Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 11th, 2009
You probably think you’ve heard them all. Lifeguard at the sewage plant. Public school teacher. Dick Cheney’s hunting buddy. Bill collector for Dr. Kevorkian. Oakland Raiders assistant coach.
Well, now there’s a new one to add to the list: Vatican astronomer.
Sure, the hours are OK, and Rome is full of [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 9th, 2009
It’s tough being a religion teacher these days, what with the kids and their “hard-headed empiricism” and schooling in “scientific methods.”
And when you try and teach them about “the intangible,” why, they think it’s all “fortune-telling and ghosts,” just like they see on the television and the internets!
That’s why you can’t just assume [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 8th, 2009
If you’ve ever cracked open the Bible, you’ve probably noticed that it’s full of things that everyone knows don’t actually happen, like firmaments and creationism and virgin births and miracle burning bushes.
Fearful that people might use this as occasion to, you know, disbelieve in the Bible, creative Bible-believers have created the Message-Incident Principle:
That is, instead [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 18th, 2009
Rod Dreher spent two months this summer getting wined and dined by the Templeton Foundation, and is celebrating by featuring in his Dallas Morning News RELIGION Blog (shouting in the original) a sampling of a wide variety of RELIGIOUS luminaries making the case for “why science should talk to religion.”
It is quite a long post, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 10th, 2009
Over in the USA Today, BioLogos bigwigs Giberson and Falk continue their ongoing mission to debase science. Their recipe for the “compatibility” of science and religion consists of two teeny-weeny modifications to the scientific method:
1. Observation is not a reliable way of gathering data:
Putting modern scientific ideas into [the Bible] distorts the meaning of [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 27th, 2009
Hey, look who’s posting on the BioLogos blog. It’s Unscientific America authors Mooney and Kirshenbaum, writing about the “supposed ‘conflict’ between science and religion” (and endorsing BioLogos founder Francis Collins, although it’s conceivable that this endorsement was merely a requirement to get the post published on the BioLogos blog).
Based on the square quotes (and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 18th, 2009
Generally, I try to avoid debates on topics that contain more than 14 letters. Today I will make a rare exception.
You see, there’s a new book, Unscientific America, arguing that scientific illiteracy threatens our future.
I have no doubt this is true. Just last weekend I wore my Maxwell’s Equations T-shirt out [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 9th, 2009
SF424
Application for Federal Assistance
DATE: July 9, 2009
APPLICANT: Joel Grus
CONTACT: your.religion.is.false -at- gmail.com
NAME OF FEDERAL AGENCY: National Institutes of Health
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE OF PROJECT:
“Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls”: Religious Implications of Hydrological Phenomena
ESTIMATED PROJECT FUNDING: $30 million
ARE HUMAN SUBJECTS INVOLVED? yes
ARE VERTEBRATE ANIMALS USED? yes
DOES THIS PROJECT HAVE A POTENTIAL IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT? yes
DOES THIS PROJECT HAVE [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 30th, 2009
It can be tough being a Christian. You have to believe all sorts of unbelievable things. You have to go to church every Sunday and listen to some preachy dude beg for money. You have to put up with brilliantly-written, riotously-funny, expertly-argued books patiently debunking your faith. (I suppose this one [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 28th, 2009
It’s always exciting when scientists are able to corroborate fictional stories. Who wasn’t thrilled when paleontologists found the skeleton of Moby Dick? Who didn’t get excited when epidemiologists were able to isolate the “Captain Trips” virus? What child wasn’t delighted when zoologists successfully trained a mouse to ride a motorcycle?
I felt that [...]
