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.
A reader sent me this 5½-minute video, and although I’d heard the song before (I once had a girlfriend, a classical soprano, who performed it with a colleague), I’m not sure I’ve featured it on this site. Here’s the YouTube caption:
During a tour in Asia in 1996, Régis Mengus and Hyacinthe de Moulins, members of the Little Singers of the Paris, performed the “Duetto buffo di due gatti”, accompanied on the piano by Rodolphe Pierrepont.
The “Duetto buffo di due gatti” (humorous duet for two cats) is a performance piece for two sopranos and piano. Often performed as a comical concert encore, it consists entirely of the repeated word miau (“meow”) sung by the singers. It is sometimes performed by a soprano and a tenor, or a soprano and a bass.
While the piece is typically attributed to Gioachino Rossini, it was not actually written by him, but is instead a compilation written in 1825 that draws principally on his 1816 opera Otello. Hubert Hunt claims that the compiler was Robert Lucas de Pearsall, who for this purpose adopted the pseudonym “G. Berthold”.[
Don’t miss the complex, fast-paced ending after the applause. Who wouldn’t like this song as part of a classical music concert? Play it for your cat, too!
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The BBC informs us in two article (click to read) that a famous cat named Hendrix has been memorialized, and explains why.
Some information (“Saltburn” is “Saltburn-by-the-Sea,” on the northeast coast of England:
A cat that became a “local celebrity” has had a statue unveiled in its honour.
More than £4,000 was raised to place a bronze statue on Saltburn’s pier in Redcar and Cleveland, where Hendrix was a familiar face – often letting himself into cafes and the local arcades.
Owner Nathan Bye thanked the people of Saltburn, Hendrix’s international social media fanbase and Redcar Council who had supported the campaign to memorialise him.
The article has a video about Hendrix, made by Adam Clarkson, which includes this frame of the statue’s unveiling. It’s worth the minute’s watching. People loved Hendrix, and raised £4000 to hve this statue made:
Another article from the Beeb tells us why Hendrix got so much love (click headline to read):
An excerpt from the 2024 piece:
“He always wanted to be outside,” Hannah Chiarella recalls, adding: “Sometimes he was outside for two or three weeks.”
But she did not need to worry too much when her cat Hendrix went on another adventure – his many fans would keep an eye out for him.
First on Tyneside, where he was often seen riding the Metro or hitching lifts on buses, and later on the beach at Saltburn in Redcar and Cleveland, he became something of a local legend.
So much so, people now want to put up a statue in Saltburn in memory of Hendrix, who died aged 12 in September.
“I thought it was quite a nice idea because he did used to bring a lot of joy to people at the beach,” Ms Chiarella says.
“I thought a nice memorial would continue bringing joy,” she adds.
. . .When the family moved closed to Whitley Bay Metro station and later to Saltburn, Hendrix, who was named after Jimi Hendrix, again went about winning over the locals and visitors.
People would send Ms Chiarella photos informing her of Hendrix’s whereabouts and she set up a Facebook page to keep everyone updated.
“We weren’t as worried about him because we knew that everyone was looking out for him,” she says.
Once in Saltburn, Hendrix made the beach his new hangout spot.
“He knew there were a lot of people there and he was going to get a lot of attention,” Ms Chiarella says
He used to go to Saltburn Pier Amusements every day and owner Chelsie Oughton says he used the place as a base, with people travelling just to see him.
“He was charming and just really funny,” Ms Oughton says, adding: “He was here every single day and people couldn’t help but notice him.
“He was a beautiful cat, like a little legend.”
But Hendrix was more than just a cute visitor – Ms Chiarella says he would also cheer people up.
“We used to get messages from people saying how they were sat at the beach, maybe feeling down, and Hendrix would just pop up,” she says.
“It would be a nice part of his life, he helped people as well,” she adds.
RIP, Hendrix. Here’s a short BBC video on Facebook. Click to watch it and be sure to put the sound on.
