NewsTrust - Faith and Reason - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

The Baloney Detection Kit

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

YouTube - By Michael Shermer - Jul. 06 (Opinion) - With a sea of information coming at us from all directions, how do we sift out the misinformation and bogus claims, and get to the truth? Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine lays out a "Baloney Detection Kit," ten questions we should ask when encountering a claim. The 10 Questions: 1. How reliable is the source of the claim? 2.Does the source make similar claims? 3. Have the claims been verified by somebody else? 4. Does this fit with the way the world works? 5. Has anyone tried to disprove the claim? 6. Where does the preponderance of evidence point? 7. Is the claimant playing by the rules of science? 8. Is the claimant providing positive evidence? 9. Does the new theory account for as many phenomena as the old theory? 10. Are personal beliefs driving the claim?

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The Non-Science That Explains What’s Wrong with Science Explaining Non-Belief in Science

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Easily Distracted - By Easily Distracted - Apr. 26 (Opinion) - It is not irrational or unreasonable to regard scientific claims which recommend or insist upon particular public policy initiatives with sharply pronounced skepticism across the board. Not because science itself requires a particular form of skepticism (though it does) but because such skepticism is evidence-based, derived from the history of the relationship between policy, the modern state, and science, a history which even non-experts have often viscerally experienced or witnessed.

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Overcoming political polarization… but not through facts

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

my heart's in accra - By Ethan Zuckerman - Apr. 25 (Opinion) - A recent New York Times poll suggests that Americans are in a dark mood. 70% of people think the country is moving in the wrong direction, a number not seen since the peak of the Great Recession two years ago. Their frustration may stem from higher gas p

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The Danger Of Science Denial

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

TED - By Michael Specter - Apr. 12 (Speech) - Vaccine-autism claims, "Frankenfood" bans, the herbal cure craze: All point to the public's growing fear (and, often, outright denial) of science and reason, says Michael Specter. He warns the trend spells disaster for human progress.

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UN judge calls for prosecution of Pope Benedict

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Raw Story - By Stephen C. Webster - Apr. 11 (Opinion) - Geoffrey Robertson, a renowned human rights lawyer and United Nations jurist, wants to see Pope Benedict put on trial for allegedly protecting predator priests. In a Guardian UK piece making its rounds this week in Catholic circles, Robertson demanded the pope be "put in the dock" so that the church might "feel the full weight [...]

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Freedom vs. the Public Option

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

TruthOut - By George Lakoff - Jan. 25 (Editorial) - Which would you prefer, consumer choice or freedom? Extended coverage or freedom? Bending the cost curve or freedom? John Boehner, House minority leader, speaking of health care, said recently, "This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I have seen in the 19 years I have been here in Washington.... It's going to lead to a government takeover of our health care system, with tens of thousands of new bureaucrats right down the street, making these decisions [choose your doctor, buy your own health insurance] for you." read more

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Because Religion is The Battleground of the 21st Century

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Op Ed News - By Larry Beinhart - Dec. 14 (Opinion) - Mumbai. 9/11. Chechnya. Sectarian violence in Iraq. Somalia. Afghanistan. Nigeria. The man with the most military power in the history of the world is reported to have said, "I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq …' And I did." It was called a Crusade. These are the defining events of the new century. After a brief, semi-retirement of a few hundred years, religion has returned as the number one cause of violence, war and death. So the fundamental national security questions of our time have to be about faith. What is it about faith that makes people eager to commit suicide so long as it enables them to commit mass murder while they're at it?

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Sarah Palin's Creationism Will Rape the Environment

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Chip Ward - Sep. 23 (Opinion) - Evolution is largely about connection and interaction -- the linear connection of one species evolving into another (speciation), but also how species fill niches created by one another, how they interact, exchanging energy and information, how they compete as well as cooperate, and how all of them -- from microbial soils to migrating birds -- form dynamic communities that, in turn, are also woven together, web within web within web. Pull one thread of that living tapestry and you tug at so many others, which is why precaution is so wise.

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McCain Embraces Endorsement from Anti-Catholic, Anti-Gay, Anti-Muslim Televangelist John Hagee

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Sarah Posner, Amy Goodman - Mar. 07 (Interview) - Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain has openly embraced the endorsement of controversial televangelist John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel and the senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. Hagee has come under criticism for his views on homosexuality, Islam, the Catholic Church and even the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We speak with Sarah Posner, author of God's Profits: Faith Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters.

