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.
The live (peregrine) FalconCam in Fargo, North Dakota, is well worth watching these days, as the parents have hatched three fuzzy chicks, now about a week old. I took the screenshot below a few minutes ago, and all the chicks were rolling around like dust bunnies. If you click on the shot, it’ll take you directly to the cam.
It’s worth checking this cam from time to time, not only to watch the chicks grow, but to see the magnificent parents tend and feed them.
When Francis became Pope, it became a touchstone for who really was a skeptic. The new Pope’s display of humility and (it turns out) false reconciliation toward gays made many people feel warmly toward him—even nonbelievers. But ex-Catholics, or atheists familiar with the Catholic church, wearily echoed the refrain: “Meet the new Pope: same as the old Pope.”
That has turned out to be true. Francis may abjure designer shoes and live in a humble apartment, but he’s still pushing the tired old maladaptive doctrines of his Church.
And now he’s really offended me. The title of the Religion News Service‘s story tells the tale: “Pope Francis tells couples not to substitute dogs and cats for children.”
The title is amusing, and I can make light of the Pope’s dissing of cats and d*gs. But there’s a serious purpose behind this, of course, for the Church is bleeding adherents everywhere in the world save South and Central America. It simply needs its female members (aka breeder cattle) to pump out more young Catholics.
But I fulminate. Here’s what the Pope said:
Pope Francis on Monday (June 2) warned married couples against substituting cats and dogs for children — a move that he said leads to the “bitterness of loneliness” in old age.
The pope made his comments as he celebrated daily Mass with 15 married couples in the chapel at the Santa Marta residence where he lives inside the Vatican.
He reminded the couples, whose marriages ranged from 25 to 60 years, of the need for faithfulness, perseverance and fertility in maintaining a Christian marriage.
Fertility!
But he went a step further and strongly criticized those couples who choose not to have children, saying they had been influenced by a culture of “well-being” that says life is better without kids.
“You can go explore the world, go on holiday, you can have a villa in the countryside, you can be carefree,” the pope said.
“It might be better — more comfortable — to have a dog, two cats, and the love goes to the two cats and the dog. Is this true or not? Have you seen it?
“Then, in the end this marriage comes to old age in solitude, with the bitterness of loneliness.“
LOL. If you have a cat or a d*g, they won’t leave home and ignore you in your old age, as so many children do to their parents. A fuzzy kitteh is one of the best cures for loneliness there is, for it’s always around. Can you give your children a belly rub, or will they sleep with you and sooth you with their purrs? I don’t think so.
The Pope’s rationale is not loneliness, of course, it’s MAKE MORE CATHOLICS.
The 77-year-old pontiff made his comments after recent figures confirmed a drop in birth rates in the U.S., Italy and elsewhere.
Figures released by Italy’s official statistics agency Istat last week showed the country’s birth rate hit a record low in 2013, with the birth of only 515,000 babies — a drop of 64,000 over the past five years — and a worrying trend as the population ages.
Last year, Time magazine provoked a national debate with a controversial issue entitled “The Childfree Life,” which also showed a dramatic fall in the U.S. birth rate and the role of personal choice.
What a sneaky old so-and-so he is! Is Francis fooling anyone with his talk about the need to have kids to avoid being lonely and bitter in their old age? If he is, then Catholics are even more gullible than I thought.
h/t: Barry
Hili has not yet come to terms with the d*g:
Hili: And he is going to eat all this?
A: Hili, Cyrus is a big dog.
Hili: Wasn’t there any smaller one?
Hili: I on to wszystko zje?
Ja: Hili, Cyrus to duży pies.
Hili: A mniejszego nie było?
According to YouTube, this Swiss toy was built at the beginning of the 19th century, making it 200 years old. And it’s pretty amazing.
If it’s supposed to mimic a real bird, what’s the species?
h/t: John
Like Hemant, I have received an email from a nonreligious Lebanon High School graduate (not the same one!)—one whose graduation ceremony was marred by the prayers of Principal Lowery. It details a history of religious inculcation in that school that goes far beyond the prayer uttered at graduation. For obvious reasons, I have kept the student’s sex and identity confidential.
Dear Professor Coyne,
I was a graduating student at the Lebanon High School 2014 commencement ceremony in Lebanon, Missouri. I have been a Lebanon student my whole life.
