Bo Gardiner is an environmental analyst, naturalist, writer, and humanist/skeptic organizer. She's a former research hydrologist, EPA consultant, wildlife program director for a national NGO, and TV writer/producer. She holds a B.A. in communications and M.S. in environmental engineering sciences.
Bo writes on humanism, nature, science, skepticism and politics at her blog Under the Greenwood Tree. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter, and check out her videos on YouTube.
Kylie Willey was suffering the agony of cancer and the sickness of chemotherapy when a friend told her of a true miracle. Sweet, young, and lovely fellow Australian Belle Gibson (below) had recently enchanted national media with her inspiring story of healing multiple terminal cancers by quitting chemotherapy and switching to things that feel “good and nurturing.” The 26-year-old’s holistic-lifestyle blog, book, and phone app, all titled The Whole Pantry, advised cancer patients to switch to yoga, meditation, colonics, oxygen therapy, craniosacral therapy (a type of energy-healing head massage), herbalism, and a diet free of dairy, gluten, preservatives, refined sugars, and GMOs. Read more
As Hemant reported the other day, many conservative leaders are scrambling to attribute the horrific Charleston massacre of nine African-Americans by a white racist to… anything but racism. First, a reminder of what we actually know of Dylann Roof’s motives: His Facebook page shows him in white supremacist emblems, a friend said he spoke of starting a race war, and shooting witnesses quoted him as saying, “I have to do it. You rape our women, and you are taking over our country. And you have to go.” There are, to my knowledge, no reports of his religious beliefs or lack thereof. With nearly 800 hate groups operating in the U.S., according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a majority of whom are white supremacist groups, it’s clear that the fight against racism in America has a long way to go. Read more
That is not the headline about Pope Francis that you’ll find everywhere else in the media today. No, they’re in a fawning frenzy at the moment over his new encyclical supporting climate change action. Though I strongly believe climate change is the greatest threat of our time, I’m not donning my party hat. Catholic leaders have been saying the same thing for at least fifteen years, without successfully finding an approach that actually shifts the views of Catholics, at least not in America. And like Francis, Pope Benedict urged climate change action while opposing gay rights, saying both rainforests and gays needed to be saved. Which led to one of the greatest Daily Mash headlines of all time: Read more
To be honest, I was unaware that people calling themselves Puritans still existed. A new Christian book for children, The Cage: A Young Children’s Guide to the Biblical Teaching on Hell, by C. Matthew McMahon, Ph.D., Th.D., was published this month by Puritan Publications of Tennessee. McMahon is an American Calvinist Reformed theologian, adjunct professor at Whitefield Theological Seminary, and editor of A Puritan’s Mind, which the publisher’s promo describes as “the largest Reformed website on the internet for students of the Bible concerning Reformed Theology, the Puritans and Covenant Theology.” The “tastefully illustrated” book is “aimed at children 5 to 9 years old.” The dedication page gives a taste of the dark things to come: “But I will warn you to whom to fear: Fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:5)… “Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell,” (Proverbs 23:14). Those “tasteful illustrations”? Take a look at just one page: Read more
Last year, the Catholic Church announced the sainthood of two former popes, John XXIII, who was pope from 1958 to 1963, and John Paul II, pope from 1978 to 2005. The church’s requirement for sainthood is two miracles worked by them after their death, which are needed to prove they’re in heaven and accepting prayer requests from back home on Earth. Joe Nickell, paranormal investigator extraordinaire, wrote in the latest Skeptical Inquirer about the Church’s latest (incredibly weak) case for Pope miracles. For starters, he explains, most claims of medical miracles have at their heart a fatal flaw: the argument from ignorance: Read more
