Sunday School NOV 27, 2011
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Guys, are you on Google+? What about Twitter? I'm always giving show updates and news about upcoming book giveaways on Twitter and I trickle Sunday School links out during the week on Google+. If you're out there, you should follow me/add me to your circles! Connect with me there and you won't have to wait until Sunday for interesting links and you'll hear about updates to new show guests and book giveaways as soon as they're available!
So if you missed our interview with Mr. Sean Faircloth last week do make sure to check that out. Mr. Faircloth lays out the case for why we must do more to ensure our church/state separation and then discusses how to make it happen. His new book, Attack of the Theocrats!, foreword by Richard Dawkins, is an inspiring read!
Tonight is the debut of our interview with physicist Dr. Lisa Randall. Dr. Randall is a leading expert in physics and cosmology and one of the most cited physicists alive today. A professor at the Harvard University Department of Physics, she is the author of Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions and her new book Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World. She joined us to talk about her book, recent experimental results from physics dealing with faster than light neutrinos and the Higgs boson, and about the scientific worldview generally. Don't miss it!
Climate change may have doomed the Neanderthals.
"New" genes may have played a role in human brain evolution.
The Prince of Wales is "ideologically fixated" on alternative medicine despite there being no evidence to support it.
Skeleton of ancient human relative may yield skin.
Some new FTL neutrino news this week. One experiment was reported as having confirmed the earlier result. But skeptics maintain that not all of the variables that may have produced the anomaly in the first experiment were controlled in this second experiment. Meanwhile, another study concluded the first result must be wrong.
Responding to the strawmanning of secular morality.
Insane Republicans want to establish a theocracy.
At Skepticon this past week an ice cream shop owner put up a sign refusing service to attendees of Skepticon. Someone took a picture and posted it to the internet. Skeptics proceeded to destroy the shop's reputation on online review sites. The owner apologized, and then apologized again. Some have accepted his apology, others have not only refused to do so but have accused others of being too easy on the owner.
This week featured a discussion on Agnosticism across at least 3 sites. Jennifer Michael Hecht started things off with a particularly harsh treatment of the subject. John Wilkins replied calling Hecht's post "ill-tempered". Larry Moran offered some of his own thoughts. What is agnosticism and is it a valid position? It's an interesting discussion.
Extraordinary claims really do require extraordinary evidence.
What can atheists do to be perceived as more trustworthy?
Tom Rees at Epiphenom thinks it may be more complicated.
Climategate 2 is much ado about nothing, as much as the first time around was.
There have been warnings from science educators about associating a specific gene with a specific condition. But what about a gene that's "for" nothing?
On the religion of an increasingly godless America
Christian politicians and the fetish of suffering.
Australians are surprisingly nonreligious
Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich would use belief in God as a criteria for determining who stays in America and who do deport.
The motivated reasoning of the religious.
A handful of reports in what you would otherwise think were reliable outlets have pointed to discovered skulls that may belong to aliens (no. seriously). Here's your debunking of that particular nonsense.
At this time of year there are those people standing out front of the malls and grocery stores with The Salvation Army asking for donations. Before you give them any money, read this open letter to The Salvation Army.
Right wingers go crazy when President Obama doesn't mention God in his Thanksgiving address.
Why doesn't America like science?
Atheists are the most generous, even without the heavenly reward.
Cold fusion: is it possible? Is it real?
Liberals vs Conservatives; Smart vs Dull. Comparing the relative intelligence to ideology.
A seventh study comes out establishing once again that FOX News viewers are the most misinformed.
Sam Harris' case for morality, the is/ought problem; On science and what is the case.
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Comment by Kim on November 27, 2011 at 10:04am -
Another awesome Sunday school session! Thanks, Nelson!
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Comment by Robert Karp on November 27, 2011 at 10:24am -
Nelson thanks for a great Sunday School! A few comments:
On the article about Darwin and strawman I feel that is important when making arguements that pull quotes from the bible, we do not make the same mistakes. Quote mining as well is something I have done and have gotten easily rebuttled as a result. Creationists spend hours reading and dissecting Dariwn for the same reasons some of our best debators spend hours reading and dissecting the bible. I would encourage our community to read the article and take it as an excellent example of how easy strawman and quote mining is to refute.
Another article that I really enjoyed was the Gelato man incident. I agree with the arguement that his apology should not be accepted. This forgivning is a tenent of christianity and means you do not have to be held account for what you have done. Hitchens has a famous quote about this where he says, and i am paraphrasing, i will lend you money to help you repay a debt, although unlikey i will take your place on the scaffold, but i cannot forgive you for what you did, i cannot take away that responsibility. Gelato mans apology, as heartfelt as it may have been, does not abdacate him of the action. We can thank him for the apology without accepting it. Atheists live with the very simple and basic understanding that actions have consequences.
Lastly, the Gingrich quotes about allowing people to be here if they attend chruch makes me sick. I do not understand how the supposed top contenders for the most powerful position in this country can make such simply hateful and prejudicial remarks and get away with it.
Thank you again for the hard work you put into it all!
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Comment by Jonah Griffith on November 27, 2011 at 12:49pm -
What about Facebook? Is there a Facebook page?
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Comment by Nelson on November 27, 2011 at 12:57pm -
Thanks for the comments guys. Glad you're enjoying the links!
@Jonah:
Think Atheist has a Facebook page, certainly!
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Comment by Gary Bergeron on November 27, 2011 at 2:10pm -
Informative links, Nelson, thanks!
The Cold Fusion illusion is a lesson for anyone interested in how science works. Secrecy and trickery are antithetical to the scientific method. Our schools should be using cold fusion to teach kids how science works and how science gains knowledge.
Happy Sunday everybody!
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Comment by Jonah Griffith on November 27, 2011 at 4:04pm
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Thanks! Couldn't find it :]
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Comment by James on November 27, 2011 at 5:05pm -
Amazing class Prof. Nelson!
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Comment by matt.clerke on November 27, 2011 at 5:44pm -
Bit disappointed with the article on Australia.... it features a survey of only 1000 people. Practically useless considering we just filled out our 2011 census. I'll wait until the results from that are published before I even bother considering Australian religiosity.
It's also worth noting Australia now has a bible belt of our own. Some guy is claiming to be Jesus and all his followers are flocking to live near him.
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Comment by wyocowboy on November 27, 2011 at 9:36pm
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gotta love my athiest sunday school...so informative and open minded..oh my is my brain leaking????? lmfkingao
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