The Secular Spectrum
Guest contributor Kate Harveston explores some surprising commonalities between atheists and Christians. Read more
Guest contributor Kate Harveston explores some surprising commonalities between atheists and Christians. Read more
Free speech has evolved, and the right wing knows it. After being de-platformed by Berkeley radio station KPFA in July, Richard Dawkins commiserated with a very chummy Laura Ingraham at FOX News: INGRAHAM: What do you think about just free speech in general today? College campuses, expanding the conversation, we saw what happened even at Middlebury College in Vermont, not far from where I went to school, Berkeley, obviously, with the riots. There seems to be very little place for... Read more
What has happened to science writing? Not long ago it was the domain of intellectual scientists, well versed in philosophy and the humanities, who wrote to inspire the imaginations of readers. Now it seems like the market is flooded with books written by scientists with no interest in poetry or philosophy, books full of factoids to be used in online debates, but devoid of imagination. As our society’s conception of science gets more narrow and literal, so too does its... Read more
This is a talk I delivered to the Yale Humanist Community of New Haven, Connecticut at one of their monthly gatherings called Humanist Haven on October 15, 2017. I extend my deepest gratitude to the Executive Director, Kathleen Green, and the extraordinary people of YHC who dream of a better world, like us all. Julian Baggini, founding editor of The Philosopher’s Magazine, and author, co-author of twenty books and quite involved in the study of religious and atheist dialogue, shares... Read more
The National Assembly of the Canadian province of Quebec passed a law Wednesday that prohibits people who cover their face from receiving public services or being employed by the government of the province. As the New York Times reports, many observers characterize this move as an exclusively anti-Muslim ordinance. Islamophobia as Public Policy What is the motivation for this kind of legislation? The Times quotes Quebec’s Minister of Justice, the bill’s sponsor, as saying the bill is intended to “foster social... Read more
The matter of GMOs in Africa expose the alliance between science and big business; discussions about it show the racism in the science-fan blogosphere. African Famine, and What Else Is New? The Ugandan Parliament, faced with a food crisis, recently passed the National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill. This legislation allows for the regulated use of GMO crops in this drought-stricken African nation. The controversy surrounding this legislation was fierce, but what was it all about? According to a columnist at... Read more
The scientific view of the universe isn’t wrong, but it’s not complete. What’s missing is meaning. Excluding the Subjective Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Even though I suspect Jordan Peterson’s average is lower than that, he made a remarkably perceptive comment in his discussion with Stefan Molyneux earlier this year. (I’m not going to link the video; if you really need to see and hear two right-wing gasbags backslap each other for an hour and pretend... Read more
My least favorite science-fan meme douched up science march season earlier this year. “The good thing about SCIENCE is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson A Facebook friend-of-a-friend posted this among other “awesome” science signs he saw at the science march he attended this past Spring. I realize that protest sign slogans can’t in themselves be faulted for oversimplification. But in my experience, people really do consider this slogan a pithy phrase... Read more
If you can’t fight speech codes with logic and reason, hit ’em with science-words! In the right wing’s ongoing crusade against academia, speech codes have become the latest battlefield. Universities have come under fire for imposing rules about appropriate speech designed to create a more welcoming and respectful atmosphere on campuses for people who’ve been victims of oppression or violence. Free speech absolutists say this is an unconscionable infringement of the “free exchange of ideas,” but so far universities have... Read more
It’s time we acknowledge that science is still being used to denigrate women. Bro Science The brouhaha over the Google memo stoked the paranoia of all the science bros: right-wing dung nozzle Quillette ran an article called “The Google Memo: Four Scientists Respond,” in which the Google memo got dusted off and praised for its bravery in speaking truth to the politically-correct powers that be. Anyone not quite as infatuated with the pseudoscience of evolutionary psychology as Quillette‘s editors should... Read more
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