Category Archives: Uncategorized

Andy Ross’s Book

Posted on February 5, 2009 by Bradlaugh

I’m a keen reader of Andy Ross’s blog.   (And he’s a something reader of my stuff — at any rate, he re-posted, with intelligent comments, my ruminations on the “Science of Consciousness” conference last spring.) Andy’s a philosopher — he has … Continue reading →

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New Ann Coulter book

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Walter Olson

Two years ago Ann departed from what I had taken for a generally secular and modern public persona by coming out with a book entitled “Godless: The Church of Liberalism” which advanced, of all things, a down-with-Darwin line. Apparently I … Continue reading →

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Faith and finance

Posted on February 1, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

The argument that the current financial crisis was at least partly caused by the retreat of religion from the public square and by rising secularism will undoubtedly recur regularly over the next few years.  These are complex matters, and those … Continue reading →

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No Two Alike

Posted on January 31, 2009 by Bradlaugh

Mr. Hume:  Although The Nurture Assumption made the more noise, I actually liked No Two Alike the better of JRH’s two books. It begins with a pair of identical twins joined together at the head since birth. You can’t get … Continue reading →

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The value of families

Posted on January 31, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

I think the leading candidate here is the work on child development showing that parenting styles don’t matter much, perhaps not at all above a certain very low level (locking the kids in the basement and feeding them cat food). … Continue reading →

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Spies Like Us?

Posted on January 31, 2009 by Andrew Stuttaford

Walter, you mention the fact that the spy Robert Hanssen was also a member of Opus Dei, and then go on to comment that “the oft-mooted prophylactic effect of religious enthusiasm against world-league personal misbehavior doesn’t seem to work very … Continue reading →

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Who’s the More Science-Hostile, Right or Left?

Posted on January 31, 2009 by Bradlaugh

Following my having said (previous post) that any political position will find some human-science results obnoxious, a reader asked me, off-line, to identify a finding — not a practice, like embryo-destructive stem cell research, but a finding — that is obnoxious … Continue reading →

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Science and public policy

Posted on January 30, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

New York Times Deputy Science Editor Dennis Overbye celebrated the alleged “restoration of science” under the Obama Administration this week, sounding a Chris Matthews-ian note of ecstasy about Obama’s ascension.   I agree with most of Overbye’s essay, which makes a … Continue reading →

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Devout spies, cont’d

Posted on January 30, 2009 by Walter Olson

In your post about the Nicholsons, Heather, I hope you didn’t forget the case of Robert Hanssen, sometimes deemed the very worst Soviet mole ever, who was deep into ultraconservative Catholicism. (Wikipedia: “The Opus Dei priest who heard Robert’s confession … Continue reading →

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Faith and treason

Posted on January 30, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

Harold James Nicholson, a CIA officer imprisoned for spying for Russia, invoked the will of God when communicating with his son from his jail cell.   “God leads us on our greatest adventures,” he wrote in a birthday card to his … Continue reading →

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