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.
Well, I’ll be! There are over 40 university chaplains at Harvard and, according to this new article in the New York Times, they elected as their chief . . . an atheist! Click to read the news, which actually doesn’t surprise me: Harvard has had a humanist chaplain for a long time, but several of … Continue reading Harvard’s head chaplain is now an atheist
There seems to be a resurgence of accommodationism this week, with people arguing that science and religion are perfectly compatible. The argument goes further, and along familiar lines: scientists like Dawkins and me are deemed “arrogant loudmouthed jerks” because our our vociferous atheism supposedly turns people away from science. And so we encounter the familiar … Continue reading Accommodationism returns, this time with a nasty streak
Reader Michael called my attention to Richard Dawkins’s Darwin Day Lecture to Humanists UK (HUK). Richard is introduced by Humanists UK President and evolutionary biologist Alice Roberts, who was the moderator when I gave this lecture a few years ago. Richard’s lecture was just posted today, and as I write there are only 194 views. … Continue reading Dawkins’s Darwin Day lecture for Humanists UK: “Taking Courage from Darwin to Fight the Hubris of Faith”
UPDATE: I wrote about this letter six years ago when it was up for sale, but forgot (my post is here). At that time commenter Wolfgang, a German speaker, said that most translations of this letter, including this one are somewhat inaccurate, in particular that the phrase “childish superstition” is simply not in the letter, … Continue reading Einstein’s letter impugning religion, scripture, and the idea of God goes up for sale again
It’s refreshing to see an anti-accommodationist piece like the one published by Ross Pomeroy in Real Clear Science: “Will science drive religion extinct?” The piece violates Betteridge’s Law of Headlines (“Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no“), for Pomeroy’s answer is clearly “yes.” He first adduces data that … Continue reading New article claims that science is killing religion
At last! After years of assailing our ears with the wet smacking of faith-osculation and the unbearable blather of Krista Tippett, National Public Radio (NPR) has published a piece defending atheism and dismantling one of the commonest criticisms tendered by the Unthinking Faithful: atheism sucks the meaning out of life. And I’m proud to see that the … Continue reading Surprise! National Public Radio touts unrepentant atheism, defends the idea that atheist lives have meaning
Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that Lawrence Krauss had published a piece called “All scientists should be militant atheists“—and in The New Yorker, a venue not known for antagonism to religion. It’s amazing! Not only that, but look again at the shrill and strident title. But Krauss … Continue reading Krauss promotes “militant atheism”—in the New Yorker, of all places
I guess Salon, which most New Atheists dislike because of its history of accommodationist and atheist-bashing articles, doesn’t really care whether it has a unified viewpoint or not, for it’s begun to publish a string of long and hard-hitting anti-theist articles by Jeffrey Tayler, a contributing editor to The Atlantic who lives in Moscow. Tayler’s latest … Continue reading Jeffrey Tayler continues making Salon friendlier to anti-theism
This is the image that faitheists, accommodationists, and believers have when it comes to Our Own Satan. It was produced by Ben Goren, who calls it “Richard Dawkins, Militant Atheist,” who sent it with the note: The opening sentence of that execrable bit of nonsense by Nury Vittachi that you’ve got as the top post right … Continue reading A militant atheist
Chris Stedman is the assistant humanist chaplain at Harvard University, and author of the accommodationist book Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious (perhaps its title was stolen from this website!). Here’s a discussion he had with the odious Bill O’Reilly on December 6: According to Stedman, the #1 problem of atheists is that … Continue reading Bill O’Reilly and Chris Stedman ally against The War on Christmas
