Since earlier I mentioned the trouble Fazıl Say, a famous Turkish pianist, has run into due to his open atheism, here's an update. Apparently he has decided Turkey has become too intolerant of religious dissent, and that he would live in exile in Japan. (Where, let's face it, a classical pianist will be much better appreciated anyway.)And still, at the end of the news story, there's the obligatory lazy comment that "Turkey is an officially secular country."Well, maybe. Under some loose … [Read more...]

By and large, I'd prefer it if more people did not hold supernatural beliefs—or at least, if they did not hold politically potent supernatural beliefs. (While I'm at it, I'd also like world peace, for my knees to suddenly not show the effects of my age on the basketball court, and so on and so forth.)I'm not sure it matters much how such nonbelief would come about. Given my general cynicism about the human race, I don't expect that any widespread nonbelief would be due to careful, reflective … [Read more...]

Fazıl Say, a Turkish pianist of international renown, apparently has a twitter habit and a tendency to say what he thinks. And since in a couple of tweets he has expressed atheism and engaged in some light mockery of Islam, he is now under investigation by the office of the Public Prosecutor, under suspicion of violating a Turkish law against insulting religion.Once again, reason to be thankful I don't live in a Muslim country. … [Read more...]

Here's a religious rationale for some degree of secularism, as expressed by famous creationist Harun Yahya:“Muslim writer and intellectual, Harun Yahya, believes that “secularism is the safeguard of Islam.” Instead, he says, of the hypocrisy of women with very little religion, dressed in long black robes, or men in white robes and long beards, we must distinguish Muslims by the integrity of their lives and the goodness of their characters. Secularism, he believes, allows those with no … [Read more...]

I don't know if secularism was ever as much a consensus position as we sometimes think. But I do think it's weaker today. Consider some recent examples of conservative religious pushback against even rather mild secularist political positions.First, the United States. Take a look, if you can, at "In Defense of Religious Freedom A Statement by Evangelicals and Catholics Together." There's an awful lot of theological blather in it about justifying "religious freedom," which tries to make it … [Read more...]

Chris Mooney has an interesting post, citing recent research by Gordon Gauchat that shows a noticeable decline in trust in science among political conservatives in the United States, over the past few decades.There isn't much that I know of in this sort of research that would help me estimate what the contribution of conservative religiosity is to the lack of trust in science. It could be interesting to disentangle, say, a supernaturalist reaction against the naturalistic tendency of modern … [Read more...]

I've been looking at some social psychology research concerning the so-called "Millennial" generation, in their twenties today. (I figure it doesn't hurt to know more about my students.)Often, the research finds that the Millennials are an obnoxious, shallow, and stupid bunch. (OK, that's my take on it. But basically, reading the survey results, my usual reaction is that I hate most of them.)But since Millennials tend towards self-centered consumerism and moral individualism (even more than the … [Read more...]

Well, I'm back from my trip to Norway and Sweden, and when you add this to my previous trip to Denmark, I can now pretend to be an expert on all things Scandinavian.Still, I did have a chance to ask locals (humanities and social science types, mostly) about whether the Scandinavian reputation for secularity and irrelevance of religion to much of the population is accurate. The answers I got were mostly yes. Some observed that newagey paranormal beliefs can be very popular, but it's also true … [Read more...]