Reader Josh was trying to look up Science apps on his iPad when this screen popped up: Can someone please explain why the Bible apps are listed in the “Science” list? (And while we’re at it, why is Glee Karaoke there…?) Read more
Foundation Beyond Belief usually grows a little larger every quarter, but we had a *huge* jump in donations at the end of 2011 (and that doesn’t even include a fundraising drive we held). Giving grew by 21% over the previous quarter and we were able to give a total of $38,450 to our selected charities! Seriously amazing. If you’re a member or donor, thank you so much! This year, we’re doing things a bit differently, removing ourselves as one of… Read more
Last month, the Chicago Tribune released a review of the National Institute of Health’s allocation of research funds. The results are equally infuriating and disheartening. Among other dubious, implausible propositions, NIH funded research of whether distant prayer can remedy the symptoms of AIDS. I’m sure I don’t need to tell my more astute readers what the result of that study was. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the small branch of NIH responsible for this atrocious waste of money,… Read more
Unlike most of the stories I hear around the atheist blogosphere, my deconversion from Christianity had little to do with my understanding or appreciation of science and scientific pursuits; at its core, it was more about a personal journey through logic and reason, an inward reflection of the logical inconsistencies I observed throughout my years as a Christian. I wasn’t interested in the nuts and bolts of adaptive evolution — I wanted to know about the evolution of the religion… Read more
So here’s what I *think* happened with the Alameda County Community Food Bank (in California). They’re not an atheist group by any means. But even they must know that praying to alleviate hunger isn’t helpful to anyone. Starving people don’t need your god’s help. They need something to eat. But the food bank, unlike all of us, probably has no desire to be politically incorrect and tell people “Stop talking to your god and just donate some non-perishables.” They don’t… Read more
Carl Zimmer wrote a wonderful profile of Neil deGrasse Tyson for the January edition of Playboy… but in case you don’t get that, there’s a perfectly SFW version of the piece here 🙂 A short excerpt: For most of the people huddling on the ground, tonight is the first time they’ve spent such an extended period looking up at the sky. For three hours, Tyson keeps his audience staring so hard at the heavens he cramps their necks. He speaks… Read more
Sometimes religious pluralism is complicated. And sometimes it’s not. On January 1st, 19-year-old female soldier Doron Matalon was asked to sit in the back of a public bus by a Haredi (sometimes known as ultra-Orthodox) man named Shlomo Fuchs (who was later arrested). When she refused, he called her a slut and a shiksa until the driver called the police. (This type of incident has happened before, by the way). In September, a new religious national school known as Orot… Read more
Jordan Williamson, the Stanford kicker, missed two crucial field goals in the Fiesta Bowl — including one that would have won the game in regulation. (Start at the 5:00 mark) You don’t see this in the video, but before the kick that would’ve won the game, Williamson looked to be Tebowing on the sideline: Looks like God didn’t care much for the public display of faith. … On the flip side, kicker Brendan Gibbons of the University of Michigan had… Read more
