On making stuff up, featuring Michael Shermer on Colbert
When I first read this I laughed out loud. Courtesy of Jesus and Mo Once again, Jesus is right: Science is limited by its refusal to make stuff up. That is: He’s right if by “make stuff up” he means taking seriously ideas that do not have their grounding in the natural sciences. But, as [...]
Meet the new conspiracy
The phases of Venus as photographed in 2002 by Chris Proctor at the Torquay Boys’ Grammar School Observartory in Devon, England. It was Galileo’s observations of Venus’s phases that most powerfully argued against the ancient geocentric system of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy. Galileo’s observations did not convince anyone of the truth of the Copernican system, [...]
Meet good interatheist Chris Stedman
An inverted Chris Stedman and his “awful giraffe,” which I find rather endearing. Stedman is a humanist interfaith activist. Yes, you read that correctly. Image taken from NonProphet Status, Stedman’s blog Read Stedman’s shirt (in a mirror). It says “Good (Without God).” This particular atheist cliché always makes my head hurt. On one hand, as [...]
Introducing 114 and 116. Watch those shifty scientists
Back a few years ago Cobb County, a major suburban county in metro Atlanta (my hometown and current address), posted stickers in high school biology books that read, “This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open [...]
Worldwide arks!
A full-scale replica of Giraffa camelopardalis peers out from the deck of a full-scale replica of Noah’s Ark. This particular replica (of the ark, not the giraffe) is being built by Johan Huibers of Dordrecht, the Netherlands. Photo: Michel de Groot/The New York Times Just yesterday, the New York Times posted an article about a [...]
Who’s afraid of the dark?
Hawking at the Perimeter Institute For Theoretical Physics in Ontario, June 2010. Image source: Reuters. Photo by Sheryl Nadler Great news! The Wheeled One is going on about God again! Last time it was about our God-free “creation.” This time it’s about the afterlife. There’s a short but entertaining piece at Real Clear Science that [...]
Two days and counting: What about Fluffy?
An image from this video from After the Rapture Pet Care. Image source: timesunion.com Lo, the day draws nigh! The folks over at Family Radio must be all in a tizz. Why? Well, because Jesus is coming back on Saturday and he’s taking all the good people — them — back to heaven with him. [...]
XI. Thou shalt not speak before thinking
Fra Angelico, Peter Martyr Enjoins Silence, c.1441. Peter Martyr, known also as St. Peter of Verona, was an Italian Dominican friar whose preaching was responsible for returning many heretics, most notably Cathari, to orthodoxy. Catharism was a religious movement with dualist tendencies; that is, it held that there was a God of Good and a [...]
Leonard Pitts Jr. on the de-evolution of America
LPJ knows which end of the stick is up. Image source: The Salt Lake Tribune We have always loved Leonard Pitts Jr. for his insight, wit, and humanity. So we thought we’d pass along this piece to all Alert Readers. It pretty much speaks for itself, and certainly speaks for us when it comes to [...]
The end of faith? Bring it
And he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Anonymous, Jesus and the Rich Man, 11th century. Image source: Index of Armenian Art By all appearances, the end is near. That’s what the scientists are telling us, anyway. It seems that a group of specialists in the (really cool) field of nonlinear dynamics have [...]
