Apparently in the uproar over beheadings committed by ISIS, some have noticed that America’s ally Saudi Arabia has committed quite a few of them as well: The escalation of the war against the Islamic State was triggered by widespread revulsion at the gruesome beheading of two American journalists, relayed on YouTube. […]
Read MoreIn the virtue stakes, reverence leaves empathy at the starting line
In France, individual citizens run a satirical magazine, the Charlie Hebdo, which publishes cartoons making fun of Muhammad among countless other current world leaders and historical figures. In retaliation, terrorists storm the office and murder 12 people at that office, as well as five more at a kosher market. As […]
Read MoreBeliefs? I’ve got ’em.
This meme spotted on Facebook. It’s far from the first one I’ve seen…hence this post. Hat tip to Ed Brayton for pointing it out in annoyance. I have beliefs. Some of them are almost certainly false, but I still have them. I do the best I can to hold onto […]
Read MoreA bit of mulling over
Following up on Sunday’s post, I can’t help but keep returning mentally to Dr. Darrel Ray’s talk at Skeptics of Oz last month, which you can see and hear (both are important in this case) here. In a nutshell, the thesis of Ray’s talk (and, I assume, of his book Sex […]
Read MoreWill the real Islamophobes please stand up?
Richard Dawkins in a still from The Root of All Evil? No, you don’t have to have read the Qur’an to have opinions about Islam.Legitimate opinions.Even scientific opinions.There, I said it. Look, I understand that there’s this common assumption that a religion can be summed up in its text. That all believers […]
Read MoreThe most concise explanation of how marriage equality threatens the institution of marriage
…comes from James Sweet, in a comment on Dispatches: For some people, marriage is still an institution that is defined by proscribed roles. The man has certain rights and responsibilities (mostly the former), and the woman has certain rights and responsibilities (mostly the latter), and these are handed down by […]
Read MoreFurther adventures in abusing the notion of respect
Previously I wrote about how it’s incorrect to say that you respect women if that respect is contingent on their dressing and behaving according to your notions of modesty. It’s also incorrect to say that you respect people while maintaining that for them to have children is “child abuse”: Francis […]
Read MoreHaunted socks
In which Pat Robertson advises someone who frequently buys second-hand clothing that she should “rebuke any spirits that happen to have attached themselves to those clothes” lest there be any demons who might have become connected to them via the prayers of a witch, as he heard had happened once […]
Read MoreFull of Sound and Fury: The Media Response to Dennett
This post previously published as an article in the journal Method & Theory in the Study of Religion in 2008. What is the best way for a well-known, unabashedly atheistic philosopher to have a discussion with the American general public about the value and nature of religion? It is not […]
Read MoreNo special snowflakes
Dr. X commented recently on just world bias, as displayed by Oprah while interviewing Lance Armstrong: Just one slightly weird blip in an otherwise good job. She asked Armstrong more than once if he expected his day of reckoning to come. Fine enough question, but with an almost cult-like, true […]
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