David Coppedge had a job most computer experts would kill for. He worked for NASA as a computer specialist, as a team leader on the Cassini mission, oriented towards the exploration of Saturn. Coppedge is also a Creationist, though, and he claims that this got him fired after 15 years on the job. Of course, NASA and Caltech have a very different version of the story. They say Coppedge was confrontational, aggressive, and refused suggestions for retraining when it became… Read more
An ER doctor from the Pacific Northwest tells this horrific story about a child who recently came into his hospital. It turns out the story of Abraham and Isaac is still very much alive in the 21st century. A young man, barely old enough to drink, well, went out and got drunk, as young men do. He was involved in a dispute of some sort involving drugs and was administered some street justice. He came in to me quite ill… Read more
Same-sex marriage opponent Matthew J. Franck in Washington Post’s On Faith section talks about Obama using his faith to justify his support of marriage equality, and almost — almost! — has a point: The mere fact that the president claims to have religious reasons — specifically Christian reasons — for supporting same-sex marriage has occasioned some interesting triumphalism in recent days among those who agree with him… If the people of California can be faulted for “imposing their religion” on… Read more
For centuries science and religion have been at war. Both explain, or try to explain, the world around us in their own way. The more we observed, measured, and probed, the less we needed our gods. The gods of biscuits and hairdos soon made way for bakers and hairdressers and the gods of thunder and harvest made way for meteorologists and, well, meteorologists. Monotheism came and gave us one convenient god who made all these wonderful things for us to… Read more
It’s not just American religious leaders who do despicable things because of their homophobia. In North Jutland, Denmark, a Lutheran vicar said he would not bury a 74-year old woman because she was a lesbian: “I thought — can this really be possible that we have to be ashamed? I looked at my mother’s partner and she was silent. I was upset for her. What a terrible situation to put her in,” Kirsten Østergaard told DR1. The vicar has since… Read more
This is a guest post by Dan Carsen. Dan has been a teacher, a reporter, a radio commentator, an editor and a stay-at-home dad. A long time ago, there was a small band of cavepeople trying to survive in a harsh world. Their two best hunters, Grog and Zog, had been tracking prey together for years. Among the many things Grog and Zog had learned was that when they worked together, they were more likely to catch the meat that… Read more
According to Rebecca Kiessling, they do. She believes women who have been raped should not have the right to have an abortion if they become pregnant by their rapists. This October, she’s lined up to speak at the University of Washington at an event hosted by Students for Life of America and the (Catholic) Newman Center. You might have heard of them: they invited Abby Johnson to speak earlier this month on why women have “too many rights.” Kiessling’s mother… Read more
Great news, Missourians! Rush Limbaugh has been inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians. The best part about the news story is that Missouri House Speaker Steven Tilley selected Limbaugh himself for this honor and actually kept the time of the ceremony under wraps so that he could try to avoid public backlash. Gee, it’s almost like he knew it was a bad idea in the first place, don’t you think? Putting someone like Rush Limbaugh, self-appointed slut designator and misognynist… Read more
Is there a way to get religious believers to trust atheists? We already know we’re the least trusted minority group out there — can we change that? Researchers Will M. Gervais and Ara Norenzayan of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver are back and they believe there is a way. In the May, 2012 edition of the journal Psychological Science, they lay out one solution: Remind people of secular authority. In other words, remind them that we place authority in… Read more
