Reading Time: 9 minutes We recently added another line to that cosmic address–did you notice? After “Virgo supercluster,” we now have Laniakea, a galactic supercluster that comprises Virgo and some other local superclusters. Scientists have figured out how to tell what galaxies and groups are part of our galactic supercluster, and in addition and almost as importantly, they finally have a model of it that fits predictions and equations both. And that discovery has spoken to me on a very fundamental level.
scientific method
Posted inReligion
Shane Hayes, Part 7: All Things Being Unequal.
Reading Time: 11 minutes Welcome back. We’re discussing Shane Hayes, who wrote the new apologetics book The End of Unbelief. He has an argument that boils down to “I feel happier believing in Christianity than I did being what I erroneously thought was an atheist, and all things being equal, it makes much more sense to believe in this […]
Posted inReligion
Shane Hayes, Part 2: Dorkness and Lies
Reading Time: 13 minutes Last time we talked about the author Shane Hayes and his new book, The End of Unbelief, which is supposed to be the new singing dancing apologetics book to persuade atheists into converting. Today, we look at just how Mr. Hayes conceptualizes belief and faith in his preface, “Darkness and Light,” and why he’s wrong.
Posted inReligion
What’s Your Sign?
Reading Time: 9 minutes I was reading today about some horoscope writer who is sick and about how her fans are very upset that she can’t write their horoscopes on time, and it made me remember some woo I briefly got into in the 90s that I wanted to talk about here. Susan Miller writes horoscopes for a website […]
Posted inPsychology, Science
The racist and sexist roots of early psychology
Reading Time: 3 minutes When the scientific method is used badly, when preconceptions are allowed to dictate analyses and conclusions, then you get bad science, and false knowledge. Untruths. In this vein, the work of Dr Caleb Lack and Dr Charles Abramson is well worth looking in to.
Posted inScience
Christianity is not responsible for science (part 2)
Reading Time: 6 minutes The other day I posted a piece refuting the notion that Christianity is somehow causally responsible for the development of science and the scientific method. I would like to continue with a short piece looking at another couple of points which I have had heard raised.
Posted inHistory, Philosophy, Science
Christianity is not responsible for science
Reading Time: 4 minutes Tihs has come up in conversation elsewhere, so I thought I would resurrect this old post from my old, old blog. I have recently been involved in an argument online which is a very common argument and one which annoys me just a little. It is also an argument which I have had many times […]
Posted inReligion
The Great Debate (Wasn’t So Great After All)
Reading Time: 11 minutes Ken Ham and Bill Nye had a big debate recently. I was of two minds about watching the debate at all. It seemed like such a waste of time. I mean, really: it seems like Christian creationists get a lot more out of these things than the reality-endorsing folks do; it seems like it legitimizes […]
Posted inGeneral, Science, The Secular
What Will Save Us from Our Own Subjectivity?
Reading Time: 8 minutes One thing that modern science and the Christian religion share is an appreciation for the fallibility of human beings. Both skepticism (which lies at the heart of the scientific method) and faith (particularly the Christian faith) recognize that as much as we want to be rational beings, we don’t always do the logical thing. We […]
Posted inEthics and Morality, Evolution
Original Sin – answering Thomas L. McDonald
Reading Time: 16 minutes I was recently sent a link to Thomas L. McDonald’s piece “The Origin of Man, Original Sin, and Why It’s All Your Fault” on his Patheos blog. There is much to talk about in this attempt to reconcile Catholic doctrine with science. My opinion is that he fails in multiple ways to do justice to […]