On Sunday, July 27, two people were murdered during a service at the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Knoxville TN (a timeline of the event is here – start at the bottom, right before the comments section). As freethinkers and secular humanists, I think it is important to support UUs everywhere in this difficult time. The national UU association has set up a Knoxville Relief Fund and many UUs are holding vigils and services. Although I don’t feel comfortable attending a church service, I have made a donation to the Fund indicating my support. (Hat tip to Dan for the idea … Continue reading »
Jul 292008
Jul 262008
A few years ago, Senator McCain seemed like a moderate Republican who did the rare thing: think for himself. Apparently, I didn’t do a good job checking his record before reaching that judgment because he his voting record is clear: he’s against abortion and birth control and he’s been that way for decades. More importantly, he is voting the party line. An interesting article on McCain at AlterNet digs into his record. It is rather disturbing, especially since his pandering to women voters seems to be working despite his appallingly anti-feminist, anti-science record. Some choice votes summarized in the article: … Continue reading »
Jul 242008
PZ Myers posted the “desecration” of a cracker – the consecrated wafer used by Catholics during Mass – today, including a history of the murder of Jews who were – collectively – accused of desecrating crackers by (supposedly) stabbing them (and thus Jesus in the bizarre logic of the Catholic church). In commemoration of these persecutions, Myers also stabbed the cracker by piercing a rusty nail through it. However, he didn’t stop there. He also pinned down a copy of the Qur’an and The God Delusion. Yupp, that’s right: Richard Dawkins’ book. The point he was trying to make was … Continue reading »
Jul 112008
Last I checked, there was a period called The Enlightenment between our current time and the Dark Ages. But apparently not everyone has benefited from enlightenment as recent news make clear. As the Anglican church prepares to open their doors to women bishops, at least one current bishop is so distraught, he’s trying to switch religions: From Anglican to Catholic. My church history is a bit sketchy but wasn’t the Anglican church founded in protest of something the Catholics did? Oh, yes, some king of England didn’t get the divorce he wanted, so he just formed his own church. Okay, … Continue reading »
There are a couple of interesting recent studies that provide updates to the gender and science discussion between Harvard professors Steven Pinker and Elizabeth Spelke both pointing toward Spelke’s side of the argument that most, if not all, of the gender gap can be explained by the influence of social forces rather than by innate differences. First, there is an interesting post on the Feminist Philosophers’ blog that summarizes a NY Times article on gender discrimination at universities, clearly supporting Spelke’s side by documenting differential treatment of applicants depending on gender. Although Pinker might be correct that there are innate … Continue reading »
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