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.
Here’s a just reissued “Waking Up” podcast from Sam Harris, discussing whether Islamist fighters, like those in ISIS, really believe what they say they do, and whether religion is really responsible—at least in large part—for their acts. We all know the “religion denialists” about Islamic terrorism: ostrich people like Robert Pape, Karen Armstrong, and Reza … Continue reading Sam Harris on ISIS: Why they hate us and why they fight us
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
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?
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
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 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”
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?
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?
