This cartoon illustrates a point I have been trying to make a lot this week, about the importance of information literacy. It comes via the Union of Concerned Scientists 2013 cartoon contest. Click through to see several more cartoons on the same theme of science denialism. Read more
Someone drew attention to this image which they spotted on a Facebook page, “Evolution's Family Tree”: I tried to respond to it in a manner that the maker of the image might be able to understand. And so I left a comment that it is antievolutionism that is a tool of Satan. It is a movement that encourages deceit about evidence and misunderstanding about scientific conclusions. It is a stance that distracts people from loving their enemies self-sacrificially as Jesus... Read more
I am grateful to David Mihalyfy for sending me a copy of his recent article, and I want to draw it to the attention of readers who have an interest in the Coptic language. The full title of the article is “RE-EXAMINING SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION IN COPTIC: A Case For The Intervocalic And Post-Nasal Allophonic Voicing Of Obstruents.” In essence, the argument is that Coptic resembles other languages where one written letter may be used to represent different consonant sounds,... Read more
I recently had a conversation with someone on Facebook who was persuaded that students can be expected to learn for themselves how to discern good information from bad on the internet, and that their instincts will serve them well without their needing to worry about whether the sources they turn to reflect the work of credentialed experts or anonymous individuals. I disagreed, and still do. Here is a link to a recent article in Haaretz about what students are liable... Read more
Today in my Sunday school class we took a detour from Hebrews. Last time we had reached the phrase “eternal judgment” and the question came up of whom the author of the letter envisaged being judged, and on what basis. And so I suggested that taking a look at the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. This parable is a serious problem for the sort of Christian theology which says that belief is what really matters,... Read more
Sorry for not wishing you a Happy Towel Day earlier in the day! Read more
Matthew Montonini and Mark Goodacre have kindly made available a series of lectures on New Testament theology by renowned New Testament scholar George Caird, which Jeffrey Gibson had in his possession and has made available. Matthew has an organized index of the files, and you can also access the directory with the (as yet unlabeled and unsorted) mp3s on Mark’s web site. Read more
Today I finally got to see Star Trek Into Darkness this afternoon. I had not tried to scrupulously avoid spoilers, and so I had some sense of some details that would be coming. I had even heard some complaints from longtime fans. My feelings about the movie were on the whole positive, indeed I really enjoyed it over all. But there are a few quibbles to be voiced as relate to the way that J. J. Abrams has gone about... Read more
Eye on the ICR has a post about the discovery of some soft material from a dead dinosaur that had survived down to the present day. Not surprisingly, some young-earth creationists have tried to misrepresent it in order to imply that it shows that dinosaurs lived more recently. But it does nothing of the sort, obviously. Such finds are rare, and so this is not an indication that a short time has passed since the dinosaur died. The interesting question... Read more
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