Rachel Ford is a programmer, and since 8:00 to 5:00 doesn't provide enough opportunity to bask in screen glare, she writes in her spare time. She was raised a very fundamentalist Christian, but eventually "saw the light." Rachel's personal blog is Rachel's Hobbit Hole, where she discusses everything from Tolkien to state politics.
“Why do you spend so much time talking about a God you don’t believe in?” The question is sometimes asked with genuine curiosity, but in my experience, it’s usually meant to delegitimize criticism of religion by casting doubt on the critic’s motives. Speaking for myself, the answer is simple… it’s largely because of the gut-wrenching prevalence of stories like this one, from Think Progress, that I’m vocal about my disbelief. Examining the push by faith-based charities to prevent migrant children who have been raped from accessing emergency contraception and other such care, Esther Yu-Hsi Lee writes: Read more
A new paper published in the journal Psychological Science takes a look at the impact that thoughts of God can have on a person’s risk-taking behavior, and the results are interesting. The Stanford University researchers were particularly interested in the impact religion might have on behaviors when the moral component was removed. While previous research has linked religiosity or spirituality with a decrease in behaviors like alcoholism, head researcher Daniella Kupor and her team wanted to know if the decrease was linked to religion’s moral imperatives against such behavior, or if spirituality and religiosity lowered risk-taking in general. To answer that question, the team examined participants’ responses to both morally neutral and morally negative risky behaviors, along with non-risky behaviors. The responses were gauged both with and without religious references. The results reaffirmed the link between religion and risky behaviors typically deemed immoral… but where moral judgment was neutral, thoughts of God seemed to actually increase risk-taking: Read more
Conservatives are often lambasted for their ignorance of science and medicine, particularly when taken in combination with their desire to pass laws about these same topics. Pro-life “gynoticians” are particularly infamous for this… like Vito Barbieri, who graced his fellow Idaho state representatives with his musings about whether women could swallow a camera for remote gynecological exams. Ohio’s anti-abortion warriors might have topped him, though, when it comes to sheer ignorance. Among a slew of abortion restrictions passed in the past few years is one that mandates that women seeking an abortion after 20 weeks must undergo a fetal viability test before having the procedure done. The problem? The test doesn’t exist. Read more
As far as bad ideas go, hovering over a skillet full of sizzling fried food, even if it is to commune with the divine, would certainly make the list… and credit goes to a prayerful diner in Burlington County, New Jersey for coming up with it. In March of 2010, Hiram Jimenez ordered fajitas from an Applebee’s restaurant. When the food was brought out and set before him, he leaned forward to pray. That’s when things turned unpleasant. Read more
The Kansas State Senate on Wednesday passed S.B. 56, with twenty-six Republican senators supporting the measure, and six Republicans and eight Democrats opposing. The bill is ostensibly designed to protect students by making it illegal to display or present material that is “harmful to minors,” such as pornography. But the broad categorizations and vague language have caused concern among teachers and free speech advocates about what will and won’t be policed. While libraries, museums, and universities are still exempt from… Read more
