Sunday School APR 22, 2012
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"I have to confess that I now regard 'the case for theism' as a fraud and I can no longer take it seriously enough to present it to a class as a respectable philosophical position— no more than I could present intelligent design as a legitimate biological theory."– So went our newest guest's September 2010 post where he announced he was walking away from the philosophy of religion because he couldn't take the case for theism seriously anymore.
Dr. Keith Parsons is a professor of philosophy at the University of Houston. A double PhD– one in the Philosophy of Science and another in History– he has written numerous books, papers, reviews and book chapters while also contributing to the Secular Web. Among his books, Rational Episodes, a great and accessible introduction to logic; Drawing Out Leviathan, about the science wars; and God and the Burden of Proof, about the arguments for theism and who the burden of proof falls upon, are particularly recommended. We asked Dr. Parsons to talk to us about atheism and agnosticism, postmodernism, theism, and the burden of proof. Join us tonight at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern!
The Republican war on women is real.
Besieged by climate deniers, a scientist decides to fight back.
Lawrence Krauss urges people to join the real world and have faith in reasoned debate.
That a few glaciers are adding ice shouldn't obscure the fact that all the rest are shrinking.
The host of the Think Atheist Radio Show, Greg, had some thoughts against agnosticism.
Will it become easier to become an atheist in the future?
Why more people are openly identifying as non-believers.
Teen birthrates are down everywhere.... except the Bible Belt.
Increased rates of the retractions of scientific papers prompts calls for reform.
Uncovering the molecule that made the universe.
Education is the new Republican enemy. No more free thinking and empirical evidence, just the Bible, rumour and Fox News.
The pope turns 85 amid speculation he might resign.
Chris Hallquist identifies an apparent contradiction between Sam Harris's discussion of Free Will and his blaming of theists for the things they do and say.
The Daily Show's Jon Stewart doesn't understand how science works, even a little.
In celebration of World Homeopathy Awareness week (not a joke apparently) Martin Robbins decided to give space on his blog to the homeopaths themselves. The results are equally eye-opening and (sadly) hilarious.
The Onion does what it does so well... Sistine Chapel janitor convicted of molesting last four popes.
The pay gap between women and men over a woman's lifetime would feed a family of 4 for 37 years.
A new poll reflects increasing acceptance of climate change as Americans connect recent extreme weather to climate change. But how do you handle it when in fact there's little scientific support for connecting individual weather events (as opposed to longer term trends) to climate change when to point this out to the public may undermine their acceptance of the scientific reality of climate change?
Alternative medicine's attack on science.
Scientists have worked out a method enabling them to transform scar tissue into working heart muscle. But lots of hurdles remain before this is of practical use to medicine.
Belief in God around the world found to be in decline. Young millennials leaving religion in record numbers.
A chicken in Sri Lanka... well... gave birth, to an eggless chick.
Richard Dawkins disparages philosophy while actually engaging in philosophy in the pages of The God Delusion.
Using self-replicating robots in the search for alien life? Cool!
A large study of killings in chimp communities across Africa has cast new light on the dark side of our closest living relatives.
President Obama's faith-based official meets with Bible Society representative while repeatedly ignoring civil rights advocates.
Jerry Coyne published a paper discussing the connection between religion and the rejection of science. Nick Matke had some critical comments. Coyne responded to Matke's criticisms. PZ Myers commented as well.
The source of cosmic rays in gamma ray bursts has possibly taken a hit on new evidence but might still have some life.
Stephen Law wrote to say that a recent exchange between a theist and PZ Myers caught on video is not Myers at his best. Chris Hallquist disagreed.
Big news this week. Scientists have developed a synthetic alternative to DNA and RNA that can evolve and store information as well. Think of the implications!
With the jumping off point the poisoning of 140 women and young girls at a school by fundamentalist Muslims who resented the notion that girls should be (GASP!) educated, Eric MacDonald described how religion is an intellectual and social pathology.
Richard Carrier has posted his review of Bart Ehrman's recent book on Jesus historicity, Did Jesus Exist?, and it is an epic douching. Ouch!
