In Utah, just as we saw in New York, state legislators are introducing a resolution to recognize the 60th anniversary of “under God” being added to the Pledge of Allegiance. But Senate Concurrent Resolution 1 didn’t come without a discussion about a lesser-known controversy involving the phrase: Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, rose to support the legislation but only after another senator, Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, observed that Valentine’s cadence of reciting the pledge each day in the Senate was different from the other lawmakers. Weiler said he has found that Valentine does not pause when stating “under God” in the pledge like many traditionally do. He said he felt that all members in the Senate should follow Valentine’s lead. “There is no comma,” Valentine said. “We are one nation under God. We are not multiple nations, not multiple parts, but one nation under God.” Read more
Watch this 28-second clip of ESPN reporter Doris Burke interviewing basketball star Kevin Durant: Burke: What goes into a streak to get you to the level you’ve been at over these last twelve games? What goes into that, Kevin? Durant: God. That’s all I can say. Jesus Christ. Burke: [Laughs] Okay, thank you. You had nothing to do with it? Durant: Naw, nothin’. It’s all Him. Burke: Thank you. Read more
On February 5, 1999, the Wedge Document was first uploaded online for the world to see. The document, produced by the Discovery Institute, explained the “master plan” of the Intelligent Design movement: Here, for example, were their five year goals: Read more
Sam Sweet of the New Yorker takes us inside the group behind the Movieguide Faith & Values Awards Gala — a.k.a. the Christian Oscars — a place where people like Kirk Cameron are fêted as legitimate movie stars and award winners can receive up to $100,000: Read more
Let’s throw an easy question out there: If you had to criticize Bill Nye over Tuesday night’s Creationism/Evolution debate, what would you say? Almost universally, it seems, people on the science side of the debate focused their criticism on his decision to accept the invite in the first place. Very few had major problems with his presentation, with responses ranging from Great! to that-was-scientifically-valid-but-not-very-compelling. Few people, it seemed, argued that Nye did a poor job of defending his side, and Ken Ham may even be included in that bunch. Let’s face it: You can’t find an article (that’s not from a Creationist group) that says Ken Ham won the debate. He didn’t. He objectively didn’t. Even if you thought there was a debate to be had, that spell was broken the moment Ham said he wouldn’t change his mind about Creationism no matter the evidence. Which brings us back to Answers in Genesis’ recap of the event, written by staffer Steve Golden: Read more
Bank employees in Holland are being asked to swear a very peculiar oath for a country where easily 45 to 60 percent of citizens can be classified as nones: “I swear that I will do my utmost to preserve and enhance confidence in the financial-services industry. So help me God.” Which god? This one? Actually, that Businessweek translation is a little on the tame side. The Dutch text is “Zo waarlijk helpe mij God Almachtig,” which literally means “So truly help me God Almighty.” The vow is an attempt to boost ethics among bank personnel and increase consumer confidence in financial institutions. Read more
“When you’re in love, you want to tell the world.” So said Bill Nye in Tuesday night’s debate, quoting his famous mentor Carl Sagan to explain his own personal commitment to science education. The aspect of Nye’s performance in the Creation Debate that most impressed me had nothing to do with his scientific arguments, his command of logic, his skilled rebuttals, or even his patience. What has stayed with me is the enthusiasm and passion with which he communicated. It’s the same passion — that unabashed sense of “Wow, isn’t this stuff neat!” — that made me a fan of his television show all those years ago. Put simply, I love that Bill Nye is in love. That passion matters. The debate we saw may have been about facts and logic, but the real fight (which Nye referenced more than once and has spoken about in the past) is for the future of society. Will we continue to learn about the world around us in ways that let us explain, predict, and problem-solve? Or will we cling to superstitions that stunt the growth of our knowledge, preferring to find our answers in literalized ancient mythology? Read more
Last week, South Dakota legislators proposed Senate Bill 112, a bill that would allow teachers to preach Intelligent Design despite the fact that it’s essentially synonymous with pushing religion in the classroom: In short, the law — sponsored by over a dozen Republicans — would make it legal for teachers to push ID without punishment. However, today, the bill’s main sponsor, Jeff Monroe, said he was scrapping the legislation because, as one reporter put it, “it was badly written”: Read more
Creationist Ken Ham is not happy with Time magazine (so, hey, we have that in common) because of how one of their bloggers characterized the audience for Tuesday night’s debate against Bill Nye: 2 minutes [into the debate]. Nye, in his signature bowtie, and Ham, with his Aussie accent, hop on stage, shake hands, and ready themselves behind their respective Apple laptops (only Nye’s has stickers). Nye stands on the left. Ham is on the right. The cameras pan to an all-white audience. Ham is upset because the audience was totally not just white people and he quotes one of the commenters on Time’s website to prove it: All-white audience? In the second row there was a distinguished-looking man with very dark skin, and in the third row was another African-American man. I didn’t have to look any further than the first three rows to know that the Time reporter was dead wrong. See for yourself at a recording of the debate, found at www.debatelive.org . Makes me wonder if I can really trust this writer and her observational skills. I wonder, too, if Time.com will now place a “sic” next to the obviously wrong claim. So, editor, will you please? A few thoughts about this: Elizabeth Dias, the Time writer, was live-blogging the debate using the livestream. I was doing the same thing, and when I saw the camera pan across the audience, I noticed the lack of diversity, too: Read more
You may remember that in in 2005, Italian-Canadian sculptor Cosimo Cavallaro crafted a life-size chocolate Jesus that greatly offended Catholic League grandstander Bill Donohue. Donohue told Cavallaro that the artwork was ”one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever,” and added, ”You’re lucky I’m not like the Taliban, because you would lose more than your head.” Donohue had better break out the nitroglycerin pills again, because artist Mirco Della Vecchia just rendered another Catholic figurehead in chocolate. Read more