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Finally, we have a short article about carousel animals that were cats. The article below (click on either headline) gives the following information, along with a bunch of carousel-cat photos.
Golden Age carousel cats (of the domestic sort) came from mostly from The Dentzel Co. and Herschell-Spillman in the US. There were some very rare early PTC cats, but it’s hard to tell if they are domestic or more like Bobcats. Bayol carved a nice domestic carousel cat in France. The other european cats, like the early PTC, appear to be anything from Lynx or Bobcats to small Leopards or Puma. Often the domestic cats would be with their catch in mouth. Usually a fish or bird or occasional rodent, but not always. One Dentzel cat has a crustacean catch. There were quite a few cats carved, but not a lot by any one maker, so they remain among the more coveted carousel figures.
CAROUSEL CATS(ca. 1895-1928) – Historic carousel menagerie figures – Carousel Cats. Dentzel, Herschell-Spillman, Bayol and others carved carousel cats. Often the cats would be with their catch in mouth. Quite a few, but not a lot of cats were carved by any one maker, so they remain among the move coveted carousel figures.
I gather from this that old carousel animals are now collector’s items, which is no surprise.
Thank Ceiling Cat that readers came through with some photos, though I always need more. Got some?
Today we hear from reader Doug Hayes in Richmond, Virginia, whose contribution is called “Morning at the swamp.” Doug’s narrative and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them:
My neighbor got word that the anhingas (Anhinga anhinga) were back at Chamberlayne Swamp, so we headed out for an early morning trip. This is the second year the birds have been spotted in the Richmond area. Last year, one pair successfully bred and hatched at least one offspring. This year, more of the anhingas have made the swamp their home. When we arrived, there were four birds preening and drying their feathers while perched in a circle of dead trees. After an hour or so, the group took off together for parts unknown to spend the rest of the day. Probably along the James River, where fishing is better.
A bit later, I spotted a killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), hunting for insects and crustaceans in the mud near the shore. Another one of the regular “bird nerds” arrived and told us of an Eastern kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) nest she had located on a previous trip to the swamp. As luck would have it, we were able to find the nest and watched as the parents took turns hunting for insects to feed the ravenous babies. Thanks to digital zoom and my telephoto lens, I was able to stay well away from the nest.
A pair of anhingas preening and drying their feathers:
Just keeping a watch on the swamp:
Might be a fish: [JAC: you see why anhingas are sometimes called “snakebirds”]
Nothing much happening this morning:
About time to get moving:
Ready for flight:
The group circles the swamp a few times, then take off for a better fishing spot:
A killdeer looking for a meal:
Keeping a watchful eye on the camera:
A pair of baby Eastern kingbirds waiting for breakfast:
One of the parents arrives with a dragonfly. The two of them made several trips to and from the nest as we watched:
Down the hatch!:
Camera info: Sony A7R5 body, Sony FE 200-600mm zoom lens plus 1.4X teleconverter, Clearview digital zoom at an additional 2X magnification, iFootage Cobra 2 monopod and Neewer gimbal tripod head.
Welcme to Cat Sabbath: Saturday, April 16, 2022: it’s Passover, too, so all the cats get gefilte fish! It’s also National Eggs Benedict Day—a dish that Anthony Bourdain said never to order (he despised brunch) because it, and most of brunch, is made up of leftovers.
73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the First Jewish–Roman War.
Below are the remains of Masada (a World Heritage site), and the legend goes that the siege ended because the remaining Jews all killed themselves. This is what I believed for years, but now I learn that it might not be true.
1881 – In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.
Quimby (below) was the first woman to get a pilot’s license in the U.S., and died in an airplane crash at 37. If this picture from Wikipedia shows her in her flying clothes, those are some pretty fancy duds!
1919 – Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of “prayer and fasting” in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.
