Sunday School MAR 27, 2011
first off, before we get to the links, TA's Radio Show podcast is returning tonight after a several months long hiatus during which we revamped and re-conceptualized the show. our first guest is former minister and apologist turned atheist author and creator of the popular blog Debunking Christianity, John Loftus! the show begins tonight at 5PM PST/8PM EST and goes for an hour and a half. our host Greg will play his interview with John and take some calls from the audience. RSVP and check it out!
the buzz this week was about a new study that seems to show that religion in 9 countries is going extinct. lots of commentary followed from ZME, Paul Sims, and others but PZ Myers and Tom Rees aren't a convinced.
meanwhile, a new survey in Britain says that 2/3rds of Britons are not religious. (and in the process shows the flaw in the census religion question)
study shows anti-atheist prejudice goes down as our numbers (or the perception of our numbers) goes up.
do historical-Jesus scholars find Jesus no matter what because of the way they look?
how should we debate theists if our goal is to change minds?
on some double standards Christians maintain about atheists.
back in September i included a few links to the discussion surrounding a (then) new paper out that critiqued "inclusive fitness" within evolutionary biology. this week Nature published several commentaries on the paper, including one signed by 137 evolutionary biologists. John Hawks commented. Carl Zimmer too. Jerry Coyne as well. Richard Dawkins weighed in.
this is a beetle that turns itself into a wheel.
the sunk cost fallacy. our "decisions are tainted by the emotional investments you accumulate, and the more [we] invest in something the harder it becomes to abandon it."
new archaeological find reopens the mystery into the first Americans.
how hydrogen teaches us the temperature of dark matter.
the defamation of religion resolution has finally been dropped by the UN.
there was some criticism of the "new atheism" from a few sources this week. Jerry Coyne responded. Ophelia Benson wouldn't be left out.
why science cannot justify miracles.
Hubble provides us with some jaw-dropping images of the cosmos but how are those images produced from the raw data Hubble collects? check this out.
mice with lower levels of serotonin are less choosy about the sex of their partners.
the next step is figuring out what to replace religion with.
on faith, arrogance, and uncertainty.
the unreliability of introspection, anti-intuitionism, and god.
Canadians are beating the Americans in acceptance of scientific facts. why does the US fail in science education?
is religion the cause of conflict or is it just coincidence?
new estimate for alien earths: 2 BILLION in our galaxy alone! what's that say about fine-tuning?
our podcast guest John Loftus announced the details of his new anthology project. the list of authors and the subjects they'll be submitting on looks like it'll make for a great read!
the universe is expanding at 73.8 +/- 2.4 km/sec/megaparsec! (freaking fast!)
volcanoes played an important role in the origin of life.
um... this woman has a close relationship with Jesus. (video)
John Loftus pointed to a new Pew Forum survey that shows that Americans are leaving Christianity and they're not leaving it for another religion.
the government clarifies: no teaching creationism in UK free schools.
E. coli bacteria show evolvability in action.
scientists finish a 53-year old classic experiment on the origins of life.
"for the first time scientists have drawn a comprehensive family tree of all living species of primates based on a systematic analysis of scores of key genes embedded within their DNA."
John Danaher on The Possibility of Historical Evidence For Miracles, parts 1, 2, and 3.
evolutionary relationships in fruit flies are settled. creationists misrepresent the findings to their ends. surprise, surprise.
last week i linked to responses to Jesse Bering's piece arguing that homophobia was adaptive. this week Bering responded to all the criticism. PZ Myers and Jeremy Yoder respond in turn.
Views: 13
Tags: abiogenesis, adaptation, adaptive, bering, dark-matter, evolution, expansion, faith, homophobia, loftus, More…
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Comment by T A A on March 27, 2011 at 4:01am -
Re religiosity assessment: Trying to assess "belief in deities/fantastical figures" and/or religiosity is such a subjective endeavour, that results are basically unreliable. I think atheists groups around the world should join on a World Religiosity Project; objective:
-to petition the United Nations to create a standardised methodology to assess "belief in deities/fantastical figures" AND religiosity, separately
One thing for certain... polls which claim to deduce anything significant about theism based on one single question are delusional!
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Comment by Lindsey on March 27, 2011 at 4:19am -
Good reading. Even if it is 3 AM :)
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Comment by Greg Gorey on March 27, 2011 at 10:33am -
in particularly great stuff. i dig the addition of the miracles stuff and the more cosmology.
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Comment by Scarlette Blues on March 27, 2011 at 11:41am -
There was a lot of great things this week! I enjoyed reading about the flies and what creationists tried to say. The rebuttal by Phil Ward was awesome! Now...if creationists would only read it.
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Comment by Gaytor on March 27, 2011 at 11:56am -
The Pew Forum finding that only 56% of Americans find religion important in their lives is encouraging.
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Comment by Jesus_Was_A_Man_Or_Myth_Or_Both on March 27, 2011 at 12:45pm -
I think the 56 percent is misleading as you are starting to look at a bimodal distribution of faith: (1) one group is in the high 80 and low 90's on beliving and accpting God and (2) one group is at or below believing and accepting God. The average is lower now because there are more of the second group - the 90 percenters are not going away. Great job as usual, Nelson on the list!
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Comment by BadHandshakers on March 27, 2011 at 7:25pm -
Ah! Angstrom 1216 gotta' love that stuff.
Glad common sense was restored in the U.N
And, oh, the sunk cost fallacy is something I've always had in mind, but never actually had explained analytically, so it was good to read about it, and know it's actually called something, not having to "you know when..." elongated explanatory process and jump right to "it's called that... oh you don't know what that is, look it up on google!"
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Comment by The Bosoms on March 28, 2011 at 4:25am -
Off topic: Oh Nelson... you have the coolest avatar!
Looks like Darwin as 'The Fonze'
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Comment by Nelson on March 28, 2011 at 11:04am -
thanks to all who have commented so far! hope you guys found some interesting stuff to read. stop by next Sunday for more of the same. :)
(@The Bosoms: thanks! lol)
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Comment by Gerald Scott on March 30, 2011 at 10:57pm -
Double standard video - GREAT.
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