Category Archives: Religion

Noah and the Advance of Civilization

Posted on Tuesday 1 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

I haven’t seen Noah and am not particularly inclined to, but I was struck by an essay by David Plotz in Slate, Noah’s Environmental Views Are a Disaster. In the film’s worldview, according to Plotz, the corruption mankind brings across … Continue reading →

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Eternal Verities, Not

Posted on Tuesday 25 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Fascinating piece about how evangelical attitudes about abortion have changed dramatically since the 1960s, when Biblical passages were cited to deny that fetuses had souls and therefore abortions weren’t so bad. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/03/hobby_lobby_and_contraception_how_conservative_evangelicals_went_from_not.html What changed? Politics, the article explains, to the … Continue reading →

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Cosmos and Creationism

Posted on Tuesday 25 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

A writer at Think Progress says that Cosmos is, indirectly, giving a lot of time to creationist ideas, despite the creationist critics demanding equal time (for nonsense vs sense, apparently). http://thinkprogress.org/culture/2014/03/25/3418425/creationism-is-getting-a-lot-of-time-on-cosmos/ By discussing standard creationist arguments about the impossible perfectibility … Continue reading →

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Religion and Science, Natural or Not

Posted on Tuesday 25 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Connor Wood summarizes the thesis of Robert McCauley’s book Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not. McCauley believes that maturationally natural systems get at the core difference between science and religion – religion relies on them, while science shuns … Continue reading →

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The Cozy Cosmos vs. Growing Up

Posted on Friday 21 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Some religious folks don’t like Cosmos because they prefer a cozy universe with human beings at the very center: nice article by Adam Lee about Why Small-Minded Religious Fundamentalists Are Threatened by Wonders of Universe. For the vast majority of … Continue reading →

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Sophisticated Theology, Proofs of God, Humanism, Religious Persecution, Morality

Posted on Thursday 20 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

I got the book! You know, the one with the best arguments for God Jerry Coyne lists books to read before criticizing atheism (just as theists keep issuing books about the ‘best’ arguments for god which they insists atheists must … Continue reading →

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Changing My Mind

Posted on Monday 17 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Here is something I’ve changed my mind about, recently, based on the evidence. I used to think you could appeal to the rationality in any person, present evidence and establish a chain of reasoning, and cause a person to change … Continue reading →

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Evolutionary Politics

Posted on Monday 17 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Fascinating. Via Andrew Sullivan’s summary at Political Biology Chris Mooney looks at a book by Avi Tuschman about evolutionary accounts of politics— Conservatives, he suggests in one of three interrelated evolutionary accounts of the origins of politics, are a modern … Continue reading →

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God and Morality

Posted on Monday 17 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

The US is an outlier among nations whose peoples believe that belief in God is essential to morality. http://www.alternet.org/belief/no-you-dont-need-god-be-good-person The trend across the world is mirrored within the US: Not coincidentally, led again by Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, nine of … Continue reading →

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Truth-Claims?

Posted on Monday 17 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Jerry Coyne links to Sam Harris’ characterization of Christianity, in a long exchange with Nature science writer Philip Ball. There are more polite versions of this, but for anyone who did not grow up with this narrative and is an … Continue reading →

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