NewsTrust - Faith and Reason - Most Recent Stories: Opinion

The Republicans are now the anti-science party

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - Sep. 04 (Opinion) - Jon Huntsman Jr, a former Utah governor and ambassador to China, isn't a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And that's too bad, because Mr Hunstman has been willing to say the unsayable about the Republican party in the United States, namely, that it is becoming the "anti-science party". This is an enormously important development. And it should terrify us. To see what Mr Huntsman means, consider recent statements by the two men who actually are serious contenders for the Republican nomination: Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.

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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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Argument, Truth and the Social Side of Reasoning

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Gary Gutting - Jun. 30 (Opinion) - In a recent discussion about reasoning, one point was overlooked: Knowledge of the truth is a social process. Philosophers rightly think of themselves as experts on reasoning. After all, it was a philosopher, Aristotle, who developed the science of logic. But psychologists have also had some interesting things to say about the subject. A fascinating paper by Dan Sperber and Hugo Mercier has recently generated a lot of discussion.

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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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Jewish prayers for Egypt's uprising

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Aljazeera - By Michael Lerner - Feb. 01 (Opinion) - Many Jews from around the world support Egyptian self-determination because of Judaism's own historic past with Egypt.

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The American Debate: A death-row opponent: Be still, my heart

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Dick Polman - Dec. 12 (Opinion) - Ever since a self-described loser named Steven Hayes went on trial this autumn for the murders of a Connecticut doctor's wife and two daughters, my gut has been warring with my brain.

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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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The folly of pretence

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Daniel Dennett - Jul. 16 (Opinion) - I am confident that those who believe in belief are wrong. That is, we no more need to preserve the myth of God in order to preserve a just and stable society than we needed to cling to the Gold Standard to keep our currency sound.

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Mind Matters

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Steven Johnson, Jonah Lehrer - Mar. 18 (Review) - Most great stories revolve around decisions: the snap brilliance of Captain Sullenberger choosing to land his plane in the Hudson, or Dorothea’s prolonged, agonizing choice of whether to forsake her husband for true love in “Middlemarch,” or your parents’ oft-told account of the day they decided to marry. There is something powerfully human in the act of deliberately choosing a path; other animals have drives, emotions, problem-solving skills, but none rival our capacity for self-consciously weighing all the options, imagining potential outcomes and arriving at a choice. As George W. Bush might have put it, we are a species of deciders.

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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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The Republican Rump

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - Nov. 03 (Opinion) - Maybe the polls are wrong, and John McCain is about to pull off the biggest election upset in American history. But right now the Democrats seem poised both to win the White House and to greatly expand their majorities in both houses of Congress.

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What's God's interest in pipeline?

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Post Intelligencer - By Hubert G. Locke - Sep. 25 (Opinion) - On Nov. 4, voters have a vested interest in ensuring that someone who is so glibly confident about knowing God's plan does not get within a heartbeat of the presidency of the United States. People who profess to know what God is thinking engage in the worst, most dangerous form of self-delusion. They should never be allowed anywhere near positions of public responsibility that put the rest of us -- and the world -- at risk.

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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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Without God

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The New York Review of Books - By Steven Weinberg - Sep. 22 (Review) - In his celebrated 1837 Phi Beta Kappa Oration at Harvard, titled "The American Scholar," Ralph Waldo Emerson predicted that a day would come when America would end what he called "our long apprenticeship to the learning of other lands." His prediction came true in the twentieth century, and in no area of learning more so than in science. This surely would have pleased Emerson. When he listed his heroes he would generally include Copernicus and Galileo and Newton along with Socrates and Jesus and Swedenborg. But I think that Emerson would have had mixed feelings about one consequence of the advance of science here and abroad--that it has led to a widespread weakening of religious belief.[1]

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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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Defining who's 'qualified' in a diverse nation

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 09:36:43 -0800

Seattle Post Intelligencer - By D. Parvaz - Dec. 02 (Editorial) - But... Mitty, buddy, Habibi. Islam isn't an ethnicity. It's a religion. This is something a guy hoping to run a global superpower -- one that's trying to disabuse the Middle East of the notion that the wars it's waging there are rooted in hatred for the faith (one culture's jihad is another's crusade) -- ought to know. But this isn't about forcing Romney to hire someone on the basis of his or her religion. He was asked if he'd consider a qualified Muslim-American for a high-ranking position, and he said no -- based either on the demographic reason, as Ijaz claims, or for reasons that have something to do with his view of the Middle East as filled with nothing but violent fundamentalists. Sounds like Romney needs to clarify his clarification.

