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 deWell, it would be the Lord’s Day if there were a Lord, but it’s actually just Sunday, January 19, 2020— National Popcorn Day. It’s also New Friends Day, World Quark Day, World Religion Day, and National Gun Appreciation Day (God and guns always go together). We had a decent amount of snow in Cambridge … Continue reading Sunday: Hili dialogue
Seriously? A public-school musical play about evolution got canceled in England? And because religious parents complained? That’s not supposed to happen! Here are the stories from the BBC and The Independent (click on screenshots to read): Note that the musical was written by a Christian. From the BBC: A school has axed a musical on … Continue reading British school cancels play about evolution after complaints from Christians
Reader Mark Jones called my attention (as did other readers) to this three-part BBC show with an accommodationist theme (click on screenshot), whose first part aired yesterday morning in the UK. Mark did some digging on the show and its host, Nick Spencer, and found substantial Templeton influence and dosh behind it. His summary is … Continue reading The BBC osculates religion and touts accommodationism—with a little help from Templeton
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”
A while back I posted a critique on this site of an article by Tom McLeish at The Conversation, “Religion isn’t the enemy of science: it’s been inspiring scientists for centuries.” In that critique I wrote, “I think it’s time I contributed an article to The Conversation showing why science and religion are incompatible, as that site … Continue reading My anti-accommodationism article at The Conversation
One thing you learn from looking at surveys of American acceptance of evolution: the statistics vary dramatically depending on which organization asks the question. And it also depends on how the question is asked. About a week ago, a Pew Survey tested this by assessing acceptance of human evolution in two ways. Read their summary—and … Continue reading Americans’ acceptance of evolution: does it depend on how you ask them?
I mentioned the project/website “Sinai and Synapses” (S&S) a few days ago (oy, what a name!). It came up in an accommodationist article written by Brian Gallagher, editor of a Nautilus blog and also a S&S fellow. Checking out the S&S site, whose mottos are below, I see it’s the Jewish equivalent of BioLogos: a … Continue reading A “Sinai and Synapses” writer tries to show that religion gives us truths that science cannot, fails miserably
Well, I’m not sure this person, a professor from Australia (name redacted) is being deliberately obscure, but the email below, which came out of the blue, certainly is a tough read. However, the aim appears to be simple: use a pile of quotes from Karl Popper and other people to refute the claim I made … Continue reading I get emails from obscurantists: Is science based on faith?
Five Books is generally a good site, and I’ve done at least two interviews with them. The site’s object is a good one: to get an expert in some field to recommend five books in their area of expertise, books from which the general public could profit. I did interviews about evolution and the incompatibility … Continue reading A Templeton-funded researcher recommends five books on science and religion. Guess what take they have?
Reader Mark called my attention to an accommodationist essay in Aeon by Tom McLeish, described as “a professor of natural philosophy in the Department of Physics at the University of York in the UK. He is the author of Faith and Wisdom in Science (2014), Let There Be Science (2016) and The Poetry and Music of Science (2019)”. McLeish, … Continue reading Science versus religion: Are they “gifts” to each other?
