As a general rule I am entirely in favour of freedom of speech and thought, and I look askance at any government attempts to curtail them. I can go on for quite a while about how hate speech legislation is probably a mistake, especially in a country where the current government wouldn’t think twice about blasting down that slippery slope, but… well, there’s one particular group that I don’t mind at all being on the shitty end of that stick. I’m a complicated man–I can live with some shades of grey.
Tag: religion
Aside
You know, I probably wouldn’t be worried about this storm if Jesus was my friend.
It’s hard out there for an atheist.
Picking At Religion Again
And now for your intermittently recurring muttering about the extremely religious. Christianity: The belief that some cosmic Jewish Zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was… Read more →
Context
Have I spoken of the Lapham’s Quarterly blog? It’s a fine, fine thing–they take current topical news stories, and link them to something contextual from history to provide a different view, or highlight a particular nuance, etc. A recent piece, contrasts some US election pandering with… well, that would be telling, but anyway you should check it out. The editors… Read more →
Still more on evolution
I read the drepessing statistic today that only 58% of people across Canada will support the notion of evolution. Actually, it’s 58% more or less consistently across Canada, except in Alberta, our little bit of Jesusland here in the heart of Canada, where the number is 38%. (Note: it’s not an accident that our current minority government of Bush/Cheney style… Read more →
And now, from the “headlines I never expected to see” category…
Knights Templar sue the Pope. Yeah. That’s what I said. The Daily Telegraph reports that The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ has launched a court case in Spain, demanding Pope Benedict “recognise” the seizure of assets worth €100bn. The Spanish-based group of Templars apparently says in a statement: “We are not trying to cause the… Read more →
The tabs, they must be closed.
You know the drill–some things that I found worthy of some comment: I quite liked Julie Rehmeyer’s short piece on the math scholars who accidentally solved an astrophysics problem. It’s got all the good stuff: pure math, astrophysics (come on, “gravity lensing” just sounds cool, even without any context), serendipity, and above all a good science journalist doing the writeup,… Read more →
This would not happen south of the border
Most unexpectedly heartening moment: When I realized that of the twelve final selected jurors, all of whom were given the choice of swearing on a Bible or merely making an oath of affirmation, every last one of them chose the non-faith-based alternative. I did miss the usual irony of seeing people swearing to tell the truth on a book of… Read more →
“Long Weekend” Bag of Links
I put it in scare quotes because I am a member of the global information economy, and apparently what that means is that I have to take some meetings on those holidays that are merely national in scope. Yes, I am a grumpy about this. Well, honestly I’m mostly grumpy about having to be up in time for an 8AM… Read more →
Crazy religious people have their priorities in order
Tired of paying through the nose, Americans try praying at the pump “Lord, the prices at this pump have gone up since last week. We know that you are able, that you have all the power in the world,” he prayed, before former beauty queen Rashida Jolley led the group in a modified version of the spiritual, “We Shall Overcome”.… Read more →
Thursday Night Gallimaufry
And once again, we have my quick opinions on a variety of things I’ve run into in the last little while. I am fascinated with the mystery of what WalMart might be doing in their giant, mysterious data center. I’m guess that it might be related to “lowering prices every day”, but doing so by means that your average consumer… Read more →
Hypocrisy on parade
There’s an evil tableau for you: the callous torturer stands up with blood on his hands and a lie in his teeth, while the priest draped in gilt reassures him of his righteousness. How often has that scene played out in history, I wonder? You know, I wouldn’t change a word in what Paul Myers says about the President-Pope meeting.… Read more →
Russell’s Teapot
Last night my mother sent me one of those horrible “email forwards”. She’s the only person with my email address who actually passes these hideous things on to me, knock on wood. This one was one of those tedious things that abuse casuistry to snark at people who put reason above faith–you know the type, the ones that mistake use… Read more →
Monday Miscellany
It’s really a miscellany today. I was half-tempted to title this 88 lines about 44 links, and maybe even do it in some kind of poetic structure, but fortunately a combination of laziness and good sense prevailed. Nice to see that former local (and HGPA-member) Brian O’Malley‘s movie deal is actually happening–at least leads are being cast and a start… Read more →
A throne is a throne…
You know, the Pope-throne in the Vatican press room, or wherever it is, reminds me of something… (photo source) Oh yeah, I know what it is. It reminds me of the stage at the No Rest For The Wicked concert I saw in Milan. (As an aside, I know I shouldn’t be shocked at hypocrisy here, but doesn’t seeing that… Read more →
