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Charles Darwin: ‘Is man an ape or an angel?’
A century and a half after Darwin put forward the theory of natural selection, Steve Jones explains the power of his idea - and the stink it caused
In 1842, Queen Victoria went to London Zoo. She was not amused: “The orang-outang is too wonderful… he is frightfully, and […]
1Jul2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Can’t Darwin and God get along?
Of course they can, argues physicist and theologian Karl Giberson, if only many believers were more sophisticated and atheists less dogmatic.
July 1, 2008 | With biologist Richard Dawkins leading the way, many scientists today are locked in an unending match of whack-a-mole with Christian creationists, who insist that God created heaven, earth […]
A Naturalist System of Virtues
A system of virtues is like a how-to manual or road map describing how to thrive and be effective in the world.
A system of virtues is superior than a moral code because it is up to each individual to decide how best to actualize these virtues in their own lives. In addition, a moral […]
Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?
I wanted to alert eSkeptic readers about a free beautifully produced booklet on the question “Does science make belief in God obsolete?” published by the Templeton Foundation and edited by myself. The booklet contains 13 essays of varying answers to this question, which itself is part of the Templeton Foundation’s “Big Questions” project (a […]
17Jun2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
An Atheist Goes Undercover to Join the Flock of Mad Pastor John Hagee
By the end of the weekend I realized how quaint was the mere suggestion that Christians of this type should learn to “be rational” or “set aside your religion” about such things as the Iraq War or other policy matters. Once you’ve made a journey like this — once you’ve gone this far — you […]
6May2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Spam Reaches 30 Year Anniversary
Spam - the scourge of every e-mail inbox - celebrates its 30th anniversary this weekend.
The first recognisable e-mail marketing message was sent on 3 May, 1978 to 400 people on behalf of DEC - a now-defunct computer-maker.
The message was sent via Arpanet - the internet’s forerunner - and won its sender much criticism from recipients.
Thirty […]
Soldier Sues Army, Saying His Atheism Led to Threats
FORT RILEY, Kan. — When Specialist Jeremy Hall held a meeting last July for atheists and freethinkers at Camp Speicher in Iraq, he was excited, he said, to see an officer attending.
But minutes into the talk, the officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, began to berate Specialist Hall and another soldier about atheism, Specialist Hall wrote […]
Bondage of the Mind
Most of us involved with issues of critical thinking are accustomed to dealing with what we think of as fundamentalism, which implies specifically Christian fundamentalism. Bondage of the Mind deals, specifically, with Jewish fundamentalism. Just as evangelicalism, and particularly evangelical fundamentalism, is a potent force in Christianity, so too is modern Orthodox Judaism […]
10Apr2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Theoretical Physics - Geometry is All
A shape could describe the cosmos and all it contains
ONE of the mysteries of the universe is why it should speak the language of mathematics. Numbers and the relationships between them are, after all, just abstract reasoning. Yet mathematics has shown itself to be particularly adept at describing both the contents of the universe and […]
If I Only Had a Brain
Ten days ago, I noted the reckless assertion of Barack Obama’s former pastor that the United States government had deliberately engineered AIDS to kill blacks, but I tried to put it in context by citing a poll showing that 30 percent of African-Americans believe such a plot is at least plausible.
My point was that the […]
Computers to Merge With Humans
By 2020 the terms ‘interface’ and ‘user’ will be obsolete as computers merge ever closer with humans.
It is one of the predictions in a Microsoft-backed report drawn from the discussions of 45 academics from the fields of computing, science, sociology and psychology.
It predicts fundamental changes in the field of so-called Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
By […]
Doomsday Fears Spark Lawsuits
The builders of the world’s biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet. Representatives at Fermilab in Illinois and at Europe’s CERN laboratory, two of the defendants in the case, say there’s no […]
27Mar2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Girl Died as Parents Prayed
WESTON, Wis. — An 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday.
Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said Madeline Neumann died Sunday.
“She got sicker and sicker until she was dead,” he said.
Vergin said an autopsy determined the girl died […]
Naturalistic Religion?
[snip] As I examine the nature of our environment, I discover sovereign forces able to create floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis, as well as roses, rainbows, pine trees, and snowflakes, and with this realization I am stirred with a sense of awe, wonder, and reverence. Humans are at the mercy of these natural forces, which […]
26Mar2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
In Search of the God Particle
The biggest experiment in particle physics, the Large Hadron Collider, starts this summer in Switzerland. The goal is to find signs of an elusive particle called the Higgs boson—also known as the “God particle” because it might ultimately lead to a grand theory of the universe. What impact will the experiments have on our ideas […]
25Mar2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Sam Harris: What Barack Obama Could Not (and Should Not) Say
Barack Obama delivered a truly brilliant and inspiring speech this week. There were a few things, however, that he did not and could not (and, indeed, should not) say:
He did not say that the mess he is in has as much to do with religion as with racism–and, indeed, religion is the reason why […]
Naturalism, Values and Community
Many atheists have an almost phobic reaction to any discussion of morality. I sympathize with this reaction. Let’s face it, morality is a messy subject. It contains the seeds of condemnation, punishment, alienation and guilt. But we shouldn’t shy away from this discussion just because religion often uses a moral code […]
21Mar2008 | will | 0 comments | Continued
Flying Spagetti Monster appears on the courthouse lawn!
Crossville, Tennessee is about to get a dose of LOVE. In reaction to a Hand carved wooden Last Supper by a local chainsaw artist (”They came, they chainsawed, they carved”), a local Pastafarian has made a representation of the FSM to be unveiled on the courthouse lawn today and I plan to be there!
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Stranger in a Strange Land
LIFE ON THE FRINGE
I am a stranger in this curious land. The natives’ peculiar customs and inscrutable beliefs concerning supernatural entities are so strikingly different from my ways that much of what I now experience here I do not comprehend. It is as though I were entirely unprepared to live in this mysterious cultural environment […]
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