The justification for the teaching of abstinence only sex "education" doesn't hold up under scrutiny, leaving us with the unavoidable conclusion that a religious belief about sex is being pushed on kids in schools.
The whole faster-than-light neutrinos thing was, not a failure of science, but a model of how science works.
Views: 809
Tags: Carrier, Ehrman, Harris, Jesus, Krauss, Republican, Stewart, abstinence, agnostic, agnosticism, More…
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Comment by luvtheheaven on April 22, 2012 at 3:26am -
I think you have a typo there- "the justification... don't hold up" isn't quite perfect grammar. ;)
I'm going to bed now but I checked out the chick who hatched inside its mother story already! ;)
And that looks like maybe another one of your podcast episodes that I'll actually want to listen to. That guy seems fascinating.
Thanks for everything you do every week with Sunday School! :D
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Comment by Nelson on April 22, 2012 at 4:18am -
Ha! It's not quite perfect, no. I originally had it say something different and I didn't quite change it all the way so that it reads right with the changes I did make. oh well... :)
Thanks for the kind words!
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Comment by Rob Klaers on April 22, 2012 at 4:26am -
I posted that same link to the increased teen pregnancies in the Bible Belt on my FB page a couple days ago and one of my Uncle a (a Catholic) who knows I'm an Atheist went after me for attacking people's beliefs.. I tried to tell him that regardless of religious beliefs, a failed educational policy (abstinence-only sex ed.) is a failed policy regardless of religion. Then he attempted to counter with, .."but there's more abortions in the other states." -- I countered, comparatively he was right. But nationally, both teen pregnancies and abortions are down... but anyway-- If I have the time, I may post the exchange as a discussion..
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Comment by Rob Klaers on April 22, 2012 at 7:06am
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'Climate Change' is nothing more then Right Wing buzz words developed by Bush's propaganda machine.
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Comment by Robert Karp on April 22, 2012 at 7:38am -
Thank you Nelson! Please share on Google+ and FB and Twitta!
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Comment by Reg The Fronkey Farmer on April 22, 2012 at 7:55am -
The article on education being the enemy of republicianism is very good. It is also scary when you see how widespread their influence is and how it undermines many different aspects of human rights. I shall reuse the line "His peer-reviewed journal of choice is the Bible".
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Comment by Nelson on April 22, 2012 at 11:18am
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@Ian: I'm seriously considering changing the name of the series from Sunday School to "Ian's Sunday Embarrassment"
Last week you hilariously invoked the repeatedly debunked and utterly fallacious notion that "scientists claimed cooling in the 70's, therefore it is not warming now" even while last week's post included a link to a debunking of that very notion, calling people that invoke it dishonest denialist cherry-pickers. You also ignorantly commented on my use of "climate change" as opposed to global warming and I took you to school on that topic too. Now you're repeating the same thing as if you have some sort of reading comprehension problem. So I'm just going to quote myself from last week while calling attention to your rank silliness.
[Y]ou have a misunderstanding of the nature of the terms "climate change" and "anthropogenic global warming" when saying you're glad I used one and not the other. Global warming is included in the set Climate Change as one of the effects of climate change due to human activities according to the evidence. The reason why global warming doesn't express the full picture is that the scientific evidence predicts that some areas will experience a wetter climate, some a drier climate, some a warmer climate, and some a cooler climate even while the average global temperature rises. Therefore, climate change is the better term.
Anyway, I am literally embarrassed sometimes to have to be named a skeptic of religion when it means being counted among some people who, while rejecting religion, literally accept all manner of kooky nonsense.
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Comment by Gary Bergeron on April 22, 2012 at 12:00pm -
I agree Reg!
Governor Bobby Jindal is revamping Louisiana's education system to include vouchers for religious schools. Taxpayers will pay for religious education.
So, if anybody wants to take a trip back to the 13th century, no time machine is needed, just cross the Louisiana border in a couple of years and enjoy! :(
Thanks for the links, Nelson! :)
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Comment by Greg Gorey on April 22, 2012 at 12:49pm -
Great stuff as always buddy.
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Comment by wyocowboy on April 22, 2012 at 12:57pm
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thanks again for all the great news!
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