Monthly Archives: November 2009

The Feds Feed the Children

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

The Agriculture Secretary was promoting his department’s new hunger (or, in contemporary parlance: “food insecurity”) survey on CSPAN this morning, and promising to expand the federal government’s role in feeding children.  We do a good job with school lunches and … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged | 24 Comments

Church & State

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Andrew Stuttaford

  England has a state church (a fact that–quite reasonably–gives that church, the Church of England, some privileges), but only the one. Now it seems luckless Brits are going to have to put up with this:  John Denham, the communities secretary, said … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Creationism in the Muslim world

Posted on November 18, 2009 by David Hume

A ScienceBlogs I have a post on Muslim Creationism data up. The paper, On being religious : patterns of religious commitment in muslim societies, has lots of information. You can download it at the link. Here are the topline results … Continue reading →

Posted in data | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The rise of McChurch, but not Old Time Theology

Posted on November 17, 2009 by David Hume

Mr. Bradlaugh’s post on the death of intellectual Protestantism, the highbrow aspect of what we normally term “Mainline Protestantism,” prompts to revisit some data which I’ve reported before, but want to reiterate. First, the old Protestant denominations which have dominated … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, data | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Death of Intellectual Protestantism

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Bradlaugh

This past few days I have been undergoing a strange immersion in Protestant theology. The subject here is Martin Gardner. I have been a fan of Martin’s since the days when I was a pretty regular reader of Scientific American, approx. … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy | 16 Comments

A counterweight to pessimism?

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

I of course hearken to my esteemed SR colleague’s bracing call to gloom.  But how could one not feel just a little bit joyful at yet another sign of the grass-roots knowledge explosion that the internet has fostered?  an army … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

More from the Religious Left

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Andrew Stuttaford

In a piece of utterly unremarkable news, the Archbishop of Canterbury argues here for more taxes, attacks “fantasies of unlimited growth”, calls for “sustainability” (defined, presumably, by him and those like him) and once again raises suspicions that he’s just another cleric who can’t … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged | 9 Comments

Terror-mongering in Illinois

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

The Republicans are once again fear-mongering regarding the transfer of Gitmo detainees to maximum security federal prisons on the mainland: Several Illinois lawmakers say the Chicago area would become a terrorist target if Guantanamo Bay detainees are moved to a … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged | 8 Comments

Creationism & Abortion

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Andrew Stuttaford

Razib/David, in your follow-up post on the subject of Sarah Palin and Creationism, you comment as follows: It strikes me that those on the Right & Republicans seem more divided and emotive on this issue than abortion. More specifically, libertarian … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Traditions and tribes; the genealogy of civilizations

Posted on November 16, 2009 by David Hume

A few weeks ago the socially conservative sociologist who blogs under the name “Inductivist” had an intriguing post up, Social conservatives and Muslims: Social conservatives typically align themselves with the West against the Islamic world in the “clash of civilizations,” … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, data | Tagged , | 25 Comments