Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 2

Posted on Wednesday 10 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Why Science and Religion are Incompatible” (Viking, May 2015, xxii + 311pp, including 46pp of acknowledgements, notes, references,and index) (Earlier: post 1) Summary: Chapter 2: What’s Incompatible? This chapter considers science, religion, their incompatibility, and their conflicts of method, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 2

Intellectual Vacuity, False Christian History, and Stories

Posted on Tuesday 9 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

The Atlantic, Jonathan Chait, 9 Sept 2025: The Intellectual Vacuity of the National Conservatives, subtitled “The post-liberal American right set out to destroy the guardrails that restrained anti-Semitism, without giving any thought to what might happen next.” [gift link] This … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion | Comments Off on Intellectual Vacuity, False Christian History, and Stories

Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 1

Posted on Tuesday 9 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Why Science and Religion are Incompatible” (Viking, May 2015, xxii + 311pp, including 46pp of acknowledgements, notes, references,and index) For this next book, I’m going to split summary and notes up into multiple posts. And include some general comments … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 1

Suicide of American Greatness

Posted on Monday 8 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Stephen Greenblatt on how a scientific superpower is destroying itself; Scientists demolish Trump’s DOE report; Short items about the search for anti-Christian bias that’s turned up only petty grievances; Jim Wright wonders what Trump or MAGA actually *like* about America; … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Nature, Science | Comments Off on Suicide of American Greatness

How About a Nobel Prize for Belligerence?

Posted on Sunday 7 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

More about Trump’s actions vs his aspirations. You’d think Trump were running to win a Nobel Prize not for peace, but for belligerence. NY Times, David French, 7 Sept 2025: It Doesn’t Seem Wise to Let Trump Decide What War … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Culture, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on How About a Nobel Prize for Belligerence?

Simple Conservative Answers to Complex Problems

Posted on Saturday 6 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

RFK Jr blames autism on Tylenol; Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize but at every turn advocates war; Robert Reich on Trump and the art of extortion; They’re redacting the Epstein Files of Republicans only, is the rumor; Philip Glass: … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Morality, Music, Politics | Comments Off on Simple Conservative Answers to Complex Problems

Jesse Bering, THE BELIEF INSTINCT

Posted on Saturday 6 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life” (Norton, hardcover, 2011, 252pp, including 47pp notes, additional reading, and index.) (UK title The God Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny and the Meaning of Life, also 2011) I … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Jesse Bering, THE BELIEF INSTINCT

And the Moon Rose Over an Open Field

Posted on Friday 5 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman, with graphs, wonders why the right rejects progress; Robert Reich on why we don’t trust Donald Trump — because he disregards the truth; Hemant Mehta on how the “nones” aren’t exactly “godless”; How Trump is a Russian asset; … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Music, Politics, progress, Religion | Comments Off on And the Moon Rose Over an Open Field

Conservative Logic, or Illogic

Posted on Thursday 4 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

A note about my post about Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE; Florida ends vaccines mandates, because you shouldn’t be forced to follow laws, right?; How the GOP suddenly realizes some people should not be allowed guns; How Trump has learned to … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives | Comments Off on Conservative Logic, or Illogic

Margaret Atwood: THE HANDMAID’S TALE

Posted on Thursday 4 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(Houghton Mifflin, Feb. 1986, hardcover, 311pp) This is the US first edition hardcover, which I bought when it came out (it’s the first printing too), though the book was published in Canada the year before, in 1985. It’s 40 years … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Morality, Religion, science fiction | Comments Off on Margaret Atwood: THE HANDMAID’S TALE