That massacre, a despicable and bloodthirsty attack of the British Army, is vividly depicted in the movie “Gandhi” (below). Estimates of the killings range between 379 to 1500 victims—or more. 120 dead were pulled out of the well you see.
As for General Dyer, he was removed from duty, but remained a hero to many Brits who hated Indians.
Gandhi in 1918:
1943 – Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of the research drug LSD. He intentionally takes the drug three days later on April 19.
He was a very strait-laced man to have discovered this drug, but so it goes:
1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.
1947 – Bernard Baruch first applies the term “Cold War” to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
Here’s the last three minutes of Jordan’s last game. Sadly, he didn’t do that well and the Bulls lost, but what a career the man had. I’m sad that I never saw him play.
Breivick killed 77 people and got the maximum sentence: 21 years in jail. But it can be extended indefinitely in increments if the prisoner isn’t deemed safe to release, and I suspect that Breivik will be in for life. This is one reason:
Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people on July 22, 2011, in a bomb attack in Oslo and a mass shooting at a summer camp for children. (Lise Aaserud/AP)
2012 – The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced, it was the first time since 1977 that no book won the Fiction Prize.
There was no prize given for International Reporting, either.
Notables born on this day include:
1844 – Anatole France, French journalist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
1867 – Wilbur Wright, American inventor (d. 1912)
1918 – Spike Milligan, Irish actor, comedian, and writer (d. 2002)
1939 – Dusty Springfield, English singer and record producer (d. 1999)
This is my favorite of her songs, though Dusty’s most popular release was “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me“, which reached #1 on the British Pop Charts.
1971 – Selena, American singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer (d. 1995).
Here’s Selena Quintanilla Pérez , live in Houston and singing a disco medley. Wildly popular, she was shot at just 23.
Those who became extinct on April 16 include:
1828 – Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and illustrator (b. 1746)
1958 – Rosalind Franklin, English biophysicist and academic (b. 1920)
One of Franklin’s favorite hobbies was trekking; here she is on a hike in the Alps:
1991 – David Lean, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
What can you say about a man who directed The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965), all of them epics and all of them terrific (Lawrence of Arabia isthe best)? I know the second two movies almost by heart. I looked at a number of clip from Zhivago (I’ve seen Lawrence too many times), and decided to put this one up. (The “wife” of Strelnekov turns out to be Lara, with whom Zhivago has an affair.) I think Strelnekov is modeled on Trotsky. The best of these movies is Lawrence, but they’re all good.
1994 – Ralph Ellison, American novelist and critic (b. 1913)
Here’s a short documentary on Ellison, who wrote one good novel (“Invisible Man”), but it’s a doozy:
*There is no banner headline in the NYT today, but here’s the upper-left corner headline—the most important. And it’s not good news. Click on screenshot to read:
Here’s the NYT’s news summary:
A large explosion rocked Kyiv early Saturday, and the Ukrainians claimed to have shot down missiles aimed at Odesa in the south and Lviv in the west — a reminder that even as Russia prepares for a large-scale offensive in eastern Ukraine, it can still strike targets across the country.
The targeting of military-related facilities across Ukraine with precision munitions came as Russia continued to move equipment and forces into position for a renewed offensive. The moves appeared to be aimed at degrading the Ukrainians’ military capabilities in advance of the anticipated assault, which military analysts have warned could be both long and bloody.
I still think that the whole country, and not just the eastern bit, will be taken over by Russia. Putin is desperate and has tactical nukes, and is now threatening the U.S. if we keep giving weapons to Ukraine. My fingers are crossed. But in his latest Substack column, Andrew Sullivan proposes his own peace solution, which I don’t like:
How does this unwind itself without a more widespread catastrophe? The key, it seems to me, is to keep our focus on a feasible settlement: a pledge never to admit Ukraine to NATO, a referendum — conducted by international bodies — in the two eastern provinces to determine their future in Russia or Ukraine, and a guarantee of Ukraine’s neutrality. But we are fast walking backwards into something far larger: a Western attempt for regime change in Russia, with Ukraine as the lever. That could make the war truly existential for Russia. Which means, with a nuclear power, truly existential for the world as well.
