I’m just going to take a moment to ramble about a way of thinking that I notice regularly, and by which I am rankled every time: political mysticism. A political mystic need not have any particular political beliefs– it is entirely possible for him or her to be anywhere on the spectrum. But such a … Read more
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First, I didn’t talk at all yesterday about the statement of motivations in The Marriage Vow that preceded its fourteen provisions, which included two claims that have since been removed: Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in … Read more
Yes, I have been seduced. Feel free to add me if you have as well, and would like another person in whatever circle is deemed most appropriate.
This is not a marriage. No matter whatit might look like. No siree-bob. If they havekids, they will not be a family. Nope.This message brought to you by a lot oforganizations with the word “family”in their names, so they know whatthey’re talking about. So far, Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachmann are the two presidential candidates … Read more
Ed Brayton has a very moving (to me) post today about the progressive acceptance of equality in the face of absolutist proclamations that the faith of the majority rejects it. Using an argument from Southern Baptist Al Mohler which appeals entirely to tradition and biblical exegesis as an example, he notes that advancements in equality … Read more
Today’s incidence of pareidolia is a doozy. Or a doo-….no, I’m just not going there. The title for this post was enough. For the record, pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in … Read more
Reading all of the commentaries yesterday about how little Americans appreciate the significance of Independence Day (or the 4th of July, if you’re feeling generic) made me wonder how much of that is actually true and how much is cynicism. Do people really not know what yesterday was originally intended to celebrate? I laughed at … Read more
…and cue the inevitable “Can’t we all just get along?” post. Hemant Mehta does a good job of summarizing the whole very high-school situation, though I’m not sure what the point is with the whole “Female 1” and “Female 2” thing. If you’re interested, read. Interest in attending any future skeptic/atheist conferences: pretty much nil.
Somebody purporting to be Richard Dawkins apparently made some rather idiotic comments on Pharyngula of the “people have it worse than you, so how dare you complain about your own situation” variety, and Jen McCreight rightly excoriates him (or his impersonator) for it. For reference on these remarks, see this. Whether that was actually Dawkins or not, … Read more