Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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Meta
Category Archives: Religion
Nicholas Humphrey, LEAPS OF FAITH
Subtitle: “Science, Miracles, and the Search for Supernatural Consolation” (Basic Books, Jan. 1996, 244pp, including 20pp notes and index) (Chatto & Windus, 1995, as Soul Searching: Human Nature and Supernatural Belief) Here’s a book I read when it came out, … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Isaac Asimov, MInd, Religion
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Crime, Hypocrisy, Fraud & Abuse, Doing Your Own Research, Cafeteria Religion, and Christian Presumption
Crime rates are falling; crime is not a national emergency; Why do people think otherwise? Republicans criticize Democrats for what they are doing now; Why do Republicans think there is so much fraud and abuse everywhere? Why “doing your own … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Politics, Religion
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86 Hypocrisy, Our Puritan Legacy, and Belief in God
86 47, and 86 46; The GOP’s new anti-porn bill, and the US’s puritan legacy; Richard Dawkins on belief in god. – – – I almost thought this would be too trivial to mention, except that Heather leads last night’s … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Religion
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Supreme Court, Christian Nationalists, Afrikaners
Amanda Marcotte on how the Supreme Court has been captured by far-right conspiracy theories; How the simplest explanation for what’s going on, on several fronts, is basic white supremacy; About Russell Vought; Trump’s morality and his rationale for accepting Afrikaner … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Morality, Politics, Religion
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Shades of Baseless Certainty
Sean Hannity thinks the new pope is too liberal, and Hannity (of course) lies about crime; MTG thinks Catholics are evil; how RFK Jr thinks that the new Surgeon General being unqualified makes her a perfect choice; MAGA’s “soft eugenics” … Continue reading
Academic Freedom, Good Citizens, and Moving Forward
Alan Lightman on academic freedom; Alan Lightman and Martin Rees on how scientists can be good citizens; Rewatching Conclave, and recalling two key quotes, about certainty, and moving forward. – – – The very idea of academic freedom, of freedom … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, progress, Religion, Science, Social Progress
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Who’s Happiest and Why?
Phil Zuckerman on that World Happiness Report; A NYT article about alternatives to religion; Recalling mythos and logos; Richard Dawkins on how reality is so much more interesting than religion, And Vox on social trends that may affect religious affiliations. … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Religion, Science
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Tribal Warpaint
How Trump doesn’t want to govern, and rejects the idea of American government as a collaboration; How the idea of consumer choice led to the idea of being gay; Trump and covid.gov rewrite the history, as authoritarians do; How Trump … Continue reading
The Latest Cultural War Conservatives are Losing
How Conservatives keep badgering the law even as they lose the culture war; Specifically, the Supreme Court case about banning books that Christians are uncomfortable with; Related: HHS is proposing defunding the LGBTQ+ suicide hotline; and Sam Alito misreads a … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Politics, Religion
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Perhaps Humanity Has Hit a Conceptual Ceiling
Alternate title: America was supposed to be better than this. Perhaps MAGA is about making America *simpler* again; perhaps what we’re seeing is a rejection of the complexity of the modern world; Why is it Americans love watching crime shows? … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Human Progress, Politics, Religion, science fiction
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