Richard Hoppe is pondering the creationists' motivations for opposing the teaching of evolution, and argues that it is the fear for their children's souls. And no amount of scientific facts will have any impact on most of them, he says.
A few days ago I attended a reading by Ed Larson, author of Summer for the Gods, Evolution’s Workshop, and most recently (just out last week), Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory. During the Q&A Ed told of meeting a biologist at a conservative southern university (that I won’t name here) who said that when evolution is being taught in a biology course required for pre-meds, students of the fundamentalist Christian persuasion make a practice of staying in the back of the lecture hall and holding hands and praying. No amount of scientific reasoning is an antidote to the kind of cognitive blocking exemplified by that behavior.
Probably. But what doesn't work immediately, can have an effect on people some years down the line.
But according to the office of Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Texas Unitarian church isn't really a religious organization - at least for tax purposes. Its reasoning: The organization "does not have one system of belief."
It's a western-centric view of religion to assume it is all about "belief." Religions are so diverse that the only safe course is to conclude that those groups that call themselves religions, are religions (and rather allow for scams like $cientolgy and hoaxes like jedism).
KISS bass player Gene Simmons (remember him? Devil mask and long tongue) has caused an uproar after lashing out at Muslims while touring Australia.
"Extremism believes that it's okay to strap bombs on to your children and send them to paradise and whatever else and to behead people," he said yesterday.
The Israeli-born US musician went on to say Islam was a "vile culture" that treated women worse than dogs.
Muslim women had to walk behind their men and were not allowed to be educated or own houses, he said.
"Your dog, however, can walk side by side, your dog is allowed to have its own dog house... you can send your dog to school to learn tricks, sit, beg, do all that stuff - none of the women have that advantage."
He went on to say the west was under threat.
He's now learning that overbroad generalisations can easily backfire. Too bad, because the the old glam rocker has a point.
Blogger Classical Values argues that 9/11 conspiracy theories are becoming mainstream. A nice roundup of useful links to nutcase and debunking articles alike.
A big catalyst for 9/11 conspiracy theories becoming mainstream is Michael Moore's "documentary" Fahrenheit 9/11, which just won the Palme d'Or in Cannes. This BBC review of the movie points to a number of nutty conspiracy claims from the ruthlessly dishonest filmmaker:
The Afghanistan section - including a screen shot of a BBC News Online story - is a claim that the military action in Afghanistan was really about laying a natural gas pipeline across the country.
This claim is so ridiculous it speaks volumes that Moore includes it. It is not precisely for lack of seriousdebunking. And now, mainstream media will uncritically repeat those claims.
Political odd couple Bill Clinton and Bob Dole agreed Friday that infantile partisanship was weakening the United States' ability to counter terrorism and deal with other national problems.
