The seven stages on the journey to atheism

I finally got around to seeing Julia Sweeney’s 2007 monologue performance Letting Go of God, where she describes her journey from being a good Catholic girl to an atheist in adulthood. It was funny, informative, and moving, as she describes the kinds of questions that occurred to her and the answers she sought from her parents, her priest, other religions, and her readings, before she finally accepted that she was, in effect, an atheist. [Read more…]

How to make civilian drone casualties disappear

In the US we are constantly regaled with stories in the media of high-level people in al Qaeda being killed by drone strikes and how few civilians have been harmed. We are constantly reminded of how precise drones are. But of course, all that means is that there is a high probability that a drone hits the target that it was aiming at. It says nothing about whether the target was the right one to begin with, even if one concedes that the US government has the right to target and kill anyone it pleases. [Read more…]

Scathing but funny review of Prometheus

Here is a review of the new science fiction film that is supposed to be a prequel to the successful Alien series, which I did not see.

The review is long but funny as it dissects all the gaping plot holes. It pretty much gives away the whole story so don’t read it if you have not seen the film yet but plan to. I was never going to see it so I did not care and enjoyed reading it. [Read more…]