DOCSLIB.ORG

The Secular Gazette 

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Secular Gazette  The Secular Gazette Supporting Science, Reason and the Separation of Church and State Issue #9 April 18, 2011 The Secular Gazette posts news on church and state issues, science news, skeptic news, and atheist articles and opinions. I’m happy to announce that our reader feedback has been one of great thanks to have the combination of topics included herein . It seems that those who hold Contents: reason in high regard and are aware of the religious dogma which infiltrates every party of humanity has a natural curiosity for issues included in this newsletter. I enjoy working on the Skeptics Secular Gazette – it’s somewhat of a second education, albeit one of confirmation bias. Corner As a reminder - the Freethought Alliance conference is happening on May 15 in Irvine, CA – in Science News just 28 days. An array of secular speakers will inspire, educate and entertain you through the entire day. Make sure and reserve your seat before May 15 and receive the lower price of $89. Church & State Bruce Gleason, Editor Skeptoid.com Your painless micro-donation of only 99 cents will keep this new publication coming to your inbox twice a month. Please subscribe at http://www.freethoughtalliance.org Legal News Born Atheist Skeptoid From Chuck From the Editor Evo Education Is Belief a ‗Default‘ position by humans? Bible Study By Bruce Gleason Backyard Skeptics March 6, 2011 Opinions It is said that humans have always believed in the supernatural to explain the unexplainable. Links Just 500 years ago we all would agree that God was responsible for earthquakes, Local Groups tsunamis and even rainbows. Now we know better. It‘s not that we were less intelligent than our forbearers, we just didn‘t have the But now we live in a world science to explain it any better. So, yes – the filled will science and technology. Is the default position has survived for over the ‗default‘ position of still believing still here? 150,000 years we‘ve been around as homo Some say it is. I would have also agreed up sapiens. until I read Phil Zuckerman‘s book ―Society Without God‘. Dr Zuckerman, a sociologist, 1 lives part time in Sweden and studies why living, all in correlation with how strongly they pious belief is so rare in all of the Scandinavian believe. countries. He writes that some citizens of these secular countries have a hard time admitting These statistics fly in the face of any religious that they believe in a God to their closest leader who spout their rhetoric that we need friends and family, something that atheist‘s religion to keep our country together. have the opposite in common here in America. Obviously the Scandinavian countries do fine If there is a default position, why is 85% or without one. Their countries do not fall apart more of these countries or atheist? The as the religionists say they will. answer lies in the secular culture and a non- believing family structure. There is no universal default position. We derive our beliefs from where we live and how If we look at how secular countries fair against we are raised: Monotheistic religions, multi- religious ones, we see that secular countries deity religions, God of the earth, sun and moon have less violence (Demark had only one or no God at all. murder in the entire year of 2010), better health, less abortions and teen pregnancy, a In a strange paradigmic twist – if one believes higher level of happiness and well being, in God, he is rewarding the most non-religious gender equality, infant mortality rates, lack of countries with a healthier society and punishing corruption, universal health care, free those countries who‘s citizens believe in a education, a high level of moral social order – supernatural supreme being. Maybe the all measurements of a healthy society are the United States could learn a lesson from those highest among secular countries. The reverse atheistic Scandinavian countries. ―In God We is true as well – those countries who are the Trust‖ has nothing to do with the well-being of most religious have the worst standard of our citizens. Skeptic’s Corner The 5 Worst Promoters of Nonsense Written by Sadie Crabtree Friday, 01 April 2011 00:00 Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.—The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) promotes critical thinking through grants for outstanding educators, scholarships to inspire skeptical students, and annual conferences showcasing the best of skeptical thought— but every April Fools Day, the organization honors the five worst offenders who are intentionally or unintentionally pulling the wool over the public's eyes. Since 1997, the JREF‘s annual Pigasus Awards have been bestowed on the most deserving charlatans, swindlers, psychics, pseudo-scientists, and faith healers—and on their credulous enablers, too. The awards are named for both the mythical flying horse Pegasus of Greek mythology and the highly improbable flying pig of popular cliche. These are this year‘s ―winners .