Category Archives: Religion

Salman Rushdie, Two Quotes

Posted on Monday 28 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Yesterday’s (print) New York Times Book Review, the Inside the List commentary, discussing Salman Rushdie’s new novel. (Paul Di Filippo’s review, posted last Friday, was seen by Rushdie himself, who tweeted it to his 1M+ followers — you can see … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, Provisional Conclusions, Quote at Length, Religion | Comments Off on Salman Rushdie, Two Quotes

Ben Carson follow-up

Posted on Monday 28 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I wrapped up my previous post about Ben Carson a bit too hastily, because I do have a fairly solid provisional conclusion about why some people don’t “believe” in science and ascribe instead to faith or various subjectively attractive supernatural … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Religion and Science

Posted on Tuesday 8 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

The latest essay by Jeffrey Tayler at Salon, Bill O’Reilly’s nonsense “nihilism”: Now the Fox News host is even lying about God, addresses common misperceptions not just about the abstruse philosophical concept of nihilism, but about the general perception that … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Religion and Education; Religions around the world; deGrasse Tyson on the history of the universe

Posted on Tuesday 1 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

ABC News: latest example of how religious groups reject education, because, of course: NYC to Probe Secular Education at Jewish Schools. There was no science, no geography and no math past multiplication at the ultra-Orthodox Jewish school Chaim Weber attended. … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Religion and Education; Religions around the world; deGrasse Tyson on the history of the universe

Links and Comments: Hand-Picked Truths and Moral Progress

Posted on Wednesday 26 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

First, taking the high road, an op-ed by NYT science writer George Johnson, in yesterday’s NYT Science section: The Widening World of Hand-Picked Truths. (The title in print was “The Gradual Extinction of Accepted Truths”.) This speaks to the increasing … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: David Barton; Jeffrey Tayler

Posted on Tuesday 25 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Salon calls out phony baloney historian David Barton: Meet the Tea Party’s evangelical quack: David Barton is Glenn Beck’s favorite “historian” The larger issue here, of course, is about *narrative*: about how people need to adjust and retell history in … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Derek Muller and the Beauty of Nihilism

Posted on Tuesday 18 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Via, a lovely video by YouTube vlogger Derek Muller, who runs a channel called Veritasium — “a channel of science and engineering videos featuring experiments, expert interviews, cool demos, and discussions with the public about everything science”. “The first principle … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Derek Muller and the Beauty of Nihilism

Links and Comments: Autism and the Perception of Reality

Posted on Tuesday 18 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Two recent items about autism. First, at Alternet, Florida Principal Tries to Quietly Ban Book to Appease Christians, Sets off Sh*tstorm Instead, in which said principal responded to a “handful of Christian parents” who objected to the acclaimed 2003 novel … Continue reading →

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James Morrow, THE MADONNA AND THE STARSHIP

Posted on Monday 10 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

James Morrow’s short novel The Madonna and the Starship is one of a handful of short novels or long novellas released by San Francisco-based Tachyon Publications in the past couple years, others including two Nancy Kress titles that both won … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Religion, science fiction | Comments Off on James Morrow, THE MADONNA AND THE STARSHIP

Stephen King, REVIVAL

Posted on Friday 7 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I enjoy Stephen King’s novels, but he writes too many of them (one or two every year) for me to keep up with all of them, and so I tend to get to only every third or fourth book, whenever … Continue reading →

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