Category Archives: Religion

For Creationists, Intellectual Inquiry is a Sin

Posted on Monday 10 February 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern comments about a new HBO documentary, Questioning Darwin: The Cruelty of Creationism. Intellectual freedom is one of humanity’s greatest gifts—and biggest burdens. Our ability to ask questions, to test ideas, to doubt is what separates us … Continue reading →

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Creationists and Curiosity

Posted on Monday 10 February 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Terry Firma doesn’t think the creationists who held up questions about evolution (in that Buzzfeed set of photos last week) were really interested in the answers. Just (Not) Curious: When Creationists Ask Questions, Are They Interested In the Answers? It … Continue reading →

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Mooney on our not-to-scientific minds

Posted on Saturday 8 February 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s an article by Chris Mooney that captures the essence of my own interest in matters of evolution and cosmology and their religious detractors. (These matters aren’t ‘debates’ or ‘controversies’ except in the minds of those blinkered by religious indoctrination. … Continue reading →

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More Questions and Answers

Posted on Friday 7 February 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Jerry Coyne links the flip side of the Buzzfeed post the other day, this time with questions from evolution-friendly young folk to creationists. He doesn’t need to answer them, but has occasional comments: [D]o creationists think that all evolutionists (and … Continue reading →

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Five Reasons Why Secular Humanism Is Winning

Posted on Wednesday 5 February 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Despite the anguishing of right-wingnuts over science and gays, the trend in society is apparently away from fundamentalism. http://civitashumana.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/5-reasons-secular-humanism-is-winning/. To summarize: 1, the current generation is more secular than ever 2, religion has become less fundamental 3, modern scientific research … Continue reading →

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Comments about the Ken Ham/Bill Nye Debate

Posted on Wednesday 5 February 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

A selection of comments about the Ken Ham/Bill Nye debate (which I didn’t watch). I think this is a demonstration about how some people think, and others don’t — they ‘believe’. (This divide between thinking and being is in a … Continue reading →

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Link Dump: Sites and Resources

Posted on Saturday 25 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m going through a whole bunch of links that I’ve bookmarked over the past couple years — some of which I should link as ‘resources’ in my right sidebar, perhaps — but for now will note in this post. Sites: … Continue reading →

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Fundamentalist Curricula

Posted on Friday 24 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

An essay posted both at Alternet and Salon this week; I’m a High School Atheist Going to Christian School That Uses a Curriculum Written by Fundamentalists; both posts subtitled the article “If teaching ‘God’s point of view’ requires blatant mistruths, … Continue reading →

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A-Unicornist

Posted on Monday 20 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

There are dozens or hundreds of blogs on the web to reflect any interest, and there is only so much time in the day to keep up on any set of them. So my bookmarked list of sites to check … Continue reading →

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Deciding What Is True

Posted on Monday 20 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

First [reposted from my Facebook page], a fascinating article in The Atlantic (via Andrew Sullivan) about how Rush Limbaugh decides what is true. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/how-rush-limbaugh-decides-what-is-true/283078/ Essentially, if someone is a conservative (the example is Clarence Thomas), Limbaugh *knows* they are innocent … Continue reading →

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