Category Archives: Religion

Age of Ignorance

Posted on Tuesday 14 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Via Paul Fidalgo’s blog at CFI, an essay by Charles Simic, in The New York Review of Books, from about two years ago. http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/mar/20/age-of-ignorance/ In the past, if someone knew nothing and talked nonsense, no one paid any attention to … Continue reading →

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Atheism as Luxury?

Posted on Thursday 9 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Connor Wood, at Science on Religion: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/scienceonreligion/2014/01/does-atheism-arise-from-wealth/#more-1015 Because ritual and conformance are easy. There’s good evidence that atheism and secularism are much more costly, in terms of sheer energy expenditure, than religious ways of organizing society. Conclusion: So is atheism … Continue reading →

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Why Religion Is Oppressive

Posted on Thursday 9 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

http://www.alternet.org/why-so-much-religion-oppressive Subtitle: “The rules of the Abrahamic religions may have once helped societies survive and thrive. But in a modern context many are change-averse and oppressive.” Another example of how I feel the morals of religions are based in the … Continue reading →

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End of 2013 Links and Comments

Posted on Saturday 4 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s been busy over the holidays, with family events and whatnot, so here is a belated list of links and comments from the past couple weeks. Salon: 10 signs that religious fundamentalism is going down One could hope. Religious fundamentalism … Continue reading →

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Your Brain on Religion

Posted on Saturday 4 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Interesting article today on Salon, an excerpt from a book by D.F. Swaab, about to be published. This is your brain on religion: Uncovering the science of belief I especially agree with this, the first paragraph: As far as I’m … Continue reading →

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Two Interesting Articles

Posted on Friday 27 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Lee looks at the current political climate and what may be coming next. The Rising of the Sun The cause of these convulsions is privileged distress on a massive scale, as white Christian conservatives realize they’re losing their power … Continue reading →

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Sin against mankind

Posted on Monday 23 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Back to reading that A.C. Grayling book, and can’t resist documenting for the record this passage that Grayling quotes by one W.K. Clifford: It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. If a man, … Continue reading →

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Links and Quotes about that Duck guy

Posted on Monday 23 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

I’d never heard of him or his show, until this past week. The controversy exposes a deep rift in American culture… which has always been there, I realize. Those of use who are forward looking, progressive, like to think the … Continue reading →

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New Ten Commandments

Posted on Friday 20 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Came across this recently, The New Ten Commandments which strikes me as eminently sensible and admirable. This is from a blogger named Adam Lee, who posts at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism and who’s published a book by the same name. He makes a … Continue reading →

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Hitchens and the Speculative End of Religion

Posted on Wednesday 18 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

There have been several online articles in recent days about Christopher Hitchens, author of god is not great [lower cases intentional], who died just two years ago. Jerry Coyne checks in on rival takes on Christopher Hitchens, both on Salon, … Continue reading →

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