Exploring Science, Explaining Evolution, Exposing Creationism
by Paul Braterman I first learnt of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, which delivered its draft report on June 26, from a post in Hemant Mehta’s Friendly Atheist, where he describes it as a clown show and as “a blueprint to end church-state separation.” Mehta is far too optimistic. The commission’s report is much more than Continue reading Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission and the…
Wikipedia is good on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_Kingdom_local_elections . Reform got 26% of the vote, with Labour, Lib Dems, Conservatives, and Greens all within the range 16% – 18%. Not significant differences, but for what it’s worth, the highest of those was for the Greens. I watched a little bit of BBC News reporting. Absolutely nothing about Continue reading What really…
I discussed tactical voting in the 2024 general election here. My analysis stood up well to events, but much has changed since then. The most notable differences are the ability of Labour to half its support within 20 months of taking office, and the rise of Reform and the Greens to fill the vacuum left Continue reading Tactical voting Scotland, 2026
Biblical exegesis; how did Judas die? Answers in Genesis has the answer https://answersingenesis.org/contradictions-in-the-bible/how-did-judas-die/ Matthew 27:5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. But Acts 1:18 Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in Continue reading How…
Shalom Goldman, Middlebury College As the American and Israeli war with Iran unfolds, some American Christians are speaking of the conflict in biblical terms, mapping end-time prophecies on to current events in the Middle East. In a sermon on March 1, 2026, for example, John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel, described the war Continue reading As Iran war expands, some conservative…
A Harris poll once asked Americans “Do you believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution?” Others more eminent have commented on the answers; I would like to comment on the question.
The more open terrain favoured bipedalism, and bipedalism led on to a cascade of further changes. These, we are told, included loss of fur, bulbous breasts, female orgasm, monogamy, large penis size, cooperation, and exclusive homosexuality.
Righting America, a blog run by my friend Bill Trollinger at the University of Dayton, is “a scholarly conversation about topics discussed in [his book with Susan Trollinger] Righting America at the Creation Museum, including creationism, evangelicalism, fundamentalism, the culture wars, the Christian Right, and so forth.” It has just published its list of the Continue reading Brag time! Two of my…
Repost from the Grumpy Geophysicist. Short, brutal, and to the point, with important links, especially the Silencing Science tracker
December 20 was the 20th anniversary of the day on which Judge John Jones III handed down his decisive ruling that Intelligent Design was a version of creationism and as such could not be taught within the publicly funded US school system. Here I lay out why I think that the ruling is not necessarily secure, review what is at stake, and argue that it matters very much indeed.