Worried about a much wider war, Sullivan is urging Ukraine to promise not to join NATO and to hold elections that could (and would, given Russian perfidy) hand over much of eastern Ukraine to Russia.
*In other news, the U.S. is now convinced that the Russian cruiser Moskva was indeed sunk by Ukrainian missiles, and there is much rejoicing, which I share. But remember that people are starving in Mariupol and the body count of Ukrainians will be rising fast–and soon. There is really not much to celebrate. The governor of Donestsk pronounced that Mariupol “has been wiped off the face of the earth”.
*Elon Musk has been trying to effect a hostile takeover of Twitter, though I’m not sure what changes he proposes to make. At any rate, according to the Wall Street Journal, Twitter is fighting back:
The company on Friday adopted a so-called poison pill that makes it difficult for Mr. Musk to increase his stake beyond 15%. The billionaire founder of Tesla Inc. TSLA -3.66%▼ already owns a more-than 9% stake that he revealed earlier this month.
PayPal Chief Executive Peter Thiel, left, and founder Elon Musk, right, pose with the PayPal logo in 2000.PHOTO: PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Poison pills, also called shareholder-rights plans, are legal maneuvers that make it hard for shareholders to build their stakes beyond a set point by triggering an option for others to buy more shares at a discount. They are often used by companies that receive hostile takeover bids to block an unwanted suitor or buy time to consider their options.
Twitter said in a statement that the rights plan doesn’t prevent the company from engaging with potential acquirers or accepting a takeover bid if the board determines it is in the best interest of shareholders. It earlier confirmed it received Mr. Musk’s offer and is rewriting it.
As long as Musk doesn’t ban cat tweets, I’m not overly concerned.
*Talk about the demonization of the godless! CNN reports that a Nigerian atheist pleaded guilty to blasphemy in the neighboring state of Kano, and was sentenced to 24 years in jail (both countries are majority Muslim). (h/t Paul)
Charges against Mubarak Bala are linked to comments he posted on Facebook in April 2020 that were critical of Islam and which authorities in Kano considered blasphemous and an insult to the religion, his lawyer said.
Bala, who heads the Humanist Association of Nigeria, was arrested at his home in the northern Kaduna state two years ago and was then moved to neighbouring Kano, a majority Muslim and conservative state.
*The Guardian reports that, due to the paucity of chemicals needed for lethal injections (drug companies won’t sell them to prisons), firing squads are making a comeback. (h/t Steve)
On Thursday, South Carolina scheduled the execution of Richard Moore – convicted of murder in a 2001 convenience story robbery – for 29 April. Because state officials say they have not been able to secure lethal injection drugs, they will give him the choice between the electric chair and the firing squad.
Man, there’s no choice there: take the firing squad! Or better yet, have them shoot you in the back of the head with a single bullet. But of course all this is pilpul because I’m adamantly opposed to capital punishment.
Until now, Utah was the only state still using firing squads, and the last execution was in 2010.
This all comes from a recent Supreme Court decision that “if prisoners want to fight an execution method, they need to propose a ‘known and available’ alternative in court.” They thus become complicit in their own death.
It is true that if you’re going to kill someone painlessly, either give them pure barbiturate, as they do with assisted suicide in Switzerland, or shoot them, which often kills them more quickly than does lethal injection. But no form of capital punishment is acceptable. (The reason people object to firing squads is that it’s messy) And if we’re going to have it, we should televise it. Let people see what they’re in favor of!
*Over at Freddie de Boer’s Substack, he argues that “Self-actualization is not the sole purpose of human existence.” He’s pushing back against “the notion that healthy, well-adjusted people are possessed of absolutely deranged self-confidence and pursue their desires with remorseless and violent ambition”; and sees this instantiated in some Disney films. He’s got a point, in that one must take others into account, but I think he goes a bit overboard.
