Monthly Archives: May 2026

Superficial Christianity on Full Display

Posted on Monday 18 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Things said at last weekend’s prayer rally, and how they strike me as unhinged from reality; Heather Cox Richardson’s take: a turning away from “Enlightenment values of natural rights, equality, and self-government to one that requires Americans to accept that … Continue reading →

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Settling Back Into the Middle Ages

Posted on Sunday 17 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How the US is sliding back into the Middle Ages: demons, teleportation, religious practice; re-enchantment or cognitive limitations? Where real enchantment lies; About the prayer festival on the National Mall; The “universe” of Christianity; Two items about St. Paul. – … Continue reading →

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The World Marches On, With or Without the US

Posted on Saturday 16 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

An idea to anticipate, not react to, car accidents; How American under Trump and MAGA is moving exactly backwards in dependence on fossil fuels; Florida is whitewashing the history of slavery; Men who want women to be quiet: this idea … Continue reading →

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Haidt’s Graduation Speech, and More

Posted on Friday 15 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Jonathan Haidt’s graduation speech: choose your attention, do hard things, make personal connections; Like billionaires, what Christian nationalists have is never enough: now they want to inscribe “In God We Trust” on every Federal Building in the US; Amanda Marcotte … Continue reading →

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Messier objects; Rebecca Solnit; Jonathan Haidt

Posted on Thursday 14 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A chart showing the actual relative sizes of the Messier objects; Rebecca Solnit on the potential for imminent revolutionary change; Jonathan Haidt’s graduation speech, today. – – – Now this is cool. The Messier objects, fuzzy objects in the sky … Continue reading →

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Categories, Scales, a Public Health Triumph, and How the So-Called Experts Have Been Right

Posted on Wednesday 13 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservatives like categories, especially binary ones: two examples. Including the claim that what makes a man gay is liberalism; NYT updates its Autocracy Index, 12 markers of democratic erosion; Conservative panic over falling reproduction rates seen instead as a public … Continue reading →

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Dan Barker, CONTRADUCTION

Posted on Wednesday 13 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

(UK: Hypathia Press, 2024, 111pp, including References but no index) Dan Barker (Wikipedia) is an atheist writer who was once an evangelical Christian pastor. I read one of his earlier books, LIFE DRIVEN PURPOSE (review here), which challenged Rick Warren’s … Continue reading →

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New Ideas in the World

Posted on Tuesday 12 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Has a new circulation system been found in the human body that might explain why acupuncture seems to work? Has a new framework been found that explains how the laws of nature varied at the start of the universe before … Continue reading →

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Recalling American Life Before Vaccines, Including My Own

Posted on Monday 11 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A remembrance of America before vaccines; How the DOGE-ing of the Humanities is being reversed, fortunately; Briefly noted: Trump’s intuitive thinking is wrong about vaccines and autism; a Republican who thinks racial discrimination is a thing of the past, as … Continue reading →

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Cooperation Is the Key to Human Advancement

Posted on Sunday 10 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A counterpoint to zero-sum thinking from Japan, and cooperation; Tennessee shows how to rig an election; Short items on Trump, the Pope, and the Bible; now RFK Jr. is worried about jello; how a Christian conspiracy theorist now admits to … Continue reading →

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