‖ * The Scientist Pigasus Award goes to NASA Engineer Richard B. Hoover, who recently announced for the third time in 14 years that he had found evidence of microscopic life in meteorites. Along with the crackpot Journal of 2 Cosmology—a now-defunct publication founded in 2009 to publish articles advancing the scientifically unsupported idea that life began before the first stars formed and was spread throughout the early universe on meteors—Hoover pitched his warmed-over ideas to Fox News, an outlet not known for their attention to facts. Predictably, Fox News ran with the story, convincing many people that NASA had discovered extraterrestrial life. * The Funder Pigasus Award goes to CVS/pharmacy, for their work to support the manufacturers of scam ―homeopathic‖ medications who sell up to $870 million a year in quack remedies to U.S. consumers. Homeopathic remedies contain none of the active ingredient they claim, and homeopathy has been shown to be useless in randomized clinical trials. CVS/pharmacy sells these quack products in thousands of stores across the U.S., right alongside real medicine, with no warning to consumers. Instead of giving their customers the facts about homeopathy, CVS/pharmacy executives are cashing in themselves by offering their own store-brand of the popular homeopathic product oscillococcinum. Oscillococcinum is made by grinding up the liver of a duck, putting none of it onto tiny sugar pills—that‘s right, none of it—and then advertising the plain sugar pills as an effective treatment for flu symptoms. * The Media Pigasus Award goes to Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has done such a disservice to his TV viewers by promoting quack medical practices that he is now the first person to win a Pigasus two years in a row. Dr. Oz is a Harvard-educated cardiac physician who, through his syndicated TV show, has promoted faith healing, "energy medicine," and other quack theories that have no scientific basis. Oz has appeared on ABC News to give legitimacy to the claims of Brazilian faith healer ―John of God,‖ who uses old carnival tricks to take money from the seriously ill. He's hosted Ayurvedic guru Yogi Cameron on his show to promote nonsense "tongue examination" as a way of diagnosing health problems. This year, he really went off the deep end. In March 2011, Dr. Oz endorsed "psychic" huckster and past Pigasus winner John Edward, who pretends to talk to dead people. Oz even suggested that bereaved families should visit psychic mediums to receive (faked) messages from their dead relatives as a form of grief counseling. * The Performer Pigasus Award—this year for ―Best Comeback‖—goes to televangelist Peter Popoff. Popoff made millions in the 1980s by pretending to heal the sick and receive information about audience members directly from god. He went bankrupt in 1987 after JREF founder James Randi exposed him for using a secret earpiece to receive information about audience members from his wife. Now he‘s back to prey on victims of the economic recession. In paid infomercials on BET, Popoff offers ―supernatural debt relief‖ in exchange for offerings of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. This business is so lucrative that according to recent IRS documents, Popoff took in $23.5 million and paid himself and his immediate family more than $1 million in one year alone. * The Refusal to Face Reality Award goes to Andrew Wakefield, the researcher who launched the modern anti-vaccine panic with unfounded statements linking the MMR vaccine with autism that were not borne out by any research, even his own. In 2010, The Lancet retracted his paper on the MMR vaccine, and this year the British medical journal BMJ called Wakefield‘s paper an outright fraud, finding ―clear evidence of falsification of data‖ and that ―he sought to exploit the ensuing MMR scare for financial gain,‖ taking more than $674,000 from lawyers who intended to sue vaccine manufacturers. Yet Wakefield continues to ask the public to believe he is the victim. In a recent article in NaturalNews, Wakefield called the American Academy of Pediatrics and The Lancet―instruments of a state that I don't really want to be associated with.‖ The James Randi Educational Foundation exposes charlatans and helps people defend themselves from paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. The JREF offers a still-unclaimed million-dollar reward for anyone who can produce evidence of paranormal abilities under controlled conditions. Through scholarships, workshops, and innovative resources for educators, the JREF works to inspire this investigative spirit in a new generation of critical thinkers. | www.randi.org 3 Science News (sciencenews.org). XENON100 fails to find dark matter Experiment puts new indicates whether a particle of dark matter has been limits on properties of found.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • "Goodness Without Godness", with Professor Phil Zuckerman
