Mormon’s Secret?

As a result of my post about a Mormon couple who drifted away from their religion and their removal of the secret magic underwear as the symbolic last step in leaving the faith, I got a link to a site called Mormon’s Secret, paralleling Victoria’s Secret, that purports to sell sexy versions of Mormon underwear. Intrigued, I followed it up and their catalog is, frankly, limited. As far as I can tell (not being a Mormon myself), the merchandise seems like the genuine thing, that this is a site that, while tongue-in-cheek, sells actual stuff. [Read more…]

Changing tax exemptions for charities and religions

Via Machines Like Us, I learned of this article that points out that the cost of the tax exemptions granted to religion groups could work out to as much as $71 billion per year. Both articles were based on a study by Ryan T. Cragun, Stephanie Yeager, and Desmond Vega at the University of Tampa that was published in Free Inquiry, put out by the Council of Secular Humanism, so the exact figure may be challenged by those who claim that it is not an impartial source. [Read more…]

Conviction obtained in the Catholic abuse cover up

While much of the attention has focused on the guilty verdict in the Jerry Sandusky case, another case may have even greater long-term impact when it comes to the sexual abuse of children.

Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia, whose case I discussed before, was convicted of child endangerment because of his role in covering up abuse of children and could face 10 to 20 years in prison. He was acquitted of the charge of conspiracy. The jury was deadlocked on the rape and child endangerment charges of another priest James Brennan.

This verdict is significant for three reasons. One is because Lynn was not accused of abuse himself but of covering up the crime, and there is ground to think that a large number of senior clergy in the Catholic hierarchy are guilty of similar things. The second is that he is the highest ranking member of the Catholic Church in the US to be convicted of crimes involving abuse. The third is that the police and prosecutors seem to have overcome at least partially their ‘respect for religion’ nonsense and reluctance to treat religious leaders, especially high ranking ones, the way they treat other suspected criminals. The slowness of the Brooklyn district attorney to prosecute sexual abuse cases involving Orthodox Jews in the Brooklyn Hasidic community is an example of such reluctance. Shmarya Rosenberg has been chronicling all the abuses in that community.

All these factors must be causing sleepless nights for many high ranking religious people who were involved in such cover-ups and were effectively enablers of such acts.

The case against accommodationism

As most readers of this blog likely know, the two groups known as ‘accommodationists’ and ‘new atheists’ take different approaches with respect to their relationship to religion.

Accommodationists are those who believe that either:

(a) science and religion are compatible; or
(b) science and religion are incompatible but that it is strategically advisable to not say so openly.

The reason given for the latter position is that by asserting incompatibility, new atheists are forcing the religious to choose between science and religion and that, given the strong hold religion has on people, most of them will abandon science in favor of religion. They worry that this will result in a reduction in the public acceptance of science in general and evolution in particular and undermine its teaching in schools. [Read more…]

Double standards for irrational beliefs

Via Jerry Coyne, I came across an excellent 2006 essay titled My God Problem by science journalist Natalie Angier in which she tackles something that also bothers me, which is the way that so many scientists seem to be so concerned about surveys that show low levels of acceptance of the theory of evolution while ignoring, let alone trying to counter, evidence of much worse anti-scientific thinking. [Read more…]

The seven stages on the journey to atheism

I finally got around to seeing Julia Sweeney’s 2007 monologue performance Letting Go of God, where she describes her journey from being a good Catholic girl to an atheist in adulthood. It was funny, informative, and moving, as she describes the kinds of questions that occurred to her and the answers she sought from her parents, her priest, other religions, and her readings, before she finally accepted that she was, in effect, an atheist. [Read more…]