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Faith Talk 2008

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Tomdispatch.com - By Ira Chernus - Jan. 13 (Opinion) - So, when it comes to religion and politics, here's the most critical question: Should we turn the political arena into a stage to dramatize our quest for moral certainty? The simple answer is no -- for lots of reasons. For starters, it's a direct threat to democracy.

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Rise of the New Atheists

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 01:12:33 -0700

The Nation - By Ronald Aronson - Jun. 16 (Review) - All this helps explain the popularity of the New Atheists -- Americans as a whole may not be getting too much religion, but a significant constituency must be getting fed up with being routinely marginalized, ignored and insulted. After all, unbelievers are concentrated at the higher end of the educational scale -- a recent Harris American poll shows that 31 percent of those with postgraduate education do not avow belief in God (compared with only 14 percent of those with a high school education or less). The percentage rises among professors and then again among professors at research universities, reaching 93 percent among members of the National Academy of Sciences. Unbelievers are to be found concentrated among those whose professional lives emphasize science or rationality and who also have developed a relatively high level of confidence in their own intellectual faculties. And they are frequently teachers or opinion-makers.

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Manufacturing belief

Tue, 15 May 2007 12:55:47 -0700

Salon - By Steve Paulson - May. 15 (Interview) - In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass," Alice tells the White Queen that she cannot believe in impossible things. But the Queen says Alice simply hasn't had enough practice. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." That human penchant for belief -- or perhaps gullibility -- is what inspired biologist Lewis Wolpert to write a book about the evolutionary origins of belief called "Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast." Wolpert is an eminent developmental biologist at University College London. Like fellow British scientist Richard Dawkins, he's an outspoken atheist with a knack for saying outrageous things. Unlike Dawkins, Wolpert has no desire to abolish religion. In fact, he thinks religious belief can provide great comfort and points to medical studies showing that the faithful tend to suffer less stress and anxiety than nonbelievers. In Wolpert's view, religion has given believers an evolutionary advantage, even though it's based on a grand illusion. He has a theory for why religion first took root. He thinks human brains evolved to become "belief engines." Once our ancient ancestors understood cause and effect, they figured out how to manipulate the natural world. In essence, toolmaking made us human. Similarly, early hominids felt compelled to find causes for life's great mysteries, including illness and death. They came to believe in unseen gods and spirits.

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Breaking the Spell: Daniel Dennett on religion

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:07:14 -0800

Australian Broadcasting - By Natasha Mitchell - Jan. 20 (Interview) - As the world wages war over geographical, religious and historical turf - a growing number of big note scientists want religious faith put under the microscope. Uber-philosopher of mind and popular provocateur, Daniel Dennett, author of Darwin's Dangerous Idea, is one of them. He joins Natasha Mitchell to discuss his latest controversial offering, Breaking the Spell.

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World Without End: Faith & Reason

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 02:19:37 -0700

Huffington Post - By Rod Amis - Aug. 24 (Opinion) - I screened the film "The Tin Drum" for myself again last night - Thank the Internet for Netflix.com - because I wanted to look at one of the wonderful results of Gunter Grass's work while considering the international flap over his interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in which he confessed his youthful service in the German Army was with the Waffen SS. I read over the compendium of reactions from (in some cases, former) friends and foes, after the screening, at the wonderful German Web site SignandSight for which I have a great deal of admiration.

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Media Coverage of Left Behind: Eternal Forces -- Just the Beginning

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Talk to Action - By Frederick Clarkson - Jul. 21 (Opinion) - We can reasonably expect to see a lot of media coverage of the convert-or-kill-New Yorkers themed video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces over the next few months. The latest article to appear is currently running on Alternet. Alternet's story, by Zack Pelta-Heller is quite comprehensive, and will no doubt inspire further reporting on the game and its forthcoming release. The story features Talk to Action's Jonathan Hutson and his dramatic series of stories that showed, among other things, how the game, based on Tim LaHaye's controversial series of novels, and intended for children as young as 13, is an indoctrination program that teaches that in the End Times, Christian militias will roam the streets of New York, requiring people to convert or be killed. (But when the Religion News Service wrote about the game recently, they left some things out.)

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The Purpose Driven Life Takers (Part 1)

Mon, 29 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Talk to Action - By Jonathan Hutson - May. 29 (Opinion) - Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.

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