I was asked to prime a panel discussion on The Point, so I sent them a 2’30” video on whether we should be criticizing Romney for his religion, and then they just cut loose for 15 minutes. James Randi and AJ Johnson and also contributed questions; Michael Shermer, Sean Carroll, and Edward Falzon chewed ’em over, with Cara Santa Maria leading the conversation.
I’ve decided that Sean Carroll is right about everything.
On 15 September, you could attend the Feminine Faces of Freethought Conference in Dallas for only $20. Check it out!
Women of Reason–Dallas presents Feminine Faces of Freethought, a conference featuring women speaking about topics that affect the freethought community as a whole.
Join us for a day of talks by
- Noelle George, coordinator of Volunteers Beyond Belief and founder and past president of SECULAR Center;
- Dr. Jean Kazez, author of Animalkind, The Weight of Things, and the blog In Living Color;
- Elyse Anders, blogger at Skepchick, founder of Women Thinking, Inc, and leader of Hug Me! I’m Vaccinated;
- Bridget Gaudette, Co-Founder and Vice President of Outreach of Secular Woman;
- Dorian Mooneyham, blogger at http://transandgodless.blogspot.com and youtube.com/transandgodless;
- Anne Crumpacker, author of the blog Socratic Mama;
- and other members of the freethought community.
Panels include
- Secular Parenting,
- Diversity in the Freethought Movement,
- and What Atheist Women Really Want.
We welcome people of all genders.
Childcare will be provided. Please reserve childcare while purchasing your tickets.
I don’t know whether it’s by design or fortuitous incompetence, but creationists are masters of the fuzzy statement that opens the doors to all kinds of new opportunities for ignorance. Missouri, for instance, just passed a law giving themselves the freedom to pray (a freedom they already had, which is not in peril) and at the same time, just had to toss in this lovely and dangerous clause: no student shall be compelled to perform or participate in academic assignments or educational presentations that violate his or her religious beliefs.
Raise your hand if you think you can spot the potential problem there.
Missouri has just passed a law declaring that students can opt out of any part of the curriculum that they find objectionable to their faith, and we all know what that means: evolution and climate change are all now optional. And you know that that’s what this clause will be used for, to shut down big chunks of science that contradict religious idiocy.
And look at this. This is why I can’t tell sometimes if creationists are just incredibly stupid or incredibly cunning.
Mike Hoey, a supporter of the amendment and executive director of the Missouri Catholic Conference, thinks that Rosenau is “overanalyzing” the language in the amendment. “I don’t think this will affect science in the classroom in any significant way,” he says. “I think the vast majority of students will want to participate in all units of their science classes.” The amendment makes no mention of providing an alternative curriculum, Hoey adds. So any student who opts out of a biology lesson, he says, “will need to face the consequences” of missing those lessons.
Right. So putting that ‘objectionable’ material on the exams and making grades dependent on learning it will not be considered a way to compel students to perform or participate in work that goes against their religious beliefs? Nonsense. Hoey is being disingenuous here. Of course it will affect how science is taught. There are students who will, even in the absence of deep religious belief, use this clause to exempt themselves from difficult bits of their classwork.
Not only will it affect science teaching, its proponents intend for it to cripple instruction in evolution and any other science that crosses their benighted worldview. Hoey is either a liar or so brainless his eyes probably roll back into his cranium every time he looks up.
I was brought up as a Methodist in England. I went to Sunday School when I was young, and then church, and also had daily assemblies with prayers and hymns at Grammar School (aged 11-18). At home we had no religion.
If you cut out the tall tales and the unwarranted credit, I think this graph really ought to be a flat line at 0.
(Sent by email, so I don’t know the original source, sorry.)
Some days, I question how different my path to atheism differs from other people’s paths. About a year before my bar mitzvah, I began asking what the point was of religion, but I can’t honestly say I did any real follow-through on that question at the time.
As you probably know, Sanal Edamaruku is in flight from his home in India, because the police want to arrest him for exposing a Catholic miracle as a case of leaking pipes. I would not tell anyone where he actually is, but I can tell you where he was: Kaja Bryx of the Lower Silesia Branch of Polish Rationalist Association sent me a note with an account.
Sanal Edamaruku, President of Indian Rationalist Association, stayed in Poland from 30th June to 20th July, hosted by Polish Rationalist Association (Polskie Stowarzyszenie Racjonalistów, PSR). As we all know, he was at that time escaping the threat of being arrested for blasphemy in his own country.
During his stay in Poland Sanal Edamaruku gave lectures in most of the PSR’s branch cities and took part in PSR’s actions. On 2nd July he participated in a public debate on freedom of expression which PSR organized in Warsaw. On 8th July he presented his first paper Contrast of two Indias – 21st century and 16th century at conflict in the city of Wroclaw. Two days later, together with Jacek Tabisz, President of Polish Rationalist Association, Sanal Edamaruku signed (for Indian Rationalist Association and Rationalist International), the trilateral co-operation agreement, which is available both in Polish and in English version on our website.
On 11th July Sanal Edamaruku gave a lecture in Katowice, presenting Church in India – growing intolerance. On 13th July in Cracow he spoke on Growing fundamentalist tendencies among Indian religions. On 14th July in Szczecin crowds came to listen about Holy men in India – flying fakirs to starving saints. On 17th July another lecture took place in Poznan: Will Indian rationalism counter the new wave of religiosity in India? Finally, on 19th July, back in Warsaw, Sanal Edamaruku presented a feminism oriented topic: Influence of religion on the status and situation of women in India.
During his stay in Poland Sanal Edamaruku had an opportunity to meet many of the members of PSR and exchange information about the problems rationalists face both in Poland and in India. He heard the story of Kazimierz Lyszczynski, the first Polish atheist who was condemned to death for his teachings in the 17th century Warsaw, and decided to publish a book about him. Many Polish rationalists inspired by the lectures of Sanal Edamaruku and by the co-operation agreement are willing to go to India and join the actions of Indian Rationalist Association.
You go, Sanal! Even in exile he’s spreading the news about reason and the affliction of religion.
This is the punchline:
You’ll have to read the rest for the setup.
And then there’s the meta punch line. I’m teaching introductory biology again this semester. Starting next Thursday. Also second-year cell biology, starting Wednesday. I’m already counting down to 7 December, the last day of classes — this is going to be a very tough term.
I am an atheist because God if God exists, he could tell me what the best Steven Spielberg movie is.
