In What Sense Religious Scientists “Shouldn’t” Exist

Unqualified Offerings lives up to its moniker with this post: I often hear people explain that it is simply impossible to be a scientist and religious. They have eloquent arguments for why there shouldn’t be any people who are religious and also accomplished scientists. It’s a great, well-argued, self-consistent theory with impeccable logical foundations. There’s [...]

Bill Maher A Controversial Richard Dawkins Award Winner

Orac explains the prize (which is given by the Atheist Alliance, not Dawkins or his foundation themselves) : The Richard Dawkins Award will be given every year to honor an outstanding atheist whose contributions raise public awareness of the nontheist life stance; who through writings, media, the arts, film, and/or the stage advocates increased scientific [...]

Jeff Sharlet On The Family

Last night on Real Time With Bill Maher, Jeff Sharlet, the profiler of The Family:

Religion Is Not Truth Apt, Even When It’s A Scientist’s Religion

Rust Belt Philosophy criticizes Lisa Miller’s account of the criticisms of Collins as being an example of spineless mainstream media not willing to countenance the real crux of the challenge to his nomination: she manages to keep up the dry indifference and artificial neutrality of opinion that afflicts our media, all while studiously avoiding anything [...]

Is Collins Only Being Opposed Because He’s A Christian?

That’s Ken Miller’s charge in reply to Sam Harris’s Op-Ed from the weekend. PZ Myers argues it’s not that he’s simply a Christian but he seems willing to inappropriately his professional judgments with religious considerations: The head of the NIH can be a Christian, a Jew, a Moslem, even an atheist, and it won’t disturb [...]

The Mother Teresa Debate

Thanks to Unreasonable Faith for the find. Your Thoughts?

The Coming Clash At The Creationist Museum

On August 7, biologist, anti-creationist, activist atheist and blogger-extraordinaire PZ Myers will be headlining a massive convergence of secular evolutionist atheists (including a large contingent from the Secular Student Alliance) upon Ken Ham’s infamous “Creation Museum”. Myers and the Secular Student Alliance have been promoting participation in the big visit for weeks and yesterday, Myers [...]

How Atheists Can Avoid Other Fundamentalisms: By Focusing On Rationalism First And Foremost

I agree with this a whole lot (I most recommend the last link to PZ Myers’s assessment of Hitchens on war): The real-world implications of the “New Atheists” ideas are not insulated from the same dogmatism and intolerance that they decry. To get back to my original point about rationalism, the religious aspect is only [...]

On The Alleged Intolerance Of The New Atheists Towards “Faitheists”

In reply to Daniel Dennett’s attack on “belief in belief”, Patrick Appel wrote the following: I consider myself an agnostic or pantheist depending upon how you define such labels but still have an acute nostalgia for my Catholic upbringing. I find the certainty of some atheists and most fundamentalists deeply grating. In reply, one of [...]

Pat Condell Excoriates The Left For Not Standing Up To Islamism

There is a lot to chew on in this latest rant from Pat Condell on the need for the tolerant to be more intolerant of intolerant religions than they are intolerant of denouncers of intolerant religions.  While Condell’s  attack on multiculturalism is too broad and at times his rhetoric is cringe-inducingly counter-productive, I do share [...]