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Goodbye to All That

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:44:45 -0800

Atlantic Monthly - By Andrew Sullivan - Nov. 05 (Opinion) - The logic behind the candidacy of Barack Obama is not, in the end, about Barack Obama. It has little to do with his policy proposals, which are very close to his Democratic rivals' and which, with a few exceptions, exist firmly within the conventions of our politics. It has little to do with Obama's considerable skills as a conciliator, legislator, or even thinker. It has even less to do with his ideological pedigree or legal background or rhetorical skills. Yes, as the many profiles prove, he has considerable intelligence and not a little guile. But so do others, not least his formidably polished and practiced opponent Senator Hillary Clinton. Obama, moreover, is no saint. He has flaws and tics: Often tired, sometimes crabby, intermittently solipsistic, he's a surprisingly uneven campaigner. A soaring rhetorical flourish one day is undercut by a lackluster debate performance the next. He is certainly not without self-regard. He has more experience in public life than his opponents want to acknowledge, but he has not spent much time in Washington and has never run a business. His lean physique, close-cropped hair, and stick-out ears can give the impression of a slightly pushy undergraduate. You can see why many of his friends and admirers have urged him to wait his turn. He could be president in five or nine years' time--why the rush?

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Rational Atheism

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:37:59 -0700

Scientific American - By Michael Shermer - Sep. 02 (Opinion) - Since the turn of the millennium, a new militancy has arisen among religious skeptics in response to three threats to science and freedom: (1) attacks against evolution education and stem cell research; (2) breaks in the barrier separating church and state leading to political preferences for some faiths over others; and (3) fundamentalist terrorism here and abroad.

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God's Warriors

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:54:05 -0700

Variety - By Brian Lowry - Aug. 22 (Review) - CNN has pledged to enlarge its footprint in serious documentaries, representing a welcome use of the news network's resources, as opposed to trying to out-Fox Fox News or out-sleaze TMZ.com on Paris Hilton exclusives. Deftly tackling a potentially explosive topic in this three-part project, correspondent Christiane Amanpour delves into religious fundamentalism -- Jewish, Muslim and Christian -- showcasing the volatility that ensues "when piety meets politics." The channel will surely endure charges of moral equivalency from Christian groups, but it's a tough, smart, historically grounded look at the intractability of these issues. Amanpour begins her reporting in Jerusalem, the focal point of so many claims and counterclaims of divine rights and inspiration. At times, the project feels like a greatest-hits compilation of religious intolerance and fanaticism, centering on those who have found and continue to find justification for violence in the name of their beliefs, including the militants who assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Although Amanpour concludes the three parts by saying the goal was not to judge these "warriors" but simply "to explain them," that's virtually impossible given the touchiness of the subject matter. Still, the reporting nicely mixes interviews with experts, leaders and true believers.

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Amanpour's `God's Warriors' Airs on CNN

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 22:05:49 -0700

Associated Press - By David Bauder - Aug. 20 (Review) - Christiane Amanpour's work on the documentary series ''God's Warriors'' took her directly to intersections of extreme religious and secular thinking. She watched, fascinated, as demonstrators in San Francisco accused teenagers in the fundamentalist Christian group BattleCry of intolerance in a clash of two cultures that will probably never understand each other. Understanding is what Amanpour is trying to promote in ''God's Warriors,'' which takes up six prime-time hours on CNN this week. The series on religious fundamentalism among Christians, Muslims and Jews airs in three parts, 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday through Thursday. Many people know only stereotypes of these true believers, even the ones in their own country, she said. Yet it's vital to be familiar with their thinking given the growing importance of these movements in the war on terrorism, the never-ending conflicts surrounding Israel and conservative politics in the United States. ''I'm not interested in drumming up false fears, or falsely allaying fears,'' CNN's chief international correspondent told The Associated Press by phone from France, where she added last-minute touches to the series. ''I just want people to know what's going on.'' Amanpour traveled extensively over eight months to work on the series. The trips to Amanpour's native Iran are most fascinating. She explored the ancient roots of the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, and talked with one of the country's most accomplished female politicians about how Muslim women are treated.

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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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