Category Archives: debate

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

Natural-Born Supernaturalists?

Posted on April 17, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

This WSJ piece by Michael Shermer is well worth a look. Some key extracts: According to Oxford University Press’s “World Christian Encyclopedia,” 84% of the world’s population belongs to some form of organized religion. That equals 5.7 billion people who … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Faith | Tagged | 14 Comments

Near-Death Experiences

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

The idea of the supernaturally flavored “near-death experience” (shining lights, angels, cheerily waving, long-dead relatives and so on) is one that seems to have been gaining traction in recent years. And that’s no surprise; they make for a good story … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, Science & Faith | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Liberalism Claims the Transcendent

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Bradlaugh

Of the great mid-2000s tranche of “celebrity atheists,” each has his own distinctive style: the professorial Dennett, the street-fighter Hitchens, the smartypants Dawkins, and so on. For me at least, Sam Harris is the least distinctive of the crowd, the … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, philosophy, Science & Faith | 29 Comments

Apocalypse Postponed

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

The reason that stories of apocalypse run through so many religions is partly due, I suspect, to the persistent and widespread belief that this wicked old planet needs a sharp sheep-and-goats moment and, also, to the fact that the end of the world is … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Faith | Tagged , | 3 Comments

No More New Moore

Posted on March 28, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

Here’s how a contributor to the Skeptic’s Dictionary defines confirmation bias: Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one’s beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Faith | Tagged , | 11 Comments

The Church of Climate Change (Again)

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

Here’s the Sunday Telegraph’s Christopher Booker: As the roof continues to fall in on them, in an endless succession of scandals, the beleaguered defenders of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have at last managed to mount a riposte … Continue reading →

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The Church of Climate Change (More or Less Literally)

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

Writing over at the Sunday Telegraph, Christopher Booker examines the way that the British government has been spending taxpayer money on ‘climate change-related projects’. Make of his piece what you will. I will admit that this made me laugh: Why in 2002 should UK taxpayers … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Faith | Tagged | 1 Comment

The Church of Climate Change: Some Movement in The Pews

Posted on February 2, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

This press report is interesting, not only for what it contains  (some tricky questions about Chinese climate data on urban ‘heat islands’ ), but for where it appears – in the Guardian, a center of AGW orthodoxy. The Guardian‘s writer concludes … Continue reading →

Posted in science, Science & Faith | Tagged | 7 Comments

The Church of Climate Change: Some Embarrassments

Posted on January 31, 2010 by Andrew Stuttaford

It’s important to remember that there is a decent scientific basis to the AGW hypothesis, but then there are moments like this (from The Sunday Telegraph): The United Nations’ expert panel on climate change based claims about ice disappearing from … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Faith | Tagged | 3 Comments