Taner Edis on… something

I was going to call this post something like “Taner Edis’ criticisms of free speech,” but then I read a statement by Edis clarifying that he isn’t objecting to a legal right to free speech, he just thinks strong informal sanctions against saying certain things too loudly might (but isn’t necessarily) a good idea. Context: [...]

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William Lane Craig is… er…

… a poor hermeneuticist. Let me leave it at that, since I’m about to reviews my Secular Web review of his book, and Keith Augustine (the SecWeb library editor) thinks being important is polite.
What prompted this post is seeing how, in his essay for the anthology God is Great, God is Good, Craig that this [...]

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Today in religious craziness

While browsing Google News, I happened across this headline: “Ugandan Pastor Airs Gay Porn in Church.” What’s this? Some uber-liberal religious leader giving the finger to Ugandan authorities in the most ridiculous, over-the-top way possible? No, even funnier: the pastor in question is Martin Ssempa, one of the better-known supporters of Uganda’s “kill-the-gays” bill. Yes, [...]

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Anti-adaptation bias

Here’s Jerry Coyne on the evolutionary roots of religion:
I like the “byproduct” hypothesis, if for no other reason than it’s almost self-evidently true. Surely every human behavior is in some sense a byproduct of genes that evolved for other reasons. And if religion, like music-making, jokes, and pornography, is an outgrowth of genes that [...]

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I’m glad the Soviet Union no longer exists

If a hated atheist government were still the U.S.’s main enemy, people might be as willing to deny rights to atheists as they are to deny rights to Muslims.

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