All entries by this author

Window seat geekery

Mar 1st, 2012 9:00 am | By

Ok that’s a little better. The bar emptied out some so I have an armchair pulled up to a table, and there’s less noise of chatter.

The trip itself was interesting, I must say. I’ve never flown Seattle to Houston before, and it’s all mountains for a long long time. Very cool.

Also very puzzling in spots – weirdly geometrical in appearance in what appears to be mountainous wilderness – straight lines where straight lines make no sense. They don’t seem to be roads, because of the wilderness thing.

One item in particular has me absolutely stumped, and kind of fascinated – a set of rectangles abutting each other, like squares on a quilt. About six. Like farms, in farm … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Location location

Mar 1st, 2012 7:01 am | By

Now I’m at a different airport, the one in Orlando. Unfortunately my room is on the wrong side to get the airport Wifi, so I’m sitting in an armchair in the lobby when I would much prefer to be sitting at the desk in my room. Ho hum.

Anyway I’m here. I’ve seen Tom Flynn and said hello, and he says Stephen Law is around somewhere, and that’s all I know so far.

I want to join in the quarrel with Hemant Mehta, but I have to catch up with it first.… Read the rest

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This is the place where I am at the moment

Feb 29th, 2012 10:16 am | By

So here I am at the airport. I got nothin to say except that I’m at the airport.

I’m at SeaTac’s fancy sitting-area place, which faces a giant window – from the table where I am it’s acres of grey sky with a little scrim of airplanes and runways at the bottom. Quite nice.

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Moses channels de Botton for Jesus and Mo *

Feb 29th, 2012 | Filed by

The barmaid says truth matters.… Read the rest



The disease of education

Feb 29th, 2012 7:08 am | By

Lawrence Krauss says a necessary thing. He starts from a campaign argle-bargle by Rick Santorum saying that higher education is bad because it kills faith.

Mr. Santorum views this apparent facet of higher education as a danger, and his proposed solution is simple-less higher education and more faith.

As a faculty member at an institution of higher education, and as a scientist, however, I question the basic premise that loss of faith is a bad thing. If it is true that those who are more educated have a greater tendency to question their religious faith, shouldn’t we consider that this might be telling us more about religious faith than about how harmful getting a college degree can be?

Yes, … Read the rest

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Whereabouts

Feb 29th, 2012 6:19 am | By

I’m off to Orlando in a couple of hours, to help with (or get in the way of, as the case may be) Moving Secularism Forward. I may do a pointless post from the airport, saying I am now at the airport.… Read the rest

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More from Opinionista

Feb 28th, 2012 11:32 am | By

Opinionista has a fantastic post, reminiscent of Greta Christina’s reasons atheists are angry: “Over It” – The rant of an angry, Agnostic, British, Indo-Pakistani woman of Muslim heritage.

I am over the complete ignorance by Muslims and non Muslims (particularly UK politicians and media) alike of the fact that “Muslim communities” contain non religious, spiritual people like me, as well as Atheist people and Agnostic people.

I am over UK politicians thinking that they will find out what I want by speaking to only bearded self appointed “community leaders”, headscarf donning women (defined only by their modesty or “Muslimness”) or the Sayeeda Warsis of the world who are homophobic, misogynistic and anti-equality. I am not defined by the

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We mandate no belief

Feb 28th, 2012 11:19 am | By

Behold – what Ronald Reagan was able to say in 1984.

We in the United States, above all, must remember that lesson [of the Holocaust], for we were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free, and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief.

He also says we’re … Read the rest

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The Opinionista is over it *

Feb 28th, 2012 | Filed by

The rant of an angry, Agnostic, British, Indo-Pakistani woman of Muslim heritage.… Read the rest



Marc Alan Di Martino on falling for science *

Feb 28th, 2012 | Filed by

Knowledge increases wonder, and there’s no danger of running out of either in the world of scientific discovery.… Read the rest



Atheist and maltheist have a discussion *

Feb 28th, 2012 | Filed by

Gnosticism with a twist.… Read the rest



What is belief

Feb 28th, 2012 7:19 am | By

A stack of interesting comments on the thread about getting it; about whether or not it took; about the feeling of belief. It’s interesting that they all converge, those by people like me who as far as they can tell never got it, and those by people who did get it at some point but then dropped it or flung it away. They all converge on how elusive and rare it is. Of course this isn’t a random sample, to put it mildly, and people who currently get it would produce very different comments. But the idea that this thing is elusive is interesting all the same.

It’s caused me to think that we mostly (we current non-believers) don’t … Read the rest

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You can’t win

Feb 27th, 2012 5:29 pm | By

Richard Dawkins has a very amusing piece about the journalistic take on his discussion with the archishop the other day. One stupid cliché after another, most of them derogatory. Dawkins is a charismatic preacher haw haw; bust-up; ardent atheist – and so on. There was no bust-up, so the audience was in despair – in the imagination of one of the reporters. Dawkins “confessed” to being an agnostic shock-horror; never mind that he said that in the book that triggered all these stupid witticisms.

It’s hard to resist a feeling of “You can’t win”. On the one hand we ‘horsemen’ and ‘new atheists’ are attacked, often aggressively and stridently, for being aggressive and strident. On the other hand, when journalists

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It never took

Feb 27th, 2012 11:00 am | By

Several of you replied to Julian’s claims about atheists’ deafness to religion by pointing out that most atheists were raised theist by theists so we’re not deaf at all, we’re familiar with the music. It’s a good point, but at the same time – I’m not sure it’s always true. I’m not sure that being raised theist is enough to make one not deaf to religion.

I was nominally raised as a theist, sort of, but it never took. I think I probably am deaf to religion in the sense that Julian had in mind - I think that’s what “it never took” means. I should add that I’m glad to be that kind of deaf, but still – I … Read the rest

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Cameroon: 3 women “charged with” practising homosexuality *

Feb 27th, 2012 | Filed by

In Liberia, a senate committee is currently debating a proposal to tighten laws banning same-sex relationships.… Read the rest



Which is worse – cult of Ataturk or “mild” Islamism? *

Feb 27th, 2012 | Filed by

Both.… Read the rest



The majority has spoken

Feb 27th, 2012 8:44 am | By

A historian named Timothy Messer-Kruse has been doing research on the Haymarket riot and trial of 1886 for the past ten years. He was prompted by a student question about the orthodox version of the trial, which was that the prosecution did not offer evidence connecting any of the defendants with the bombing.

 One of my students raised her hand: “If the trial went on for six weeks and no evidence was presented, what did they talk about all those days?” I’ve been working to answer her question ever since.

I have not resolved all the mysteries that surround the bombing, but I have dug deeply enough to be sure that the claim that the trial was bereft of evidence

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Andrew Copson on humanist education *

Feb 27th, 2012 | Filed by

Humanists in education have prioritised the development of critical thinking and a rational spirit for its social consequences in the formation of democratic citizens.… Read the rest



Wikipedia and “the majority of sources” *

Feb 27th, 2012 | Filed by

The conventional wisdom, however wrong, always trumps a correction, however well documented.… Read the rest



The Taliban is determined to stop Fawzia Koofi *

Feb 27th, 2012 | Filed by

She intends to stand in the presidential election. The Taliban would rather she didn’t. And so they shoot at her and her family.… Read the rest