A Southern California shoe store owner opened fire at two shoplifters, police said, but mistakenly shot a 9-year-old girl about to get her picture with a mall Easter Bunny. The store owner fled the state and was arrested in Nevada, authorities said Wednesday.
Marqel Cockrell, 20, was chasing the shoplifters out of the store Tuesday evening at the Mall of Victor Valley in the small city of Victorville when he “fired multiple shots at the shoplifters,” Victorville police said in a statement.
“Cockrell’s shots missed the shoplifters and instead hit the 9-year-old female victim,” the statement said.
First of all, you don’t fire at shoplifters. Second, if you can’t fire properly, don’t use a gun. Third, the poor girl, who will live (she had three wounds), may have permanent nerve damage.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili’s been unsuccessful in her hunting:
Hili: I’m losing hope.
A: What for?
Hili: That something tasty will come to me.
In Polish:
Hili: Tracę nadzieję.
Ja: Na co?
Hili: Że coś smacznego samo do mnie przyjdzie.
Here’s Karolina grabbing Kulka:
And Szaron with book by Anjuli Pandavar that arrived in Dobrzyn yesterday–translation by Malgorzata. The title in Polish is Islam – faith and humanity. Malgorzata says, “The original title was Muslim’s inner struggle. It’s about how in every believer in Islam, a Muslim is fighting with a human. And humanity often loses.”
The chief medical officer at New York City's Department of Health has apologised for calling pregnant women of colour "mothers". She's issued a statement saying: "We apologize for inadvertently gendering Black and Puerto Rican birthing people"https://t.co/O16jFFIRrJ
— apple logo sticker on a taser holster (@bumwees) April 14, 2022
This is proposed as a solution to the trolley problem, but I don’t think this is one choice. Translation: “How to save everyone in the ‘trolley problem’ How about such an answer?”
I’m trying to catch up on the duck reports, and am getting closer. Katie’s brood is almost completely gone (there’s one offspring left, but it could be Anna’s), but Katie is still here, as is Anna. It’s curious that both moms are hanging around after their brood has departed, as these moms have fully molted and can fly quite well. Maybe they have a sentimental attachment to a place where all their young were treated well.
Daphne, on the other hand, is in the middle of regrowing her feathers, as her offspring have just started flying (in fact, several appear to have left the pond for good; I counted just six this afternoon). Here’s a short video from August 15, when all nine of them were still here:
Here’s the lovely and graceful Anna, who gave us 8 fledged ducklings. She’s instantly recognizable by her long neck and grayish bill:
Look how much she can twist it when she’s grooming!
Anna in the green water:
And here’s Katie, the first mom (sometimes I think it’s really Honey, but I doubt it):
A huge and handsome drake showed up about ten days ago. His head isn’t fully green, so he may be in eclipse plumage, but it’s clearly a male. Because he’s spiffy looking, I’ve named him Ritz Quacker. He is BIG!
Katie, who has an eye for a good mate (remember Gregory, her ex?), has taken up with Ritz. He’s much larger than she is, but they’re always swimming about together:
They like to share a duck island. See how big he is?
Duck poop, just so you know what it looks like:
Daphne’s brood of nine is the most sociable brood of ducks I’ve seen: they are always together, even now when they’re starting to fledge. In the next two photos they’re gathering for lunch:
In the heat of the day, they all lie down together under the trees:
And they rest together on the duck island, where they closely resemble the wooden “knees” of the cypress:
And we mustn’t forget the turtles. They often sport a coat of algae (like this one), which the ducks like to eat by nibbling on the shell. I think the relationship is a mutualism as algae must weigh down a turtle, but the turtles don’t like being grazed by ducks:
Happy Caturday from Hawaii! As usual, we have three items today for the devoted ailurophile. First, a lovely 15-minute video of a variety of cats getting the mail. Some are friendly, some are vicious, but all are exactly like cats:
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This article from Grape (found by Grania) shows a variety of Japanese hand creams that supposedly make your hands smell like cat paws! (Click on screenshot.)
