I have been hailing NASA’s achievement with respect to the Mars Curiosity landing. But while the scientific and engineering achievements of NASA are admirable, it is also an organization depending upon public support and thus not above pandering to what it perceives as public sentiment. [Read more…]
Well, not explicitly, because nuns don’t use use that kind of language, at least in public. But that is how I read the subtext of the statement that was released yesterday following the annual national meeting of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious that represents 80% of the 57,000 US nuns. (Clarification thanks to Irreverend Bastard.) The assembly was attended by 900 of the 1500 nuns who make up the LCWR. [Read more…]
I wrote before about the website The Thinking Housewife in the context of their idea that the increasing acceptance of feminism and homosexuality is leading the country, if not the world, into disaster and only a return to ‘Christian patriarchy’ can save us from doom. [Read more…]
If there is one film cliché that comes to mind about the Republic of Ireland, it is that of the gruff but good-hearted Irish Catholic priest. So strongly is that country linked with the church that this news report that a global survey on faith reveals that Ireland is abandoning religion faster than almost every other country world, second only to Vietnam, is worth noting. [Read more…]
There has been much gloom in the progressive community at what seemed like an overwhelming show of support for Chick-fil-A. In response to the call for people to go there and buy food on August 1 to show their support for the company president’s anti-gay attitude, there were long lines of people waiting to buy these sandwiches. The company reportedly had a record sales day. [Read more…]
Some time ago I wrote about cereal maker General Mills coming out in support of same sex marriage. Their policy resulted in a protest demonstration in front of their corporate offices, where people were asked to empty their kitchens of all their GM foodstuffs and bring them to the protest site, where it would be collected and donated to food banks and shelters. [Read more…]
Via Pharyngula, I came across this article by Ian Murphy naming the five most awful atheists. Who are they? [Read more…]
As sure as sunrise follows sunset, any tragedy that captures the public’s attention, such as the Aurora shootings, will be followed by thumb sucking articles posing the question “Where was god?” and then using up a thousand words to essentially say, “Hell if I know, but you must keep believing anyway.” [Read more…]
Given the decades of conflict between Arabs and Israelis, it is perhaps not surprising, though still regrettable, that young people will grow up with racist attitudes towards those they perceive as ‘the other’. A new survey of attitudes among Israeli Jewish high schools shows a disturbing level of bigotry towards Israeli Arabs and that religion, rather than being a force for good and a driver towards peaceful coexistence as its supporters like to claim, only accentuates those attitudes. [Read more…]
Caspar Melville, the editor of The New Humanist, has a fascinating interview in the May/June 2012 issue with Richard Holloway, the retired Bishop of Edinburgh, which reinforces the point that I have been plugging away at for years, that there is good reason to suppose that there is a great deal of nonbelief among clergy, with the level of skepticism and disbelief rising with rank. [Read more…]