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.

Why atheism demands social justice.

Comment by wyocowboy on April 22, 2012 at 8:11pm: is anyone having problems with the connection tonight? it gets to about 3 minutes and just quits

Comment by wyocowboy on April 22, 2012 at 8:11pm: is anyone having problems with the connection tonight? it gets to about 3 minutes and just quits

Comment by Nelson on April 22, 2012 at 8:21pm: Are you talking about tonight's podcast? It's playing for me just fine.

Comment by Rob Klaers on April 22, 2012 at 8:51pm: I'm having the same issues.. though for me it hits about 90 secs.and stalls ..then I have to reload the page and find my place again

Comment by Nelson on April 22, 2012 at 9:06pm: Thanks for the heads up Rob. I just got with Morgan who was able to adjust some settings and you may find that that did the trick. However, if not, you can try listening via one of the other pages. There's the guest page, the blog post, and the RSS feed.

Let me know, if you can, how you get on. Thanks!

Comment by wyocowboy on April 22, 2012 at 9:39pm: yes it was tonight...i will have to listen to later

Comment by wyocowboy on April 22, 2012 at 9:41pm: now it quit at 4 minutes 10 seconds

Comment by Skycomet the Fallen Angel on April 23, 2012 at 3:18pm: [From the Repub War on Women Article]

Or the law signed last week by Arizona’s Republican governor, stating that life begins two weeks before conception

WTFH?!!! How the HELL can a human life begin 2 WEEKS BEFORE conception? Anyone who knows about a woman's menstrual cycle knows that (on average) 2 weeks before conception can take place.... a woman OVULATES!!

OMGWTFBBQ?!!!!!! Are these anti-choice radicals SO F#CKING BAT-SHIT CRAZY THAT THEY THINK THAT HUMAN LIFE BEGINS WHEN A WOMAN'S OVARY RELEASES AN UNFERTILIZED EGG?!!!

This is absolute madness! How in the name of reason can an egg be a human being? So what... does that make menstruation murder?

I guess I kill a baby once a month every time I have a period. Since I started my period at age 12... that means (according to this nut) that I've killed... somewhere around 132 "babies."

Wow... I'm a mass-murderer! Who knew? lol

Comment by Skycomet the Fallen Angel on April 23, 2012 at 3:26pm: Heh... who thinks we women should start burying our tampons in the backyard with a little funeral service. lol

Comment by Skycomet the Fallen Angel on April 23, 2012 at 7:47pm: Nelson - There's a problem with the "connection between religion and rejection of science" paper. The paper itself is blocked behind a pay wall and is inaccessable to those who do not pay a subscription fee of $35

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