PA marriage ban likely dead

Pennsylvania_pride_flag Good news from PA recently:

A bill that would amend the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage is in a deep coma and is probably dead, at least for the rest of this session.

Faced with staunch opposition to the measure in the Democrat-controlled House, the main sponsor, Sen. Michael Brubaker, R-Lancaster, asked the Senate last evening to table the bill indefinitely, and it agreed.

That almost certainly means it won't be acted on in the 2007-08 session, which ends Nov. 30. Mr. Brubaker said he's not giving up on the bill, though he didn't say when he might push for it again.

Chip Berlet on "the New Witch Hunt"

The article "Lieberman Gift To McCain: Senate Islamist Terrorism Report," by Chip Berlet of Talk To Action was recently featured on The Huffington Post. From the article:

Scholar William W. Keller argues that in times of wide-spread social unrest and tensions, some liberals retreat from their oversight function as protectors of civil liberties and allow authoritarian methods to be implemented in order to restore order and defend the state. Right now in Washington, DC, civil liberties activists have built a coalition that spans the political spectrum from left to right. This coalition recently managed to block legislation titled the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act." It was, as detailed here, lousy legislation and deserved to be squashed.

Richard Dawkins with Lawrence Krauss

Richard Dawkins, FRS had a public discussion with Lawrence Krauss at Stanford University on Sunday, March 9, 2008. Topics covered included primarily science education, but also religion, physics, evolution, and more. (Dr. Dawkins will retire this year from his post as the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.)

Please read "The Plank in Michael Gerson's Eye"

Episcopal_welcome Jim Naughton is the communications director of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC. In "The Plank in Michael Gerson's Eye," Naughton reveals that Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, the man who coined the term "axis of evil," is a member of a schismatic Episcopal churches in Virginia that has placed itself under the authority of Anglican prelate Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria.

No wonder Naughton disingenuously assaults Barack Obama over Rev. Wright's comments but writes nothing about Akinola's persecution of gay people in Nigeria and support for a  massacre of Nigerian Muslims by members of Akinola's Christian Association of Nigeria.

Fort Riley atheist soldier speaks out on lawsuit

Jeremy_hall From the article:

Known as "the atheist guy," [U.S. Army Specialist Jeremy] Hall has been called immoral, a devil worshipper and — just as severe to some soldiers — gay, none of which, he says, is true. Hall even drove fellow soldiers to church in Iraq and paused while they prayed before meals.

"I see a name and rank and United States flag on their shoulder. That's what I believe everyone else should see," he said.
.....
Hall was a gunner on a Humvee, which took several bullets in its protective shield. Afterward, his commander asked whether he believed in God, Hall said.

"I said, 'No, but I believe in Plexiglas,'" Hall said. "I've never believed I was going to a happy place. You get one life. When I die, I'm worm food."

The issue came to a head when, according to Hall, a superior officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, threatened to bring charges against him for trying to hold a meeting of atheists in Iraq. Welborn has denied Hall's allegations.

"Expelled" continues to be exposed; Dawkins' letter to film's victim

Expelled, the documentary film (in this case, crypto-propoganda) promoting the Creationist (ergo non-scientific) concept of "Intelligent Design," continues to have its falsehood exposed by many champions of science education.

Two recent additions to the effort: "The Expelled Case of Caroline Crocker: Academic Freedom Martyr or Pseudoscience Hack?" by Carrie Sager and Andrea Bottaro, and "Was Guillermo Gonzalez 'Expelled'? Intelligent Design and Tenure at Iowa State University," by Lauri Lebo.

Both come via Skeptic.com.

Also, Professor Richard Dawkins has posted, "Open Letter to a victim of Ben Stein's lying propaganda."

"Expelled" exposed

Edge_of_the_world Ben Stein is a commentator and actor. He's produced a movie that's dying a quiet death--thankfully--entitled, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. In the film, Stein draws a connection between genocide and evolution as a scientific theory that he anachronistically refers to as "Darwinism," as many people do, unfortunately. His failure to distinguish between Darwin's contribution to the science of evolution and the science of evolution as a whole--which has post-Darwinian components and also includes the field of genetics--is representative of just one of several misunderstandings he has about evolution.