After the brilliant invention of the Meomeo hand cream, made to attract cats to your side with its unique fragrance, another dreamy cat hand cream has arrived for cat lovers. The new Punipuni Nikukyu hand cream (literally, soft cat paw), will magically make your hands smell exactly like cat palms, while working as a perfect moisturizer for your dry hands.
The hand cream even comes in different colors of paw.
Here’s one for the ginger-cat lover:
According to the many people who’ve already tried it out, it appears that the hand cream smells 100% like cat paws.
Now I happen to be one of those weirdos who love the smell of cat paws: they’re musty and slightly pungent—an attractive feral smell. But, it turns out, many Japanese also share this penchant:
It’s not uncommon to smell cat paws in Japan, in fact, many cat lovers enjoy their scent in the morning, saying that they smell like sunflowers and bring you energy. Similarly, many take a whiff to feel refreshed after a stressful day of work. Now they can smell their own humans paws anywhere they go, and relish in the same effects. The Punipuni Nikukyu hand cream is sold for 1,050 yen (10.15 USD), and is available in three different colors.
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Reader Shirley found a “Fred. Coyne” who, as I gather from trawling the Internet, was somewhat of a music-hall sensation in Britain at the end of the nineteenth century. Shirley wrote this and attached a photo of sheet music:
I’ve been sorting my books and came across the attached cover page (in a set of 12 Music Hall Songs covers). Most are undated, but 3 bear dates 1897, 1898 and 1899, so I guess they are all of about the same vintage.
I wondered whether you were aware of your ailurophile (?) ancestor Fred, who was singing cat songs (with immense success) so long ago?
“Sung with immense success by Fred. Coyne”. What does “immense success” mean? Why is the cat bristling? Is the woman with the broom about to bash the cat? Did he try to get the cockatoo? All is mystery.
I found this cover, showing a person who may well be Fred. Coyne, on the UK’s National Portrait Gallery site. He appears to have had immense success with every song! However, I don’t think Fred. is a relative.
And at Song Facts, you can read this about Fred (minus the period) Coyne:
In Coyne Of The Realm, an article published in the summer 2005 issue of The Call Boy, the quarterly journal of the British Music Hall Society, Peter Chorlton said that Fred Coyne (1847-84), who popularised this song, rode one daily, and for some time, and actually came on stage riding it. Velocipede (literally fast foot from the Latin) is an antiquated (and now somewhat humorous) term for a bicycle, which at the time this song was written was still in its infancy, and included all manner of odd looking contraptions, most notably the penny farthing.
Coyne’s ditty contains the lines:
“Everyone should try one,
Everyone should buy one…”
which begs the question was he sponsored by a manufacturer? – as was George Leybourne (of “Champagne Charlie” fame).
Actually, Coyne rode a tricycle; the song has lyrics by Frank W. Green and music by Alfred Lee, and is far from unique; at this time there were many songs and pieces of music dedicated to or inspired by the new invention.
Okay, the first reader who finds the article “Coyne of the Realm” and sends it to me will win a signed paperback copy of Faith Versus Fact, embellished with a cat.
This is his year-end summary of all the damage done by faith in 2015, including, of course, the Charlie Hebdo attacks and similar instances of Islamist terrorism. Nor does he let Christianity off the hook, noting the Republican attacks on Planned Parenthood, the failure of “abstinence-only” sex education in the American South, the continuing saga of the Duggar family, and the ways that Christian fundamentalists still try to sneak creationism into public schools. N.B. The link to one intriguing study cited by Tayler below is incorrect. I hadn’t known about that work:
That religion retards children’s cognitive development has been well established: little ones indoctrinated to believe in miracles find it tough to distinguish fact from fiction.