I grew up in a secular home where I was neither encouraged nor discouraged in participation of religious activities. This immediately separated me from most of my peers who would often talk about or discuss church. I never thought much about it until I started attending Lebanon High School.
The school was definitely primarily religious. With clubs such as Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Bible Club, I simply got used to religion being a driving force at the school. I never attempted to impede on the rights of others to get together and pray, often personally opting out of prayer circles in preparation for tests before classes. Prayers were also held before sports events, talent shows, assemblies, and other school events that I also did not participate in. These things didn’t bother me too much, as it was student led.
What bothers me is the school’s [tendency] to dissolve other groups that promote tolerance of differences. My sister, a graduate of Lebanon High School, helped found the Youth for Tolerance club. This club was met with great controversy, but was a safe place for non-Christians and LGBT youth to convene and promote tolerance. This club never received a teacher sponsor, with teachers admitting to be afraid to lose their job in just hosting the club. When I became an LHS student, this club was no longer in existence.
My absence in these prayers was noted. Christian students often dismissed my opinions in class discussions about whether non-Christian sources were credible. Political discussions in Social Studies classes were quite one-sided. In response to my stances, people would frequently say to me, “I’ll pray for you,” knowing that I was non-religious. To put the cherry on top, my yearbook is full of messages encouraging me to find god for my mortal soul.
What Mr. Lowery did at the 2014 graduation ceremony is hardly the first time that he danced around the Separation of Church and State for prayer. At the previous graduation ceremony, he said that he is not allowed to say a prayer, but if he could say a prayer, this is what he would say. He added that he would encourage everyone to bow their heads. And if this was not ambiguous enough, he added an “amen” to conclude his statements.
I was surprised. I tried to discuss this with like-minded classmates who informed me that he often prayed before school sponsored sports events. This was of course allowed due to the majority of Lebanon being religious—a population around 15,000 and a church on every corner.
But he is a school official. His actions as principal seem to represent that of a Christian private school. Lebanon High School is not a private school. The students felt safe to bully me and my non-Christian peers, as they were the majority. And the principal seemed inclined to protect them.
At my graduation, I was prepared for him to say a prayer. I did not expect a speech about America essentially being a Christian nation. It was arrogant, aggressive. I felt shamed for being a non-believer. It was not a simple prayer. It was an outcry of how he didn’t care about the minority. I had already felt as though he had a personal distaste for me as he knew I was not religious. His actions at the graduation were a slap in the face.
Let it be known that I am hardly a bad student. I graduated as an honor student, received generous scholarships for college, and participated in a plethora of extra-curricular activities. I attended classes, made good grades, and treated my classmates with respect. As I was seated in my cap and gown, I was happy to be celebrating this accomplishment with the peers I had grown up with. At that point, we were one. We were united as the LHS Class of 2014. We were the Lebanon High School Yellow Jackets.
What Lowery did, however, stole that from me. It was no longer about my education. It was about religion. So as my peers around me clapped and cheered for his prayer, I realized. This is not for me. I am not welcome here. I have never been. Lowery is not proud of me or for my various accomplishments, no matter what my class ranking was. I was not a Lebanon Yellow Jacket. I was an unwelcome non-Christian. Before Principal Lowery’s speech, I felt welcome. I felt safe. But after the cheers, the hollers… I was anxious. I wanted to leave. I will only have one high school graduation, and I will forever remember that feeling.
The public outcry from this is disappointingly not surprising. I was aware that even though logic would state that this was unconstitutional, people would support him anyways. They do not care about the minority, because they are the majority. They protect each other, and collectively shame me. No one cares if I leave the community or not, because my opinions are not welcome. And Lowery further illustrates that they never will be.
Several teachers have voiced their displeasure with Lowery’s statements, but have admitted to being afraid for their jobs to do anything that was anti-Christian. Even Christian teachers are upset by his comments. Though take one tour through the Lebanon town Facebook pages, and you’ll see why.
I lived 18 years of my life surrounded by hateful people. Principal Lowery’s speech endorsed it all. He is no better than my school peers who bullied me for my non-belief. I sincerely hope that he reads this and reflects on his actions.
