This is part of a series of posts which tackles sexual ethics and debating strategies (but not at the same time). Although I thought Christopher Yuan presented a reasonably compassionate explanation of his beliefs about sexual morality when he came to Yale, there were some parts of his talk that made my hair stand on end. I honestly don’t know whether some parts of his talk were intended to be subtly derogatory of gay people and gay culture. I’m a debater, so... Read more
This is part of a series of posts which tackles sexual ethics and debating strategies (but not at the same time). To get an overview of the controversy under consideration, check out yesterday’s summary post of the controversy that erupted when an ex-gay speaker came to campus (which has now been updated to include a link to the explanatory/apologetic letter from the groups that invited him). The talk was an anti-climax. Prior to Yuan’s arrival, I’d gotten plenty of tip-off emails from the... Read more
I’m off to face down Tristyn of Eschatological Psychosis and other fine speakers tonight at the Yale Political Union’s annual Party Prize debate (though I fear the topic “Resolved: Don’t Fear the Reaper” plays to the formidable strengths of someone whose blog includes the tags “Death is the prize” “Tom Waits is the soundtrack to my life” and “Yugoslavia is just a dance party.” Ok, maybe not that last one as much, but who knows?). I’m definitely looking forward to... Read more
This entry marks 250 posts since I started blogging this past summer, and I’m still enjoying it immensely. Two hundred and fifty is pretty fun, but the number I’m prouder of is 1,851 — the number of comments you all have posted since I started. The conversations and clarifications that play out in the comment threads are fascinating and invaluable to me. And now would be a perfect time to head to the thread attached to this post if you... Read more
Brandon Watson, a philosophy professor who blogs at Siris, has taken a crack at one of the questions that came up when I asked for questions for Christian pastors. P. Coyle asked Christians to explain whether they though God had moral obligation and why (and this question has become a major thread in our discussions of God’s mandated genocides in the Old Testament). Watson has given a rundown of the most common explanations, explained why he finds some to be... Read more
Because what’s the use of a blog that brings together Christians and atheists if it doesn’t take time to snark on bad science reporting/bad study methodology? I like geeking out about this, but if it’s not your cup of tea, never fear: the next post in queue covers the ex-gay lecture I mentioned I was attending on Friday. UPDATE: Thanks to Darksmiles for pointing out an error in this post. I misread the scale of some of the graphs in... Read more
–1– Blogger’s rolling out new features, so I figured I should let you know that you can now read this blog in any of the five new dynamic templates. Of the five, I only like the sidebar view and, to be honest, I find Blogger’s enthusiasm about this new feature to be a little hilarious. I’m not planning to start viewing blogs this way (especially since I mostly read them on Google Reader, rather than their actual pages), but let me... Read more
Following a link from A Practical Heretic, I came across a rather bizarre portrait of religion at New Scientist. Kate Douglas appears to be working her way through a series titled “Starting Over” where she imagines how you would redesign certain institutions and conventions if you weren’t limited by prior practice. She’s looked at timekeeping, toilets, and voting, and this week she turned her attention to religion. By the end of the article, she’s designed a faith that Alex Knapp described as... Read more
The giant comment thread at “Is it so hard not to desecrate a Eucharist” has been heating up again over the last few days, and I want to do a recap of why I think P.Z. Myers’s stunt was bad instrumentally for atheism and bad ethically for any individual atheist. Here’s the rundown: There’s no way to get your hands on a consecrated wafer for the purpose of desecration ethically This is a pretty prosaic point and was the focus... Read more
This is a new feature for the site, where I’m going to try to pull a specific conversation/controversy out of the comments of a previous post and put it back in front of everyone. I always find it a little harder to follow these involved disputes when they get argued piecemeal in the comments, interspersed amid whatever other arguments are taking place. And just a reminder: if you’re trying to make a lengthy defense of your position in the comments,... Read more
Unequally Yoked
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