A working link to a description of that study is here, and the published study itself is here (reference at bottom, free access). I haven’t yet read the paper, and I’m dubious about these psychological tests, but I’ve printed it out to peruse. (Note the correct usage of the frequently misused term “peruse“.) Here’s the abstract:
Tayler’s paragraph below encapsulates several of the characteristics of New (as opposed to “Old”) Atheism: the claim that gods and religious dicta are hypotheses, many testable in principle; that they fail the test of reason and evidence; and on that basis we should not only reject religion, but persuade others to do so, engaging in “anti-theism”. (Tayler’s reference to heads and eye sockets refers to trepanation and lobotomy, which he earlier characterized as the medical equivalent of faith):
The baseline for progressives should be, however, the truth. If a proposition, however unpleasant, can be supported by objective evidence, we need to recognize it as true, at least until new evidence arises that disproves it. If we’re interested in the wellbeing of our fellows, and we see them behaving in accordance with disproven propositions, we should tell them so and help them see the light. We should, thus, importune our faith-addled friend on the way to the church, mosque, or synagogue, and patiently explain to him the errors of his ways. He needs religion, in short, like a hole in the head or an icepick up the eye socket, and we should tell him so.
After listing the woes of the year, he also gives some high spots, and I was chuffed to find my book among them:
Yet harbingers of real progress did emerge. The brave, indomitable Ayaan Hirsi Ali published “Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now,” and one of New Atheism’s founders, the neuroscientist Sam Harris, put out, with former Islamist Maajid Nawaz, “Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue.” Both tomes deal with the faith and what can be done to mitigate the extremism it produces. On religion and its discontents more generally, the University of Chicago evolutionary biologist (and 2015 Richard Dawkins Award winner) Jerry Coyne authored “Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible,” a well-crafted vade mecum for all rationalists wishing to mount a cogent challenge to the religiously deluded. And David Silverman, president of American Atheists, helped close out the year on a positive note with his “Fighting God,” a polemic for firebrand atheism that will pour oil on faith’s funeral pyre. Yes, that pyre is already burning. The “Nones” are rising, as readers of this column know.
I’ve read all those books save Fighting God (which I will read); Heretic and the short Nawaz-and-Harris book are well worth reading, though I seriously doubt whether Hirsi Ali’s solution for Muslims, which involves reading the Qur’an non-literally, will really work. A huge majority of Muslims throughout the world see the Qur’an as the literal word of Allah.
Finally, Tayler urges us to keep the pressure on faith and the “religiously deluded” (a term that will make him no friends among their ranks!), but really, isn’t what he says about religion in the second paragraph the truth? Religion is to adults what Santa Claus is to children.
We need to argue our case relentlessly, challenge the faith-deranged in every venue, and never lose sight of how free speech about religion can and does convert believers into nonbelievers.
We need to stress the indignity of religion. Superstitions ordaining us to submit to God are the enemies of human dignity. That God is wholly imaginary only compounds this indignity. Coddling the religiously deluded by showing “respect” for the undignified shams to which they are attached (denouncers of “Islamophobia” take note!) drags out the misery they impose on themselves and on the rest of us. In contrast to religious folk, we nonbelievers know how to live free and should never hesitate to point this out. Religion and freedom are incompatible. In fact, religion and true adulthood can’t coexist. One who shies away from bleak facts surrounding our time on Earth is really a child, no matter his or her age.
“No gods, no masters,” declared early feminist Margaret Sanger. Such is the slogan for human dignity and reason, whether we are male or female.
We should remember this during the upcoming year, which may be anything but easy.
New Year’s Eve in UK cities can be a pretty horrendous experience. The Manchester Evening News has just published a delightful selection of photos by Joel Goodman, showing what happened last night. They are generally pretty grim, but this photo, taken on Withy Grove, stands out. As various people on Tw*tter have commented, it looks like a Renaissance painting. Click twice to get the full glory:
