All entries by this author

Thomas Nagel Blurbs Intelligent Design Book *

Dec 1st, 2009 | Filed by

Nagel has blurbed Stephen Meyer’s Signature in the Cell as one of the books of the year for 2009.… Read the rest



Ashis Nandy and the Postcolonial Trap

Dec 1st, 2009 | By Joshua F. Leach

Had William Hazlitt written his essay “On Persons with One Idea” today, he would surely have found room for the field of postcolonial studies. It is a field with only one idea: namely, that imperialism and racism are such dominant features of modern life, and had such a foundational role in the construction of our present society, that they inform every aspect of our ideas, culture, and history. Postcolonialism is, in theory, anti-hierarchical and anti-oppressive. But because it has only one idea, it can easily become oppressive in practice, and to quite a large extent. To show that this is true within the context of one postcolonial scholar’s book, The Intimate Enemy by Ashis Nandy, is the purpose of this … Read the rest



The Old ‘Mental Reservation’ Trick *

Nov 30th, 2009 | Filed by

The church tells the press it co-operated with the Gardaí but it didn’t say it co-operated ‘fully’…… Read the rest



Libby Purves: Faith and Power Are a Bad Brew *

Nov 30th, 2009 | Filed by

Once you are convinced that you alone hold the truth, you build rich hierarchies of obedience, and then circle the wagons to protect your artificial structure. … Read the rest



Flawed Swiss Vote Wasn’t Just ‘Islamophobia’ *

Nov 30th, 2009 | Filed by

Joan Smith notes that an argument about ideas has been displaced onto inanimate objects.… Read the rest



A Delusion With Sugar Is Still a Delusion *

Nov 30th, 2009 | Filed by

The power of homeopathy is not in the pills but in the searching personal questions.… Read the rest



Oh No, Atheist Bioethicists! *

Nov 30th, 2009 | Filed by

Quick, panic! Americans don’t like atheists or bioethicists, and that’s all there is to say.… Read the rest



Why Do We Believe in Witches?

Nov 30th, 2009 | By Ikechukwu Okechukwu

“It is not the belief in witchcraft that we are concerned about…..we acknowledge people’s right to hold this belief on the condition that this does not lead to child abuse.” Gary Foxcroft

I get the sense that some of us in the humanist and human rights communities try hard to placate religious people amongst us by insinuating that it is okay to believe in witches and witchcraft, so long as no one gets hurt. While this may be considered reasonable to some it does seem to suggest a certain level of patronisation towards people who hold superstitious beliefs, to the effect that they simply cannot be convinced of the folly of their convictions. Our assumption that others are unable to … Read the rest



It’s all Catholophobia, surely

Nov 30th, 2009 11:58 am | By

Libby Purves suggests that the Catholic church’s response to its own recent history has been due to its own perspective that the reporting (she quotes a reporter for the Boston Globe) “is fuelled by anti-Catholicism and shyster lawyers hustling to tap the deep pockets of the church.” And maybe it is, she says. But.

But such an attitude is not a dignified response to clamorous hysteria. It is self-protective, paranoid arrogance; the canker that threatens all religions and ideologies. We recognise it all too well from history, and from modern fundamentalism in Christianity and Islam. Once you are convinced that you alone hold the truth — whether your god is Amun-Ra or Marx — you slough off self-doubt and self-examination.

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Kvetch kvetch kvetch

Nov 29th, 2009 4:14 pm | By

A bit more on Shermer, in a very level humble non-fundamentalist tone, because it’s not that I want to enforce orthodoxy with a big heavy stick, it’s that…I disagree with him about some things. I’m not trying to expel him into the outer darkness, I just disagree with him about some things. I’ll say what they are, because I feel like it.

[I]t seems to me that believers who accept Newton’s theory of gravity as the means by which God creates stars, planets, solar systems, galaxies, and universes, can just as readily accept Darwin’s theory of evolution as the means by which God creates life.

I said yesterday in comments but will say again – nuh uh. Even after … Read the rest



What Did Life of Brian Ever Do For Us? *

Nov 29th, 2009 | Filed by

Current sensitivities make it highly unlikely that a comedy group would try making a film like Brian today. … Read the rest



Ireland: Hard to Know if the Church Can Survive *

Nov 29th, 2009 | Filed by

Civic Ireland failed to stand up against princes of the Church who had ancient rights over people’s lives.… Read the rest



Murphy Report: the Rotten Core of the Church *

Nov 29th, 2009 | Filed by

After his ordination as a priest at age 23, Carney regularly sexually abused children. Job satisfaction.… Read the rest



Some racket

Nov 29th, 2009 10:37 am | By

Oh I get it – some of them were never actually priests at all – they were guys who wanted to fuck children and figured out that being ‘a priest’ was a terrific dodge for doing just that – it shunted a big supply of trusting obedient children straight into your hands, and it made it very likely that you would be able to dodge prosecution, punishment, discovery, and even being fired. What a beautiful set-up! Tailor made!

Fr William Carney, a “crude and loutish” priest who “used bad language” and was then aged 29, had lunch with Michael Woods, the then health minister, in 1980. For three years Carney had been making inquiries about his chances of fostering children…Two

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They just can’t get it right, can they

Nov 28th, 2009 1:30 pm | By

Michael Shermer replies, or retorts, to Jerry Coyne.

What is the right way to respond to theists and/or theism? That is the question asked at every atheism/humanism conference I’ve attended the past several years. The answer is simple: there is no one “right way”. There are multiple ways, all of which work, depending on the context.

He expands on the point, but without bothering to say what he means by ‘works.’ It’s a rather silly way to put it, frankly, because one doesn’t always expect one’s responses to ‘work’ – one sometimes simply wants to say what is true to the best of one’s ability, not to do what ‘works.’ This is a big part of the issue between … Read the rest



Orac Watches the ‘Facilitated Communication’ *

Nov 28th, 2009 | Filed by

She is ‘feeling for minute twitches’ yet she is typing so fast? Is that plausible?… Read the rest



Steven Novella on the Ideomotor Effect *

Nov 28th, 2009 | Filed by

There are two issues with this case – disorders of consciousness and FC. They need to be separated.… Read the rest



Michael Shermer Replies to Jerry Coyne *

Nov 28th, 2009 | Filed by

‘What is the right way to respond to theism? There are multiple ways, all of which work.’… Read the rest



Jesus and Mo Quail Before the Gay Agenda *

Nov 28th, 2009 | Filed by

They can’t seem to stop thinking about it…… Read the rest



‘Season’s Greetings, Jesus’ *

Nov 28th, 2009 | Filed by

Jesus is feeling persecuted. Mo is feeling unconvinced.… Read the rest