Stein advocates Intelligent Design, which is a faith-based, non-scientific understanding of the origin of species or life or both. Intelligent Design is wholly without merit by the standards of the scientific method because it lacks evidence and does not make testable claims.

Expelled Exposed is a website maintained by the National Center for Science Education that reveals some of the errors in Stein's film.

While we're on the topic of misunderstandings about evolution, New Scientist's Michael Le Page has drawn up a list of 24 common misconceptions about evolution. Check them out.

"Judgment Day" wins Peabody

The NOVA program, "Judgment Day," about the Kitzmiller v. Dover case in which Intelligent Design was exposed as crypo-Creationism, a form of religious proselytizing, and rightly banned from the science classroom in American public schools, won a Peabody Award.

Congrats to NOVA for defending science education. You can help defend science education by joining the National Center for Science Education (NCSE).

The Book of Revelation, Live (and in HD?)

Buddychrist From PFAW's fantastic "Right Wing Watch" service, we discover that Bill Sizemore, a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot, has uncovered an anecdot of Gerry Straub's, a former "700 Club" producer, that

Robertson and his supporters believe that CBN had been chosen by God to "usher in the coming of my Son" and, as such, put in place a plan to televise Christ's imminent return to earth:

In order to prepare for the imminent Second Coming -- which Robertson believes will occur on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem according to biblical prophecy -- he acquired METV (Middle East Television), a station then based in southern Lebanon that could broadcast into Israel. Straub was given marching orders to be ready to televise Christ's return. CBN executives drew up a detailed plan to broadcast the event to every nation and in all languages. Straub wrote: "We even discussed how Jesus' radiance might be too bright for the cameras and how we would have to make adjustments for that problem. Can you imagine telling Jesus, 'Hey, Lord, please tone down your luminosity; we're having a problem with contrast. You're causing the picture to flare.'"

Please see Live From Golgatha for more information.

Rodda reviews Waldman's "Founding Faith"

Chris Rodda over at Talk To Action has a good and fairly positive review of Steven Waldman's new book, Founding Faith. While recommending the book, Rodda also does the service of raises some relatively minor historical inaccuracies in it. Rodda's concern is that the book

will give the reader who is not already familiar with the misuse of history in the church/state debate the erroneous impression that the historical distortions come equally from both sides. This is simply not the case.

The rightwing's attacks on mainline Christianity

Steeple Over at dkos, Troutfishing wisely calls our attention to the American rightwing's attacks against mainline Protestantism. These attacks began decades ago, but continue right up until today, including the racist and hypocritical talking points about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which the mainstream media mindlessly parrots.

(For some sense of the hypocrisy involved, read this and this about how religious right pastors routinely attack the United States of America and damn it for this or that, and they're called patriots. What is more, Rev. Wright's comments were an echo in biblical language the opinions of the former US ambassador to Iraq.)

Troutfishing highlights the new video Renewal or Ruin? about the perversely named Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD), a component of American radical conservatism's war against mainline Protestant churches. Learn more about the IRD at www.ird-info.com.

From the post:

Attacks on the National Council Of Churches, smearing that body and liberal Christianity in general, as socialist or crypto-marxist, began as early as the 1950's (and possibly even before then) but the  full-blown right wing war on the historically liberal mainline Christian denominations did not begin until the 1980's...

The new left, the progressive left, needs all its components, all its allies and all its possible strength if the nascent movement is to change America and help lead the world away from reactive politics,  away from endless war and towards hope....

Blog Against Theocracy

Blog_against_theocracy The March 21-23 weekend "blogswarm" known as Blog Against Theocracy brought a wealth of posts on subjects like the separation of Church and State, freedom of religion, Christian Reconstructionism, Christian Nationalism, the religious right, Creationism, and more.

Also visit First Freedom First, an unofficial partner of the Blog Against Theocracy project and a partnership of the Interfaith Alliance and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU).

