Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Until this week’s episode is posted, this will be the last “Moments of Wonder” for a while. I hope you’ve enjoyed your interlude with the dauntless Philomena Cunk (“Who are you and what are you an expert in or of?”); I know I have! In this episode Philomena tells us that “Moh-neh” is simply the … Continue reading Philomena Cunk on Money
As if it weren’t enough that Alain de Botton tells atheists that we need atheist church-equivalents, and how to set them up, he’s apparently now doing the same in the art business, at least according to the Guardian. Their new piece, “Art as therapy review—de Botton as door-stepping self help evangelist,” by Adrian Searle, bascially takes … Continue reading Alain de Botton, master patronizer, ruins the Rijksmuseum
If you want to see every shopworn criticism of New Atheism rolled up into one splenetic article, then it’s this one (in Salon, of course): “New atheism’s fatal arrogance: The glaring intellectual laziness of Bill Maher & Richard Dawkins.” The writer is Sean Illing, a graduate student in political science at Louisiana State University, who professes … Continue reading Salon pulls out all the stops in dissing New Atheists
This first book isn’t really new, since it came out in 2012, but it’s new to me since I’ve just finished it. It’s Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship the the End of American Debate by Greg Lukianoff. Lukianoff is president of FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), an estimable organization devoted to preserving freedom … Continue reading Three good new books on secularism and atheism
It’s so tiresome to read repeatedly that New Atheism is a failure because we aren’t replacing religion with anything else. This claim has been made once again in a HuffPo piece by Clay Naff called “Humanism’s moment of opportunity, going to waste.” Naff spends a lot of time going after me, and I’ll try to respond … Continue reading Clay Naff: Coyne isn’t filling that God-shaped hole
