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The fact that we all have the same genetic building blocks strongly suggests a single point of origin for all of life. That we can trace our genetic heritage and cousinships in a hierarchical and expanding way which matches morphology, behaviors, and the fossil record helps to make the case for evolution one of the strongest cases for any theory in the history of science.
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I never hear more respectful, civil conversations about contentious issues than when I host a meeting for Atheists of Maine.
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I’ve been busy over the past week, so some of this may not be quite so recent, but it’s all worth a mention:
A baby was effectively cured of HIV. I say “effectively” because this was done via some new treatment or pill or shot. The baby was given the usual cocktail, but it received doses far earlier than is generally considered safe. The result, though, is a happy one. I’ll be interested to know if it’s possible for the child to pass on any remnants of the virus that are virtually hidden within it when it becomes an adult.
There has been an outcry over a study linking decreased housework to greater waistlines among women. Basically, researchers made a simple correlation between women getting less exercise by virtue of moving from housework to white collar jobs. It was in no way sexist or suggesting a regress to the days of Laura Petrie. It was science. And it was a descriptive claim, not a normative one. All we should take from it is that a lot of people really need basic philosophy courses.
Political Figure Antonin Scalia called the right to vote a “racial entitlement”. I think Rachel Maddow said it best in a recent interview on The Daily Show when she called Scalia a troll. The guy wants nothing more than to get people riled up at his idiotic, legally incoherent views. The day he retires or dies will be one of the best days this country has ever seen.
Richard Dawkins will be on The Simpsons this Sunday. It’s unclear what his role will be, but the plot revolves around Ned Flanders, so hopefully there will be an interaction between the two of them.
A federal judge is taking a look at Michigan’s bigoted state constitutional amendment against marriage equality. If it turns out that the correct interpretation is made and such amendments at the state level are found to be a violation of the U.S. constitution, then the end of discrimination in marriage may be closer than I think anyone ever thought.
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The Problem of Evil goes something like this: There is evil in the world, God is responsible for creating the conditions for that evil and he knew it would occur, and so that conflicts with a commonly argued-for property of his – that he is all-good. There’s more to it, but that’s it in an eggshell. And I find it pretty convincing. There is a clear logical contradiction between the characteristics theists claim God has and what we actually see in real life. However, I often find people using this as an argument against the existence of any god. To me, they are in clear error. There is nothing which says a god must be maximally good or all-knowing or all-powerful. It could simply be that some powerful douchebag created everything and that’s all there is to it. This probably wouldn’t be a satisfying god for most believers because he doesn’t fit their all-too-common comfort-seeking, but there isn’t necessarily a good philosophical or scientific argument against such a being.
So, use the Problem of Evil against the Christian God and any other God with similar characteristics – there is no good rebuttal to it. But let’s stop pretending like this justifies a robust reason for calling one’s self an atheist.
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1. To believe without evidence is to believe randomly.
2. Faith is belief without evidence.
3. Faith is random.
(It’s also a scourge, but it’s harder to put that into such a simple form.)
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I can understand some of the support people have for gun rights. There are valid arguments to be had for why gun ownership should only be regulated within certain limits (at least in the U.S.). However, I will never understand why anyone supports the massively moronic NRA.
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It strikes me that the major reasons for our fiscal, economic, and military industrial complex problems trace back squarely to the baby boom generation.
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Here’s all the news that’s fit to…blog.
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The Boy Scouts of America is considering a vote to end its ban on gay scouts and leaders. They have actually decided to delay a vote, but it looks like it’s only a matter of time until the group moves to the right side of history (even if it doesn’t happen this year).
The ACLU is suing an Ohio school for displaying a picture of Jesus. I was going to start off my commentary with a prediction that one of the first arguments we’ll hear in favor of keeping the picture is that it has “historical significance”…except I found that as I read the article, that exact argument has already been made. It’s ridiculous. Adolf Hitler also has historical significance, so why not display his picture? Oh, you mean to tell that it would appear as though such a display endorses Nazi Germany? Weird how that works.
Chris Christie is fat. Okay, so this isn’t news, but it is news that he has taken to speaking about it more openly than in the past. In response, a doctor that was asked about him said that he was at risk for a heart attack, stroke, and early death. Christie then got upset, said the doctor had never examined him or seen his records (which is true) and that it was hackery to make such comments. Except he’s wrong. He is obese and as a result he is at greater risk for all those things. Indeed, all obese people are.
King Richard III’s remains were recently found beneath a parking lot. A meme has been making the rounds that says this king is the hide-and-seek champion from the mid-1400’s to today, but I have to wonder. What about that Jesus fella? Or do his appearances on toast break his streak?
One of the most popular Super Bowl ads was the Dodge Ram/farmers one. Playing to America’s undeserved respect for religion, Dodge advertised one of its trucks using a speech by Paul Harvey. Apparently God had time to make really versatile farmers, but he couldn’t be bothered to create, say, versatile farmland in sub-Saharan Africa. (By the way, this was the best ad.)
The Day of Prayer was held yesterday. President Obama was quoted as saying, “But I go back to the Oval Office and I start watching the cable news networks, and it’s like we didn’t pray.” You mean to tell me that praying and not praying give the exact same results? Crazy.
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Christianity has something like 41,000 denominations. Now, tell me, how many does science have?
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I just can’t say it enough: Faith is not only not a virtue, it is actually actively harmful to the world by way of allowing anyone who holds it to justify anything. It just isn’t a rational or workable basis for thinking.
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For the Sake of Science 