I’m not opposed to homeschooling on general principle. I think it’s possible for reasonably intelligent parents to provide their children a decent education at home. Unfortunately, in the United States the word “homeschooler” has an incredibly strong correlation with “evangelical brainwasher.” This recent news article reveals that the vast majority of American homeschoolers do so, not because they think they are better at teaching math at home, but rather for religious reasons. Indeed, as the article discusses, there’s a frightening number of publishers who put out textbooks that are really just delivery systems for fundamentalist propaganda–especially when it comes to evolution. Alas.
Archive for the ‘science’ Category
Homeschooled = Evangelical?
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
The Reason Project is now Project Reason
Saturday, March 6th, 2010From Sam Harris:
Same foundation, same people, (almost) the same name:
In order to avoid ongoing confusion between The Reason Project and The Reason Foundation (with which we are not affiliated), we are changing our name to Project Reason.
Please note our new URL: www.project-reason.org
The Project Reason Advisory Board: Clifford S. Asness, Peter Atkins, Jerry Coyne, Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, Brent Forrester, Rebecca Goldstein, Anthony Grayling, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Christopher Hitchens, Lawrence Krauss, Harold Kroto, Bill Maher, Ian McEwan, Dan Pallotta, Steven Pinker, Salman Rushdie, Lee M. Silver, J. Craig Venter, Ibn Warraq, and Steven Weinberg.
Podcast #80 – Simon Singh
Monday, February 8th, 2010
We interview science journalist Simon Singh, co-author (with Dr. Edzard Ernst) of Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine (which both John and David highly recommend). For more about Simon visit SimonSingh.net. Please also visit LibelReform.org, a website devoted to changing the United Kingdom’s disgraceful libel laws (Simon is currently in the midst of a court battle with the British Chiropractic Association over his reporting on chiropractic treatment of children in the UK’s Guardian newspaper.)
Trick or Treatment is available at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Continuing this episodes alternative medicine theme, we take a look at aromatherapy. Can smells trigger the body’s healing ability, or do they offer only a temporary placebo?
Podcast #79 – E-meters for Haiti?
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Earthquake-devastated Haiti has become a magnet for kooky, misguided (but perhaps well-intentioned) religious groups. Scientologist John Travolta (disguised, apparently, as L. Ron Hubbard–see photo at right) has personally flown his private 707 to Haiti, delivering food, medical supplies, and “volunteer ministers” who claim the ability to heal through therapeutic touch. Meanwhile, a Christian group called Faith Comes By Hearing has sent 600 solar-powered audiobook Bibles. Finally, a group of Idaho Baptists were arrested trying to transport Haitian orphans (some of whom weren’t actually orphans) across the border into the Dominican Republic.
Phil Plait steps down from JREF
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009Holy Haleakala! After just over a year at the helm, Phil “Bad Astronomer” Plait is stepping down as president of the James Randi Educational Foundation to pursue an undisclosed TV project. His worthy successor is Center for Inquiry’s D.J. Grothe. Read JREF’s press release here, and Plait’s comments here.
Eugenie Scott v Ray Comfort Pt. 2
Thursday, November 5th, 2009As I reported a few days ago, evangelist and armchair evolution critic Ray Comfort has engaged in debate with Dr. Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education. Their exchange has been posted at US News and World Report. Here’s the second and final round. First, Ray Comfort trots out more of the same old nonsensical blither-blather, then Scott finishes him off in her closing statement.
Look for Comfort’s minions soon at a major university near you–they’re giving away copies of Darwin’s Origin of Species with a 50-page “introduction” by Comfort. Aren’t you lucky?
Eugenie Scott v Ray Comfort
Monday, November 2nd, 2009In this corner…Ray “The Atheist’s Nightmare” Comfort, evangelical nutjob and world renowned banana theorist, defending his publication of a heavily abridged edition of On the Origin of Species–with a special introduction that smears Charles Darwin as a racist, misogynist and proto-Nazi.
And in this corner…Dr. Eugenie C. Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, taking Comfort to task for his disingenuous and factually challenged claims.
You know who’s gonna win this one.
The Tangled Bank
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Review by John C. Snider © 2009
I haven’t had a biology class since I was in high school in the late 1970s. Despite two college degrees filled with math, engineering and chemistry, I never took any more biology; as a result, most of what I know about biology in general, and evolution in particular, I’ve picked up from magazine articles, internet resources and the occasional TV documentary. So I was very excited when I heard that Richard Dawkins’ new book (The Greatest Show on Earth) would be devoted to the evidence for evolution by natural selection. I was equally excited to discover that the latest book by science journalist Carl Zimmer is a textbook titled The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution (pub. by Roberts & Company, Oct 2009, 385 pp hdcvr, $59.95)
The Greatest Show on Earth, Chapter 13
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
Chapter-by-chapter thoughts on Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
by John C. Snider © 2009
Chapter 13: There is grandeur in this view of life
Well, here we are: the big finish. Dawkins chooses to close his book by taking the last half of the last paragraph of Charles Darwin’s magnum opus On the Origin of Species and offering his own ruminations one each phrase. It’s a little awkward, to be honest; in the end, it comes across like the overly-detailed commentaries offered by fundamentalist evangelicals, where they provide whole essays on the meaning and context of each word in a Bible verse.
Podcast #82 – Creation
Friday, February 26th, 2010Thanks to the many fellow science fans who joined us for the Creation screening at Atlanta’s Landmark Midtown Art Cinema. And thanks to Royal Orchid Thai Cuisine for accommodating our unexpected horde.
Tags: annie's box, charles darwin, creation, david mcallister, evolution, jason bourque, jennifer connelly, paul bettany
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