As soon as I opened the door and saw the two men standing there, each with a backpack, one holding a book and the other a magazine, I knew I should have ignored the knock. But it was a slow afternoon, so I thought I’d play along.
Of course, based on their age, their clothing, and their general demeanor, I could tell immediately who they were. Who else but scientists would be in their 60s, wear lab coats on a beautiful spring day, and crack nary a smile? I slightly raised my eyebrows, letting them know I was open to their pitch but warning them that my patience was limited.
“Good afternoon, sir,” said one of the men, without smiling. “We’d like to talk to you about something that’s important to all of us – especially these days.”
“And what might that be?” I said, not moving from the doorway.
“The value of science, of rationality, and of the pursuit of truth. The absolutely essential quality of asking questions wherever the answers might lead. And the resistance to supernatural dogma.”
“I see,” I said. “And why is this important to me?”
h/t: Planet Atheism
h/t: Mike Daniels
QUOTE: Christopher Hitchens / “On Faith”
SCIENCE: Dawkinsia / “Sri Lankans Name New Type of Fish After Richard Dawkins”
Sri Lankan scientists have identified a new genus of fresh water fish and named it after the evolutionary biologist and renowned atheist Richard Dawkins.
[…]
Pethiyagoda, an ichthyologist and internationally acclaimed conservationist, said extensive studies in India and Sri Lanka showed that the level of diversity among such fish was “much greater than previously suspected”.
This was partly the reason that the study group had chosen to name the new genus after the 71-year-old Dawkins, the British author of the anti-religion polemic, The God Delusion.
“Richard Dawkins has through his writings helped us understand that the universe is far more beautiful and awe-inspiring than any religion has imagined[.]”
REASON: Thom Hartmann / “Why Would Anyone Proudly Call Themselves a Conservative?”
CATHOLIC SATIRE: Is the Catholic Church Really a ‘Lighthouse’?
There is in every village a torch – the teacher; and an extinguisher – the clergyman.
~ Victor Hugo
h/t: Planet Atheism
ACTIVISM: Story of Stuff Project / “The Story of Change”
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: Spencer Tracy: “Inherit The Wind Spencer”
Scopes Monkey Trial, Part 1
Scopes Monkey Trial, Part 2
CHRISTIAN SATIRE: “Christian Logic in a Flowchart”
h/t: Planet Atheism
h/t: Friendly Atheiest
SCIENCE: “Higgs Boson: ‘God Particle’ Discovery Ignites Debate Over Science And Religion”
The Higgs boson explains why particles have mass — and in turn why we exist. Without the boson, the universe would have no physical matter, only energy.
The cosmological implications are hotly debated. Can God fit in a scientific story of creation?
The answer is “no” for Lawrence M. Krauss, an Arizona State University theoretical physicist. He argued in Newsweek that the Higgs boson discovery “posits a new story of our creation” independent of religious belief.
“Humans, with their remarkable tools and their remarkable brains, may have just taken a giant step toward replacing metaphysical speculation with empirically verifiable knowledge,” he wrote.
With enough data, physics would make God obsolete, he said. “If we can describe the laws of nature back to the beginning of time without any supernatural shenanigans, it becomes clear that you don’t need God.”
Religious believers see things differently.
[…]
This much is true: Higgs bosons — which permeate the universe — help us understand how something comes from nothing.
Related articles
- Will the Higgs boson be our last great discovery? (nation.com.pk)
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: Father Bernard Lynch / “Secular Europe Campaign”



