All entries by this author

Knowledge of the Bible in Decline in UK *

Jul 13th, 2009 | Filed by

That’s too bad, people are missing some good poetry and stories and rants.… Read the rest



Cats Manipulate Humans by Purring *

Jul 13th, 2009 | Filed by

Cats use a special ‘soliciting purr’ to annoy their humans into granting their every wish.… Read the rest



Sudan: Women Whipped for Wearing Trousers *

Jul 13th, 2009 | Filed by

Several Sudanese women have been flogged for dressing “indecently”, says a local journalist among them.… Read the rest



Karen Armstrong Explains What Religion Is *

Jul 13th, 2009 | Filed by

‘Religious doctrines make no sense unless accompanied by such spiritual exercises as yoga and a consistently compassionate lifestyle.’… Read the rest



Questions still outstanding

Jul 13th, 2009 11:43 am | By

I’ve made a list of questions for Chris Mooney (largely for him, since he’s done nearly all the posting on the subject and the questions arise from his posts as well as his book with Sheril Kirshenbaum). He’s ignored or evaded many questions over the last few weeks, and I thought it would be useful to have a list of the most pressing ones. Feel free to suggest additions.

1) What do you want? What do you mean? You say religion is private so we have no business prying into what people believe, but Kenneth Miller and Karl Giberson wrote books, Francis Collins wrote a book and has a website. The National Center for Science Education has … Read the rest



Big stupid honking mistake!

Jul 12th, 2009 12:21 pm | By

Cristina Odone occupies the first three paragraphs of her review of Does God Hate Women? pointing out a factual mistake – the name of one Afghan woman murdered for acting like a human being with a mind exchanged for the name of a different Afghan woman murdered for acting like a human being with a mind.

It’s a fair cop. The mistake is real. It’s mine. I have no idea how I managed it, but I did.

I didn’t realize I’d done it until the literary editor of The Observer asked our publisher (who asked us) about it, and I looked it up. That was Thursday I think. Jeremy and I had a set-to this morning about whether or not … Read the rest



Ireland: Catholic Clergy Brace for Next Report *

Jul 12th, 2009 | Filed by

Report will scrutinise how some of the country’s most senior prelates handled child abuse allegations.… Read the rest



Jimmy Carter on Religion and Misogyny *

Jul 12th, 2009 | Filed by

This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief.… Read the rest



Cristina Odone on Does God Hate Women? *

Jul 12th, 2009 | Filed by

Woman in short skirt is not at fault, therefore God is not at fault. Eh?… Read the rest



Be careful what you wish for

Jul 11th, 2009 5:00 pm | By

I’m deeply irritated. I’ll tell you why. If Chris Mooney can, I can. If Chris Mooney can single out PZ Myers for a damn good scolding not once but twice in his (and Kirshenbaum’s, but he’s the one with the PZ-vendetta) short book, then I can single out Chris Mooney for another in the privacy of this little place.

I know it’s futile. G ignores him, Josh says he should be ignored, and I’ve been ignoring him ever since he went all Matthew Nisbet on everyone’s ass. No bad things resulted from my ignoring him all this time, as far as I know, and I could have just continued to ignore him. But then he started up with the … Read the rest



PZ Myers on Francis Collins *

Jul 11th, 2009 | Filed by

Head of NIH is a political position; the appointment of a loudly evangelical Christian sends a political message. … Read the rest



Steven Pinker on Francis Collins *

Jul 11th, 2009 | Filed by

It is not a matter of private belief, but public advocacy. The director of NIH is a public face of science… Read the rest



Pope Tells Obama What to Do *

Jul 11th, 2009 | Filed by

Why not after all? Obama is an elected head of state, and the pope is…a catholic.… Read the rest



Oh, Moses – I Thought You Were So Original! *

Jul 11th, 2009 | Filed by

You can’t believe he’s going to say it – but he does.… Read the rest



The Tyranny of Sharia in the Netherlands *

Jul 11th, 2009 | Filed by

‘Everything in sharia law is discriminatory against women.’… Read the rest



7 Somalis Beheaded for Abandoning Islam *

Jul 11th, 2009 | Filed by

The mass beheadings follow many individual executions, amputations and stonings.… Read the rest



Brother Murders Two Sisters for ‘Mingling’ *

Jul 11th, 2009 | Filed by

The brother shot them in front of their father, who quickly forgave the son for defending the family’s honour.… Read the rest



Unscientific America and the ‘New’ Atheists

Jul 11th, 2009 | By P Z Myers

To return to Unscientific America again, I hardly touched on chapter 8, where they express their dismay at those uppity “New Atheists”. I am not going to address his personal criticisms of me — there’s no point, you obviously know I think he’s completely wrong, and the uncharitable will simply claim my disagreement is the result of a personal animus — so instead I’m only going to address a couple of other general points that Mooney and Kirshenbaum get completely wrong. They plainly do not understand the atheist position, and make claims that demonstrate that either they didn’t read any of the “New Atheist’s” books, or perhaps the simple ideas in them are too far beyond their comprehension.

This is … Read the rest



Padraig Reidy on Ireland’s Blasphemy Law *

Jul 10th, 2009 | Filed by

If it causes outrage to enough people, it’s blasphemy. … Read the rest



Religion, Science and the New Atheists *

Jul 10th, 2009 | Filed by

Conflict is at the heart of intellectual inquiry. When one side must pussyfoot around, inquiry is stymied.… Read the rest