Monthly Archives: May 2010

Attacking The Infidel

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

Reason‘s Michael Moynihan has the details (complete with video) of yet another attempt to suppress free speech in the name of religion: Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist who drew Mohammed as a dog, was recently told that a scheduled lecture … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

The Uses of Gibberish

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

A characteristic of many priestly castes is the use of esoteric language as a device both to befuddle their audience and to secure their own superior status as interpreters and custodians of the holy writ. For some reason, I started thinking about … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Stinking Bishop

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

Could this become the official cheese of Secular Right? Via the Daily Mail: Stinking Bishop was officially voted Britain’s most pungent cheese today in the first smell championship. Britain’s Smelliest Cheese Championships were held at The Royal Bath and West … Continue reading →

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Missionary Nation

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Bradlaugh

I watched the 2007 movie Freedom Writers the other day. It put into my mind the thought that the U.S.A. is, among many other things, a missionary nation. If you don’t know the movie, here’s the synopsis from IMDb: Hilary … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | 11 Comments

From the eyes of babes

Posted on May 9, 2010 by David Hume

The cognitive psychologist Paul Bloom has a long piece in The New York Times Magazine, The Moral Life of Babies. Such research always interests me because the biological and cultural shape that humans give to morality are important parameters in … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, politics | Tagged , | 6 Comments

The Demons of Bedford

Posted on May 8, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

The failure of Britain’s Conservative party to secure a parliamentary majority in the general election is a major disappointment. In a contest where every seat counted,  one must (I suppose) even lament the failure of Tory Philippa Stroud to win election. Philippa … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Okey Dokey

Posted on May 8, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

From the London Times In normally liberal Connecticut,voters recently returned a creationist to the state school board for the first time. In Illinois, the Republican candidate for governor will be a Darwin doubter. In Christian universities in Virginia and Colorado, … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Faith | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The wives of Cain

Posted on May 7, 2010 by David Hume

Over at Discover I’ve been talking a lot about the new Neandertal admixture paper. The short of it is that it looks like most of the world’s population has admixture from Neandertals on the interval 0-5% (though some scholars, such … Continue reading →

Posted in science | Tagged | 11 Comments

S. E. Cupp and her future spiritual journey

Posted on May 1, 2010 by David Hume

In case you hadn’t noticed, The Daily Caller has a blogger named S. E. Cupp who is an avowed atheist and conservative. That being said, I have gone on the record and stated that she’ll probably be Roman Catholic within … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged | 30 Comments