Reading Time: 5 minutes [Continued from Screwing with Darwin 2] I had a passing knowledge of evolution in high school. Better than the average bear, but still sketchy. I majored in physical anthropology at Berkeley not for the dazzling job prospects but to fill in that sketch. In addition to changing and deepening my understanding of what it means […]
Deep Dive
Exploring the big questions—life, death, morality, consciousness, meaning—from a secular point of view.
Posted inCritical thinking, Parenting & Family, Raising Freethinkers
What, me worry? End Times Edition
Reading Time: 4 minutes My daughter Delaney (9) is no sucker. She has a mind like a steel trap, a phrase which I’m sure must mean something. But she’s worried that the world might end on December 21, 2012. “I know it probably won’t,” she said, almost precisely echoing the preamble of my own fears at different points in […]
Posted inCritical thinking, Science
Pushing the point…or not
Reading Time: 5 minutes Once you cast doubt on man’s place in creation, the entire Biblical story of salvation history, from original sin to Christ’s incarnation, is also threatened. –TULLIO GREGORY, Libertinisme Érudite in Seventeenth-Century France and Italy As I may have mentioned, I’m up to my neck in fun and fascinating work right now, including an anthology […]
Posted inCritical thinking, Science
Screwing with…His Holiness?!
Reading Time: 4 minutes I’m in the research phase for some really engaging writing projects right now. That’s good except for one thing: while I’m overturning cool rocks, I always find some fantastic tangent wriggling underneath. I chase after it, giggling like a wee lass, and forget all about the original task. It’s an actual problem. Exhibit A: I’m […]
Posted inCritical thinking, Myth & Folklore, Parenting & Family
Believe it or…look, just believe it.
Reading Time: 4 minutes I’ve been in such a good mood lately, and now the Universe is trying to muck it up. One thing that never fails to pee on my Yule log this time of year is the “Yes, Virginia” editorial. I had so far avoided it, then the wretched thing found me through #@*&% Facebook: DEAR EDITOR, […]
Posted inCritical thinking
DADT and the chaplains
Reading Time: 4 minutes A little while ago I said that accepting a certain level of facepalming human malpractice is one of the keys to passing my short vivre with some degree of joie. But I added that some nonsense is misguided and unworthy enough of respect to get me out of my chair. And sometimes, despite every effort […]
Posted inCritical thinking, Myth & Folklore, Parenting & Family
Santa Claus — the ultimate dry run
Reading Time: 4 minutes The annual reposting of my take on Santa, which first appeared in Parenting Beyond Belief. This year is our first fully Santa-less Krismas, as Delaney declared her akringlism in February (described here). IT’S HARD TO even consider the possibility that Santa isn’t real. Everyone seems to believe he is. As a kid, I heard his […]
Posted inCritical thinking, Myth & Folklore, Parenting & Family, Science
A mindgasm of scientific proportions
Reading Time: < 1 minute This is quite simply one of the most astonishing, original things I have ever seen. Ever. I’ve said too much. Set aside 15 uninterrupted minutes. It’s filled with phrases that express what I often find inexpressible. Add your favorites to the comment thread. (Profound thanks to my step-nephew Dan Nolan for this one.)
Posted inCritical thinking, Death & Dying, Parenting & Family
cul de sac
Reading Time: 3 minutes What a few weeks it’s been. In the midst of the hectic usual, two people my family loved died. One, my wife’s 97-year-old grandmother, was expected. The other, my stepfather — though 84 — was not. The kids have done really well. Deep sadness, especially at bedtime, but also that lovely working-through, that profound engagement. […]
Posted inCritical thinking, Science
Evolution & Art Contest for Kids!
Reading Time: < 1 minute Kate Miller, the creative genius behind Charlie’s Playhouse, is sponsoring an evolution art contest for kids. And like everything that comes out of Charlie’s Playhouse, it’s clever and fun. Kids pick an existing animal, imagine a bunch of them stuck on an island with an environment different from the one they’re accustomed to, then draw […]