Pat Robertson, atheism’s friend

I really like Pat Robertson. Whenever something major happens, he can be counted upon to unfailingly say the wrong thing. For example, most religious people think that prayer can nudge god into overcoming the laws of nature but they also have the sense that to blame deadly natural disasters on insufficient prayer, while being a perfectly logical consequence of that belief, may sound callous and be ridiculed, and so they refrain from doing so. [Read more…]

The Mormon church, racism, and Mitt Romney

When it comes to religions, they all have such weird beliefs that comparing them to see which ones are more bizarre is futile. Can we really say that Scientology is crazier than Islam, Mormonism than Judaism? Bahaism than Christianity? How does one measure levels of craziness to enable such comparisons? And yet, people often do make just such judgments. [Read more…]

On sluts and prostitutes

I do not pay much attention to Rush Limbaugh. As far as I know, he has never said anything insightful and his shtick seems to be, like Ann Coulter, to say outrageous things just to gain attention. I usually just ignore them but his recent outburst against Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, repeatedly calling her a slut and a prostitute, was quite extraordinary. I didn’t think that even he would sink so low. [Read more…]

Iran and nuclear weapons

One of the ways that political discourse is controlled is by limiting the range of options that are considered ‘reasonable’. In the case of Iran’s nuclear program, it is taken for granted that for that country to obtain a nuclear weapon means the end of the world, that the country’s leadership is committed to doing so, and so the only options are whether we should bomb them immediately or [Read more…]

The presidential right to murder

Attorney general Anthony Holder finally came out yesterday with a speech that ‘justified’ the Obama administration’s claim that it can summarily murder American citizens. And, no surprise, it reveals an administration that has nothing but contempt for the rule of law and fundamental constitutional protections of life and liberty, provided for by the right to due process. [Read more…]