thomas fails the Bible test

I really don’t understand how these sanctimonious pious types can tell us to live by Biblical standards when they haven’t even read the damned thing.

Fox News contributor Cal Thomas argued over the weekend that polygamy and “adult-child marriage” could become legal in the United States unless the Supreme Court bases its same-sex marriage ruling on “scripture.”

King David? Numbers 31? How old was Rebecca when she was married off to Isaac?

How can you argue that making your laws Biblically based would prohibit polygamy and adult-child marriage?

Disappointed!

jesuspratt

I liked Chris Pratt in Parks & Rec. He was good in Guardians of the Galaxy. I’m probably not going to enjoy Jurassic World when I see it this week, but I wouldn’t blame that on Pratt.

Unfortunately, I just learned that in real life he’s a Jebus loving conservative who quotes the Bible on his facebook page. It’s kind of the reverse of Adam Baldwin; I was appalled when I discovered that his character on Firefly wasn’t acting, but that he really was smug dim-brained dope in reality. Now Pratt, who seems like a normal and secular person in his films, is a Jebusite in reality.

Hey, at least that means Pratt is a better actor!

Support Secular Students!

This week is Secular Student Week! This guest post was written by Matthew Facciani who is a graduate student, activist, and member of the Secular Student Alliance. The SSA has set a goal of 500 donations during Secular Student Week. Please consider making a donation to help reach that goal!

I was pretty religious as a teenager, but once I learned more about science, philosophy, and religion I eventually became an atheist. I was very comfortable with my decision to no longer be religious, but I always felt somewhat out of place while attending my Christian affiliated college that banned the formation a secular student group. My only knowledge of other atheists was from the internet as I never met another atheist while I was an undergraduate.

After I finished my undergraduate degree, I went straight into a neuroscience PhD program at The University South Carolina. South Carolina is right in the buckle of the Bible Belt so I really wanted to meet other atheists to feel less isolated. I looked up secular groups in my area and found a thriving secular student group at my campus! I still remember feeling overwhelmed at the first meeting I attended because I went from never meeting another atheist to being in a room full of them!

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Christianity’s deep fear of exposure

cyrus

Miley Cyrus has done a nude photo shoot. To which I shrug, and note that we’re all naked under our clothes, and that I’m not particularly interested in Miley Cyrus, or her music, or her opinions, so fine. I am unperturbed and unenthused.

But then, I’m not Ken Ham. Ham is distraught that she made fun of the cash cow he’s hoping to start milking, and I’ve noticed that the issues that most distress Answers in Genesis is any challenge that might impede the revenue stream.

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Skepticism is easy

A creationist dared me to explain this.

cityofgiants

It’s part of a story that claims there were giants in those days, and they were living in a citadel at the end of a mile-long tunnel in the Grand Canyon.

According to an article published in The Arizona Gazette on April 5, 1909, the Grand Canyon was once home to civilization that most likely consisted of individuals of cyclopean proportions. If such a civilization ever lived, surely it would have left behind some structure as a testament of its existence.

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