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.
It’s the first day of the work week, and the first day of August, 2022, National Raspberry Cream Pie Day I’ve never had one, but it looks pretty good (recipe here): It’s also these food months: National Catfish Month National Panini Month National Peach Month National Sandwich Month You could combine them by making a … Continue reading Monday: Hili dialogue
It’s been roughly four years since I wrote about Elaine Ecklund‘s efforts to show that religion and science aren’t in conflict and also that scientists are more religious than one might suspect (see posts here). A sociologist at Rice University, Ecklund has been funded, as far as I can see, nearly continuously by various Templeton … Continue reading Russell Blackford reviews Elaine Ecklund’s latest religion-osculating book
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
“Give me the child and I’ll give you a faith-ridden adult”. (Implicit motto of the John Templeton Foundation and the Faraday Institute) The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion in Cambridge, England (webpage here) describes itself as “an interdisciplinary research enterprise based in Cambridge. In addition to academic research, the Institute engages in the … Continue reading The Templeton-funded Faraday Institute proselytizes kids by promoting books on God
Greetings on Hump Day, or “Dan Grba” as they say in Croatia: January 19, 2022, National Popcorn Day!! (I didn’t put the two exclamation marks in; somebody’s really excited about popcorn. It’s also World Quark Day (not the physics quark, but a cheeselike comestible), Brew a Potion Day, Tin Can Day, New Friends Day, and, … Continue reading Wednesday: Hili dialogue
Reader Michael called my attention to a comic-book presentation of accommodationism at the website Nautilus, a site founded and apparently still funded by the John Templeton Foundation. Click on the screenshot if you want to see this heavy-handed presentation: The comic highlights a new venture, Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum (SRES), which is sponsored by the Templeton … Continue reading Templeton-sponsored accommodationist cartoon in Nautilus
60 Minutes is the only non-evening-news show I watch on television, but I missed this week’s episode that included a 13-minute segment on Harvard /MIT geneticist George Church. I’ve written about Church before, but only to kvetch about his accommodationism, for he truly has a soft spot for religion, is a big-time accommodationist, and has … Continue reading A profile of George Church on 60 Minutes
Alan Lightman is an accomplished physicist and writer who has produced a ton of books, both fiction and nonfiction (I much enjoyed Einstein’s Dreams), and is Professor of the Practice of the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His joint interest in science and the humanities is admirable, but if this video is any evidence, … Continue reading Alan Lightman spouts accommodationist nonsense on PBS