Thank you for your attention to this issue. Those of us within the community are too afraid to have a voice, as you have unfortunately learned. But there are those of us who find comfort in knowing that others have empathy for our situations.
This letter almost makes me weep. People of Lebanon: do you see what religious prosyletizing does to people who don’t share your beliefs? Does that not bother you one bit? If it doesn’t, then even if you call yourself a Christian, you aren’t.
There are more letters to come from offended students, I think. I wish Principal Lowery would read them.
Although my friend Hemant “The Friendly Atheist” Mehta has already lost his bet on the unconstitutionality of the Lebanon High School principal’s graduation speech, he refuses to admit it in his latest post. If he doesn’t pony up with the Islay malt pronto, I’ll have to start calling him “The Obdurate Atheist.”
But of more interest on that post is Hemant’s report of an email he got from a disaffected student at Lebanon High School—one who had to sit through Principal Lowery’s goddy speech. And she didn’t like that speech one bit. I’ll reproduce what Hemant published below, just for the record. She preferred to remain anonymous (a wise decision in that town!), and her letter was edited somewhat by Hemant.
I’ve lived in Lebanon, Missouri for all my seventeen years of life. I was raised in a very liberal, open-minded home, which I’d venture to say is different from 98% of the other students at my school. Neither my parents nor myself are religious, something that definitely stands out in this town. I’ve always been criticized for my beliefs (or lack thereof) so Lowery’s speech was not a first for me. Ever since I was young, I’ve been preached to, dragged to church by grandparents who were — and still are — convinced I’ll burn in hell for not attending, and bullied for being different. I’ve always stood firmly by my beliefs, and, quite frankly, I’m used to the discrimination.
As I sat and listened to my principal deliver the speech at my best friend’s graduation, I took it with a grain of salt and an eye roll. This is the same stuff I hear every day. While at first, I wasn’t deeply offended, I soon realized that the Muslim foreign exchange students probably didn’t like it very much, especially when their host families and classmates applauded the speech. For someone who is supposed to be a leader — a government paid leader at that — it sure was an arrogant and distasteful thing to do.
It wasn’t until I shared the link to the story on “The Blaze” to my Facebook page that I was truly bothered by the issue. My Facebook friends instantly started attacking me for my opinion.
(But don’t worry. It’s okay because their comments all ended with “I’m praying for you!”)
I’ll end this by saying thank you for bringing this issue to light. This town may be doomed to close-mindedness forever, but when there are people like you in far more accepting parts of our nation that are willing to take a stand, I definitely have hope for a better future. While I can’t say I’m a proud LHS student, I thank you for taking concern in my community.
There is more than one such student, and this, of course, gives ample grounds for a legal challenge—if those students are willing to act as plaintiffs (they are kept anonymous, even in those proceedings, as far as possible). What’s equally important is that even in the God-soaked town of Lebanon, teeming with obstreperous believers, there are rational voices like that of this young woman. There is more sanity in her email than in all the nasty emails I got from Lebanon’s Christians. We have hope.
I really should pay more attention to The Oatmeal comic strip, for it’s full of fun and wonders. The latest one is a biologically accurate description of the mating habits of the red velvet mite (an arachnid), but told in a winsome and engaging way.
Here’s the first panel, but you need to see them all. Click on the screenshot below to get there:
This wonderful strip is created by Matthew Inman, and don’t miss his many strips about cats, especially my favorite: “The Bobcats” series. And “How to pet a kitty” is a stone classic.
Reader Ed Kroc sent in a nice series of photos of the sandhill crane, as well as an explanation:
For your consideration, here are some pictures of the sandhill crane (Grus canadensis). These were taken at the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta, BC, just south of Vancouver. This is a wonderful place, full of marshes and wetlands right at the mouth of the Fraser River. It’s a reliable oasis for many species of bird as they migrate south to north and back again each year, as well as an ideal location for many resident birds to nest.
Enclosed are a few pictures of an unfairly adorable sandhill crane chick with parents. This little guy was only a day old when I was lucky enough to stop by the sanctuary. The chick had yet to build up a tolerance to life outside the shell, frequently plopping down with little ceremony to nap for a few minutes in the spring sun. Comparing the chick to one of its parents, it’s amazing to consider the morphological transformation these birds go through from nestling to adult.
Look at the feet on that chick!
