Shouldn’t the creationists be tittering at the Vatican now?

There was a brief flurry of surprise a while back that Richard Dawkins acknowledged the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and that it was even possible that aliens might have visited Earth — for some reason, creationists thought this was hilarious, although it’s actually a very clear element of scientific thought. We can admit a possibility — Dawkins even admitted the possiblity of a god in The God Delusion — but that does not imply that we think there is evidence for such a thing, and evidence is a necessary prerequisite for an idea to enter the purview of science. It was a little strange to see giddy creationists pointing out a commonplace statement, as if it somehow revealed a confusion in Dawkins’ mind, when it really just exposed the ignorance in their own.

Well, I expect a repeat performance now. A Vatican astronomer said intelligent beings could exist in outer space, and that this does not contradict their religion. To which I can only say, sure, big whoop, not a big deal — it’s just speculation.

Of course, being a Vatican astronomer, he’s got to go on and assert that these beings were created by God, and might be free of original sin, yadda yadda yadda. It’s pretty much all vapor, but I still expect a good creationist howl of protest.

What year is this again?

I am stunned that this t-shirt could be proudly displayed anywhere anymore.

obamonkey.jpg

Now get this: the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is running an online poll that is asking, “What do you think of the Obama t-shirt?”, with two choices: “It’s racist” and “it’s fine”. You might be wondering why the newspaper would even have to ask…but here’s the kicker.

“It’s fine” is winning.

Do you think maybe we can shift the balance there? Or should we just let this indictment of Georgia’s racism stand?

Unclear on the concept

Just what we need — another evangelical Christian theme park, this one in the planning stages in Tennessee. This one has one particular instance of blinkered blindness, though, that I thought was rather funny.

The Park is planned as an “edutainment” experience, combining education and entertainment. The Park is without a particular religious ideology or theology and does not promote specific religious beliefs of any kind; instead, it is designed to bring to life history of Biblical times and stories from the Holy Bible.

If you read the rest, you’ll learn that this thing is taking fundamentalist, literalist reading of the Christian bible entirely for granted…how this translates into an absence of theology or specific religious beliefs is hard to understand, unless these people are so oblivious to the narrow theological domain of their beliefs that they are unable to imagine its grossly sectarian nature. Or unless they’re really stupid.

What it takes to sway the religious right

The fundagelicals were all up in arms over the human papilloma vaccine — it was recommended for all girls to prevent the sexual transmission of a virus that can lead to cancers of the female reproductive tract. They were agin’ it; it might give their womenfolk the idea that sex is not a punishment, and a few thousand dead girls is a small price to pay for sin.

That might change now, though. Clinical testing has revealed that HPV can cause oral cancers in men, and they are recommending that all adolescents, not just girls, should consider getting the vaccine.

Now the religious right is going to face a dilemma. Shall they encourage this vaccination to protect their precious boy-children, or will it be sufficient to scream against the sin of heterosexual oral sex from the pulpit? And can they even bear to talk about such ‘bizarre’ sexual practices in church?

(via Saneblog)

A poll in need of a kick in the pants

In the wake of the recent efforts of a School Administrative District in Maine to expel evolution from the curriculum, we now have a pointless poll seeking the vox populi on this badly worded question: “A school board member in SAD 59 wants the topic of evolution dropped from high school science curriculums. Do you agree?”

While I agree that a school board member wants to do that, I think the poll actually intends to ask whether you want evolution dropped from the curriculum.

Get ready, Oklahoma — Sally Kern is about to screw you over

Remember Sally Kern, the Oklahoma legislator who loves God and hates homosexuals? She had earlier sponsored something called the Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act, a ghastly piece of legislation that would require teachers to pass any old crap a student turned in, as long as the student said it was his religious belief — it prioritized belief over evidence. That bill died in a senate committee, fortunately.

But now it has been resurrected! The language from the earlier bill has been inserted into Oklahoma House Bill 2633.

A controversial provision in House Bill 2633 states that “students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions.”

That is simply insane. It’s a declaration that religion trumps everything, and gives students an escape hatch from learning — biology class would become an exercise in futility, in which lazy, stupid, or religiously indoctrinated students would simply parrot the book of genesis at their instructors, and expect to be given a good grade.

Sally Kern knows this.

“We are a very conservative state — a very religious state,” Kern said.

And working hard to become a very stupid state, too.

Oklahomans, be afraid.

That upcoming History Channel series on evolution…

I got a letter from the producers of this new evolution series to be shown on 17 June on The History Channel. It allays many of the concerns we had from the original press release.

I want to thank you for your post “The History Channel might do something right” (May 6) about the channel’s upcoming series on evolution. Unfortunately the synopsis that was posted was actually a draft of an intended press release (written by a PR copywriter as one of your readers correctly suggested) which was sent out in error before it had been vetted for accuracy.

As one of the producers working on evolve, I just wanted to allay the fears of some commenters on your site who understandably interpreted the synopsis’s inaccuracies as cause for concern about the factuality of the series. A corrected version of this release is being issued by History Channel and procedures have been put in place to prevent this type of mistake in the future.

Please be assured that the producers have taken extraordinary pains to ensure the integrity of the series. We are working with the top accredited evolutionary biologists in their field, too numerous to name here. And all of our scripts are being vetted by Carl Zimmer, a science journalist whose books and articles on evolution you likely know.

We know your readers likely know a lot more about this topic than a general TV audience. But we’re doing our very best to keep both the laypeople who don’t have that knowledge and the ardent devotees tuning in week after week. Regardless, I think we can all agree that the series represents a terrific opportunity to educate the mass public on matters of evolution.

I’m willing to give it a chance. Let’s tune in and see if they thrill us!