Report: Richard Dawkins in NYC

Richard_dawkinsbbc Prof Richard Dawkins, a biologist who is the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford and a member of The Royal Society, spoke recently at the Meeting Hall (built in 1910) of the Society for Ethical Culture (founded in 1876) in New York City. It is located on Central Park West at West 64th Street. Approximately 800 people attended. (800 people is the capacity of the venue, and for all intents and purposes every space was filled. The hall features pews, not chairs, so it's a bit difficult to determine attendance at a glance.)

Professor Dawkins received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his presentation.

Prof Dawkins was gracious and thoughtful throughout the Q&A session. The first questioner pointed out to Prof Dawkins that perhaps he ought to reconsider his use of the term "Darwinism," because it can seem to legitimize a misuse (deliberate or otherwise) of the term by opponents of proper science education, such as many creationists, that suggests that evolution is a type of cult of personality. As this questioner pointed out: Physicists don't call themselves Newtonians or Einsteinians.

Prof Hawkins said that this was an interesting point, and he had had his consciousness raised by the questioner, and that--yes--he was convinced by the argument and would use the term more carefully in the future. He thanked the questioner humbly.

While the questioner did not explicitly say as much, it is indeed the case that many religious opponents of a proper science education (e.g., a science education including the teaching of evolution) indulge not only in the incorrect "evolution versus creationism" frame--as if both concepts were equally valid--but sometimes a "Jesus versus Darwin" frame.

But the choice isn't between Jesus and Darwin, it's between accepting or not accepting an overarching scientific principle that is based upon a massive body of evidence the vast majority of which has been repeatedly subjected to peer examination. If one does not believe in evolution it is as if one does not believe in gravity, the germ theory, or plate tectonics: disbelieve it if you'd like, but you will be rejecting the idea ultimately based on religious dogma, personal incredulity, ignorance, or a combination of the three, but not based on scientific evidence...nor based (as the questioner was mentioning) on choosing to like or "believe" Darwin over Jesus, Allah, or anyone else, as if one's choice were between an array of clever opinions, including the opinions supposedly based on supernaturally revealed truth. The questioner has a point, yes: evolution (or for that matter skepticism or secular humanism) is not about Mr. Charles Darwin per se. Taking or leaving evolution isn't about any person in history, but about a large body of evidence that you either take as scientifically valid or reject for non-scientific reasons. 

Prof Dawkins is experimenting with some new angles to his arguments found in The God Delusion, including a heightened emphasis on the value of teaching comparative religion in schools. He made it clear during the Q&A that there are dangers associated with teaching comparative religion courses in public schools, but if such courses are taught competently, they can be very useful in demonstrating to students the simple fact that there are and have been numerous religions on the planet, therefore claims by any one religion that it alone reveals the whole truth of reality are unlikely to be correct.

Okla. House Bill 2211

Pharyngula spoke out about Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern. (More here.)

Kerns is the sponsor of Oklahoma House Bill 2211, the "Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act". You can tell from the title what it is: a bill that would privilege religious opinions over scientific information in public school classrooms.

The House bill passed, so it's going to the Senate. If you live in Oklahoma, call your State Senator and tell them to oppose this bill that waters down science education.

Write to the UK Home Secretary regarding Mehdi Kazemi

As reported in The Independent:

Mehdi Kazemi is a gay teenager from Iran. He sought sanctuary in Britain after his boyfriend was hanged for homosexuality. So why is Britain so determined to send him back to Tehran – to almost certain execution?

No British Government should aid even indirectly the homophobia of a theocratic state.

Click here to e-mail the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith. A sample letter follows:

Dear Madam Secretary,

I am writing to urge the Home Office not to deport Mehdi Kazemi. Iran is a theocratic state that treats gay men and lesbians inhumanly, subjecting them even to execution. Mehdi Kazemi’s boyfriend was executed in Iran. I believe it would be horrible for the Labour Government to force Mr Kazemi to return. Once in Iran, Mr Kazemi’s life—should he be allowed to keep it—would be a living hell given the Iranian authorities’ primitive attitudes towards homosexuality. What is more, it would send a signal to the world that the United Kingdom is not the welcoming place that I know it to be, and that the Government is not a beacon for pragmatic progressivism that I know it aims to be.

Thank you for considering this matter.

Please consider echoing my sentiments by e-mailing the Home Secretary.

RRW on YouTube