Sunday School JUN 17, 2012

Just a reminder that we're eagerly after your experiences with cancer– are you or a loved one fighting now? have you lost someone? are you or a loved one a survivor?– for our marathon charity drive later this year. We hope to have a selection of your experiences to read on the air. Our goal in this, as I've said, is to keep the focus on the real people's lives that have been impacted as there's a tendency to look on the goal of finding a cure for cancer as a sterile clinical problem for researchers in a laboratory. Help us please guys. Help us fight!

This week on Think Atheist Radio we're thrilled to have as our guest Dr. Herman Philipse! A Professor of Philosophy at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, Dr. Philipse studied law at that school before turning his attention to philosophy. After studying philosophy at Leiden, Oxford, Paris and Cologne, he ultimately received his PhD at the University of Leiden. He is the author of numerous books and journal articles covering metaphysics, the philosophy of logic, epistemology, and religion. As he tells us in this interview, he became concerned at the intrusion of religion into civic law in the Netherlands, something that motivated him to start writing popular pieces for newspapers defending secularism and atheism while appearing on current events television there. His yet to be translated Atheïstisch Manifest/De onredelijkheid van religie (English: Atheist Manifesto and the unreasonableness of religion) is by all accounts a powerhouse defense of atheism and a book Ayaan Hirsi Ali credits in part for her realization that atheism made the most sense, prompting her abandoning Islam. He joins us to discuss his newest book, God in the Age of Science?: A Critique of Religious Reason. We asked Dr. Philipse to talk about the dilemmas faced by theists who wish to claim that their faith doesn’t require justification on evidential and rational grounds and those that believe that their faith does require such a thing, and the further dilemmas that result from this commitment. It’s a fascinating discussion, packed with compelling bits on a book that is sure to be counted as among the best in the Philosophy of Religion for years to come. Join us!

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The search for truth leads to the rejection of religion.

If you don't think the wafer turns into Jesus you're not really a Catholic.

Yet another reason why you should know and understand what cognitive biases are and how and to what extent they impact on your thinking. If you don't, you're simply not thinking as clearly as you could be. Smart people are more biased to think they are less biased.

Hemant Mehta wrote to ask when "progressive" Christians will say it's not a sin to be in a gay relationship? Then one of those Christians wrote a guest post for Mehta's blog asking that critics of religion not make it harder for Christians to support the LGBT community. Chris Hallquist has a good point that progressive Christians are still getting it wrong when they derive their support of LGBT's from the Bible, as if the Bible is any kind of good source for moral questions.

A new study suggests the rate of climate change could be faster than thought.

Greta Christina wrote this week about what is perhaps the greatest threat to religion, clergy coming out as atheists.

Faith-healing parents watch their child die but won't be getting jail time for it.

Evolutionary biologist Michael Eisen is writing a FAQ of sorts on the subject of GM foods. This week he wrote to explain that transferring genes from one species to another is neither unnatural nor dangerous. He followed that up with an explanation of how GM crops work and why they shouldn't scare you. And on that subject, turns out, according to a new study, GM crops repel pests using less pesticides and even extend the benefit to nearby non-GM crops.

Spring 2012 in the contiguous US was the most extreme season on record with the largest departure from average temperature ever. The extent to which Spring 2012 crushed the old record "is a stunning and unparalleled event in U.S. meteorological history." It's pretty clear that decisions made by people alive today will determine the future of life on this planet. We had better get used to the idea that we're in charge of the planet.

Why Yahweh is an evil, egotistical, sadistic, masochistic god.

Is dark matter a glimpse at a deeper level of reality?

Greg Laden wrote this week to call out and classify people who call themselves skeptics but are really "antiskeptics" of one type or another.

Chiropractors continue to treat children despite a lack of evidence.

Oldest galaxy discovered at 12.91 billion light years distant. Incredible.

Recall the man whose case generated lots of excitement when, as treatment for leukemia, he received blood transplants that seemed to cure his HIV infection? That case is now generating confusion as it seems there is still some signal of the virus in the man's blood.

The story of a Mormon man who admits he's gay but also says he has a loving marriage (with a woman) and a robust sex life went around the LGBT and humanist blogs like wildfire. Turns out, though, that he's actually a piece of garbage "gay cure" therapist that tortures people mentally and emotionally about their natural born normal inclinations.

Robert Wright made a astonishingly stupid claim this week, saying that it was in fact because of people like PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins that people reject evolution. Jerry Coyne was quick to highlight all that was wrong with this.

Here's a good update on the search for the Higgs at CERN's LHC. They're getting closer.

If there's a Gloria Jeans coffee store near you you ought to be boycotting it and making sure other people you know know that the company is funding bigotry. Gloria Jeans attempted to respond to the criticisms but, predictably, their response is a mess.

Touted by conservatives this week is a new study they claim shows that same sex households result in worse outcomes for kids. Trouble is. It doesn't say that at all. And the study itself has numerous flaws such that it doesn't really say anything much at all.

A new study of the WMAP data has ruled out the textures that some theories of cosmic formation predict, clarifying our understanding and prompting new questions.

How faith makes women a willing accomplice to their own abuse.

Donald Prothero pointed out the many problems with "I saw it with my own eyes" statements when it comes to evaluating extraordinary claims.

Jonah Lehrer used wine-tasting as a basis for a discussion of how our cognitive biases impact on our perception.

A female Michigan state lawmaker was banned from speaking on the floor for the horrible crime of using a medically correct term in the context of talking about a medical procedure, abortion– "vagina."