Boy, what a soap opera this has turned out to be. Late last week, linguist and conservative pundit John McWhorter recorded a segment for bloggingheads.tv (bhTV) with Michael “Irreducible Complexity” Behe. A credulous–even gushing–McWhorter, who is a self-admitted nonbeliever, began by heaping praise on Behe’s most recent book The Edge of Evolution. The 44-minute conversation is unremarkable, given that a linguist isn’t exactly the best conversational partner to pair up with a guy like Behe, and doesn’t break new ground on the supposed controversy of Intelligent Design.
Archive for August, 2009
The Behe brouhaha at bloggingheads.tv
Monday, August 31st, 2009
Rift Valley Drifters
Saturday, August 29th, 2009Here’s the latest from troubadour extraordinaire Roy Zimmerman. You can listen to our podcast interview with Roy here.
Knack out, Smithereens confirmed for Charlotte Pop Fest
Saturday, August 29th, 2009
For those disappointed that The Knack have bowed out of Charlotte Pop Fest (due to lead singer Doug Feiger’s battle with cancer), you’ll be excited to hear that legendary rock band The Smithereens have been confirmed as the headline act on Saturday, September 26. Proceeds from Charlotte Pop Fest (the power pop music festival set for September 24-26 in Charlotte, NC) will benefit the Richard Dawkins Foundation.
God spoke to him through a box?
Friday, August 28th, 2009By now you may have read of the disturbing case of Phillip Garrido, a California man now in custody for the 1991 kidnapping of 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard. Jaycee’s mother and stepfather have long since assumed she was dead; indeed, the stepfather has been a suspect for years, although he was a helpless witness to the kidnapping.
Hey God–stop protecting Kentucky!
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
From the Lexington Herald-Leader: “A judge on Wednesday struck down a 2006 state law that required the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to stress ‘dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the commonwealth.’” The lawsuit was brought by American Atheists and a group of Kentucky residents. For the full story, read the article “Judge: Homeland Security can’t require dependence on God.”
This foolishness started when State Representative Tom Riner, a Southern Baptist minister and–yes–a Democrat, inserted the language into a Homeland Security bill.
Why should the health care debate be any different?
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009An analysis published by LiveScience shows that the “Health Care Debate Based on Lack of Logic.” Should this be a surprise? Nearly every political debate is rife with faulty logic: working backwards from conclusions, ad hominems, credulous acceptance of outrageous urban legends, emotional attachment to arguments that are demonstrably false, dismissing data that disproves an argument while crowing over data that supports it. And the stupidity is spread on both sides of the political aisle; i.e. both Democrats and Republicans do it all the time. It’s enough to drive me to despair. I only hope that self-identified atheists/freethinkers/skeptics guard themselves against these errors and embrace rationalism across the board.
Podcast #63 – Efficacy of Prayer
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
It’s the p-p-p-p-power of prayer! Or not. We look at several anecdotes that point toward the efficacy (or inefficacy) of intercessory prayer, including:
- The tragic cases of two teenage girls (one in TN, one in KY), both of whom suffered terrible injuries. One recovered (more or less), the other is maimed for life. Both were the beneficiaries of the prayers of hundreds. Why did God heal one and snub the other??? We’ll give you a hint: the answer can be found at www.whywontgodhealamputees.com.
- The Miracle of Colwich Man – A Kansas man was healed after thousands of parishioners prayed to the late Father Emil Kapaun, a Korean War hero who’s currently under “skeptical” investigation by the Vatican for possible sainthood.
- The Case of the Shriveling Glacier – Faithful Catholics in the Swiss towns of Fiesch and Feischertal have prayed for centuries that God protect them from the wintertime advance of the Aletsch Glacier. Now the Aletsch is rapidly receding due to global warming, so now the townsfolk are seeking the Pope’s permission to reverse the prayer.
Sam Harris on Bill Maher tonight
Friday, August 21st, 2009DVR Alert! Sam Harris will appear tonight at 10pm on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. No information on what topics they’ll cover, but it should be good.
The latest on Rifqa Bary
Friday, August 21st, 2009As I reported a few days ago (see “An interfaith Springer moment“), Rifqa Bary is a 17-year-old, Sri Lanka-born girl from Ohio who converted from Islam to Christianity and ran away to Florida to live with the Reverend Blake Lorenz, pastor of the non-denominational Global Revolution Church. Rifqa says she will be subject to “honor killing” if she’s returned to the custody of her parents. Rifqa’s parents say their daughter can practice whatever religion she wishes, and that all they want is for her to come home.
A Florida judge is set to make a ruling on Rifqa’s case today, but the consensus among experts is that she will be returned to the custody of her parents. [Note: The judge ruled that she must stay in foster care in Florida for now, but this obviously isn't the end of it.]
Penn & Teller do the Vatican
Monday, August 31st, 2009I don’t know how long this video will be up, so watch it sooner rather than later. It’s the latest episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, in which they take on the Vatican, holding nothing back:
Penn & Teller: Bullshit – The Vatican from Stian Solberg on Vimeo.
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Tags: bill donohue, bullshit, catholic church, catholic league, eye of sauron, penn and teller, pope, vatican
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