Religion Belief
Back in December, 2010 a Gallup Poll revealed that approximately 40% of Americans believe that god created man exactly as we are now about 10,000 years ago. Literally. Not as a fable. Not as allegory. Literally.
Another 38% accept that man evolved from lower organisms but that god guided the process.
Only 16% accepted evolution as having occurred without divine intervention - an increase from 9% in a previous poll. The rest had no opinion.
The belief in "creationism" is strongly tied to educational levels. Among those with college degrees (!) The level of creationist belief fell to a mere 37% while those holding unabashed secular evolution beliefs rose to 21%. Read more
More precisely, if we say that theistic evolution is a form of intelligent design, then we have to stop saying that intelligent design is a form of creationism.
Over at HuffPo, Victor Stenger writes: Read more
Hypocrisy is running rampant in the GOP when Ayn Rand becomes their idle while they’re still trying to proclaim the Christian mantle. Ayn Rand’s vision for the world was about individualism and satisfying oneself over the needs of the many. Her philosophy was what you might say was the exact opposite of Jesus Christ’s philosophy which was about selflessness and compassion for the poor.
To me, the GOP and Ayn Rand belong together – their policies for the last several decades has been anything but Christian when it comes to their views about the poor and the social programs that provide a safety net for those in need. It’s as if suddenly they woke up to the fact of this is who they are; selfish and self-centered and caught up in this dance with the devil. Read more
At Passover, we celebrate the Israelites' Exodus, as they marched without a permit across the Red Sea… today Occupy marchers without permits are faced with police netting, pepper spray and mass arrests.
At Easter, we remember a man wrongfully judged & crucified, while today we make indefinite detention a national policy & conservatives defend "stand your ground" laws which are excessive, unjust and extremely dangerous.
This weekend, we'll be honoring dissidents & protesters, yet today our police go undercover to infiltrate peaceful protest groups and student organizations.
Moses would have been strip searched. Jesus would have been stopped and frisked. The NYPD definitely would've had them under surveillance. Read more
BY JESSICA SIBERT
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The city of Rome really was burning on Saturday as a group of hooded protesters took to the streets with rocks, bottles, and fireworks in hand. Euronews has more.
“What started off as a peaceful protest against government cutbacks and economic inequality has turned into rioting in the streets of Rome. Earlier in the day on Saturday, demonstrators gathered in the shadow of the coliseum to show their support started by movements by the ‘Indignados’ in Spain and the Americans in Occupy Wall Street. Read more
We are at war. I do not refer to the war in Afghanastan (though that too) but rather to the war between the religious right, Republicans, the 1% and various anti-science forces on one hand and everybody else on the other. Indeed, it is standard political wisdom that Fundamentalist Christians and Republicans constitute an overlapping (and where not overlapping, highly cooperative) group standing in opposition to science.
Right? Read more
It was cold, and it was pouring rain for much of the afternoon, but the rally was a huge success nevertheless. The official estimate from the Park's Department was 20,000, which seems about right to me. I'm not generally a real social person, and I'm not much of a joiner. But given that I live in a culturally conservative part of the country, and spend so much time reading and thinking about religious right propaganda, it was with a sense of physical relief that I spent the afternoon standing in solidarity with my fellow atheists.
And make no mistake, this was an atheist rally. A New Atheist rally in fact. Condemning religion was certainly high on the priority list for most of the speakers. The general attitude was well summed up by rally host Paul Provenza: Read more
Truly my career has reached the next phase of its evolution. I have been published at The Huffington Post. Go have a look and let me know what you think!
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The Denver Post reports on a talk by hyperconservative Justice Antonin Scalia at a religious conference:
The 75-year-old Scalia said that today one can believe in a creator and the teachings of Jesus without being the brunt of too much ridicule, but that to hold traditional Christian beliefs that Jesus is God and He physically rose from the grave is to be derided as simple-minded by those considered leading intellectuals.... Read more
Despite losing a vote in the Senate yesterday, congressional Republicans are doubling down on their efforts to let employers to pick and choose which health services are covered by their insurance plans under the new health care law.
TPM:
“This fight is not over,” said Senate GOP Conference Vice Chair Roy Blunt (R-MO), the author of the amendment that was tabled 51-48 on Thursday. “I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers of Congress to protect the rights that make our nation great.” Read more
There is a joke expression about surgeons, "sometimes wrong, never in doubt." Depending on how you feel about surgeons I've heard it begin "sometimes right" and "even when wrong." Applied to Rick Santorum, I think it has to be "usually wrong" if not "always wrong" given the serious of ridiculous distortions, lies, and made up statistics in the last week. Read more
Is that Jesus looking into a mirror? A recent study shows that Christian conservatives and liberals reflect themselves upon the image of Jesus, and it's not an ordinary mirror.
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Anti-abortion "personhood" bill clears Oklahoma senate
The bill offers no exceptions in the case of a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest and could mean some forms of contraception such as the "morning after pill" would be unavailable, she said.
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Why has our life expectancy increased so much since the American Revolution?
According to Presidential candidate Rick Santorum: "Because God says they have rights."
What about the role of sanitation, nutrition, education, medicine?
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