Now, I’ll be the first to admit that there’s no well-drawn line to tell the government when it can interfere with parental discretion. Cases like that of Daniel Hauser (the 13-year-old boy with a six-inch-diameter tumor whose parents wanted to treat with “natural” remedies instead of chemo) seem fairly clear-cut to me–the courts should interfere. But are you a bad parent if you don’t give your child EVERY available vaccine? What if you don’t take your kid to the dentist every six months? When does the government step in?
Archive for June, 2009
Carving a niche for “official superstitions”
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Podcast #57 – Bruce M. Hood
Friday, June 26th, 2009
We interview Bruce M. Hood, author of SuperSense, which theorizes a genetic predisposition toward religious belief, superstition, and other irrational behaviors (and that includes you, too, atheists!).
Read John’s review of SuperSense, or buy your very own copy (highly recommended) at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
Visit Bruce M. Hood’s Official Website.
Charlotte rocks Dawkins
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Charlotte Pop Fest is a multi-day music festival that will feature well-established internationally known artists in addition to local and regional indie artists in the “power pop” genre. The event will take place in the Fall of 2009 in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina.
Proceeds from Charlotte Pop Fest will be used to support rational and scientific education at all ages, and to oppose the subversion of scientific education, for example by the well-financed efforts to teach pseudoscience in science classes. This includes advanced tickets sold through the Charlotte Pop Fest Web site; tickets sold at the door during the event; this year’s edition of the compilation CD; and any other event-specific merchandise like t-shirts, posters, etc.
Exorcist/child-abuser scot-free in GA
Thursday, June 25th, 2009Another perfect example of religion as a cover for insanity and criminal behavior. Read this article and tell me that, had the mother’s excuse been “I’m performing a ritual in the name of the High Folderol,” or “Instead of taking him to a doctor, I just thought this was the rational thing to do,” she wouldn’t be sitting in jail right now.
Mr. Deity and the Book, Part Deux
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Crank up the Hammond organ–here’s the second episode of the new season of Mr. Deity!
May I recommend…
Monday, June 22nd, 2009…The Ascent of Man? Jacob Bronowski died not long after he created this groundbreaking BBC documentary series about science and culture, and I remember watching it years ago (while I was in high school or college). Anyway, I was very excited to learn that it’s now out on DVD (a little pricey at $149.99 for 13 one-hour episodes, but it’s also available much more reasonably through Netflix), and so Allison and I are enjoying watching it together.
3 more years of this and you’ll WISH it was the end of the world
Sunday, June 21st, 2009The 2012 frenzy has begun. In case you didn’t know it, the Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012. As far as I know, the Maya themselves attached no significance to this fact, but every whackjob, wingnut, and opportunistic New Age prophet have latched onto this bit of trivia to spin a tale of global catastrophe and cosmic dread. The next time you wander into your local bookstore, check out the impressive amount of shelf space devoted to something that has no historical or scientific basis. And I hate to be a pessimist, but I’m willing to bet there’ll be a non-trivial number of people whose lives will be ruined by poor decision-making based on the premise that It All Comes to an End on 12/21/12. Tim Farley, keep those pencils sharpened.
It’s better to look scientific than BE scientific
Saturday, June 20th, 2009Ever wonder why doctors wear white coats? I always thought it was for hygiene purposes and to save wear and tear on “real” clothes. Apparently it’s because doctors want to look all scientificky and therefore more authoritative (or trustworthy, if you want to go for a more benign interpretation). Well, the AMA is having none of that. They’re recommending physicians get away from the mad scientist look and go for regular street clothes. I guess this makes sense for a number of reasons, not the least of which is numerous studies that show people will trust and obey whitecoats far more readily than those wearing normal clothing. I want my acceptance of my doctor’s judgment to be based on his logic, not because I think he looks like House.
Podcast #56 – Tim Farley (WhatstheHarm.net)
Friday, June 19th, 2009
We interview Tim Farley, creator of the website WhatstheHarm.net (an invaluable database of death and destruction caused by alternative medicine, superstition, lack of critical thinking, etc.). Tim has also given talks and organized seminars to teach skeptics how to be better communicators–check out Skeptical Software Tools.
Look for Tim at Dragon*Con in September, but first! he’ll be seminarifying at The Amazing Meeting, July 9-12 in Las Vegas (yes…Nevada).
Harris v. Ball on Science
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Tags: biologos foundation, philip ball, reason project, sam harris
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