Category Archives: Religion

Education, Religion, Policies that Don’t Work, the Revolt Against Expertise

Posted on Sunday 25 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Heather Cox Richard on the history of government suppression of education, especially as inspired by religion; The GOP keeps promoting policies that history has shown don’t work; The revolt against expertise, yet again. – – – Heather Cox Richardson reviews … Continue reading →

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Nicholas Humphrey, LEAPS OF FAITH

Posted on Saturday 24 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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Crime, Hypocrisy, Fraud & Abuse, Doing Your Own Research, Cafeteria Religion, and Christian Presumption

Posted on Saturday 24 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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86 Hypocrisy, Our Puritan Legacy, and Belief in God

Posted on Saturday 17 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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Supreme Court, Christian Nationalists, Afrikaners

Posted on Friday 16 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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Shades of Baseless Certainty

Posted on Thursday 8 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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Academic Freedom, Good Citizens, and Moving Forward

Posted on Tuesday 6 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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Who’s Happiest and Why?

Posted on Monday 28 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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Tribal Warpaint

Posted on Sunday 27 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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The Latest Cultural War Conservatives are Losing

Posted on Wednesday 23 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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