    THE SECULAR CIRCULAR Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara www.SBHumanists.org MAY 2011 May Program: So You Think You Know About Street Gangs? A Community Forum with JP Herrada of Palabra after-school programs. Topics covered to include: . The current gang situation: growing, steady, or media-hyped? . Why youths become involved in street gangs, and an insider's report on their activities . Intervention, education and alternatives to gang life . The effectiveness, fairness and constitutionality of the recent Gang Injunction . Breaking away from gang membership and into productive adulthood Juan Pablo "JP" Herrada was born in Mexico and migrated to the United States with his family at 6 years old, although he continued to live half-time in his birth town. He joined a Goleta neighborhood gang at 12 years old, and later dropped out of school to work and support his family, while trying for a G.E.D. By age 18, JP had started his own family, but continued in and out of gang life, eventually generating a criminal record which impacted his ability to raise his children. This motivated him to turn his life around, so he and his brother JC formed a nonprofit called Palabra, referring to "one's word as a man, one's honor". Now all local High Schools and some Junior Highs have a Palabra program. The Herrada brothers meet with different at-risk groups in Santa Barbara and Goleta twice a week, both at schools and outside them. The program's curriculum has group discussions every week, from gang violence and drugs, to law enforcement and knowing one's rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Gardner on Exorcisms • Creationism and 'Rare Earth' • When Scientific Evidence Is the Enemy
    GARDNER ON EXORCISMS • CREATIONISM AND 'RARE EARTH' • WHEN SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE IS THE ENEMY THE MAGAZINE FOR SCIENCE AND REASON Volume 25, No. 6 • November/December 2001 THE COMMITTEE FOR THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF CLAIMS OF THE PARANORMAL AT THE CENTER FOR INQUIRY-INTERNATIONAL (ADJACENT TO THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO) • AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION Paul Kurtz, Chairman; professor emeritus of philosophy. State University of New York at Buffalo Barry Karr, Executive Director Joe Nickell, Research Fellow Massimo Polidoro, Research Fellow Richard Wiseman, Research Fellow Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director FELLOWS James E. Alcock,* psychologist. York Univ., Susan Haack, Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts Loren Pankratz, psychologist. Oregon Health Toronto and Sciences, prof, of philosophy. University Sciences Univ. Jerry Andrus, magician and inventor, Albany, of Miami John Paulos, mathematician. Temple Univ. Oregon C. E. M. Hansel, psychologist. Univ. of Wales Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist. MIT Marcia Angell, M.D.. former editor-in-chief, Al Hibbs, scientist. Jet Propulsion Laboratory Massimo Polidoro, science writer, author, New England Journal of Medicine Douglas Hofstadter, professor of human under­ executive director CICAP, Italy Robert A. Baker, psychologist. Univ. of standing and cognitive science, Indiana Univ. Milton Rosenberg, psychologist, Univ. of Kentucky Gerald Holton, Mallinckrodt Professor of Chicago Stephen Barrett M.D., psychiatrist, author, Physics and professor of history of science. Wallace Sampson, M.D., clinical professor of consumer advocate, Allentown, Pa. Harvard Univ. Barry Beyerstein,* biopsychologist. Simon Ray Hyman,* psychologist. Univ. of Oregon medicine, Stanford Univ., editor. Scientific Fraser Univ.. Vancouver, B.C., Canada Leon Jaroff, sciences editor emeritus, Time Review of Alternative Medicine Irving Biederman, psychologist Univ.
    [Show full text]
  • Joseph Blankholm Department of Religious Studies [email protected] HSSB 3049, University of California 612.226.8712 Santa Barbara, CA 93106
    Joseph Blankholm Department of Religious Studies [email protected] HSSB 3049, University of California 612.226.8712 Santa Barbara, CA 93106 Positions 2015 — present Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies (and History, by courtesy) University of California, Santa Barbara 2013 — 2015 Preceptor, Literature Humanities in the Core Curriculum Columbia University Education 2008 — 2015 Ph.D., Religion, Columbia University, May 2015 Dissertation: Making the American Secular: An Ethnographic Study of Organized Nonbelievers and Secular Activists in the United States 2010 — 2011 M.Phil., Religion, Columbia University 2008 — 2010 M.A., Religion, Columbia University 2006 — 2008 M.A., Cultural Anthropology, University of California, Irvine 2000 — 2005 B.A., summa cum laude, Comp. Literature, University of Minnesota Peer-Reviewed Chapters and Articles Blankholm, Joseph. The Secular Paradox: Organized Nonbelief in the United States. Manuscript in progress. ———. “Remembering Marx’s Secularism.” Forthcoming in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Part of a forum I co-organized on the question, “What Comes After the Critique of Secularism?” ———. “Self-Critique and Moral Ground: Saba Mahmood’s Contribution to Remaking Secularism and the Study of Religion.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 87:4 (December 2019): 941–954. ———. “Secularism and Secular People.” Public Culture 30:2 (May 2018): 245-268. ———. “The Limits of Religious Indifference.” In Religious Indifference: New Perspectives From Studies on Secularization and Nonreligion, edited by Johannes Quack and Cora Schuh. (New York: Springer, 2017), 239-258. Blankholm CV 1 ———. “Secularism, Humanism, and Secular Humanism: Terms and Institutions.” In The Oxford Handbook of Secularism, edited by Phil Zuckerman and John Shook (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 689-705.
    [Show full text]
  • Liberal Arts, Religion, and Irreligion: a Cross- Sectional Analysis of Student Religiosity and Secularity at the Claremont Colleges Jennie Frishtick Scripps College
    Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Scripps Senior Theses Scripps Student Scholarship 2016 Liberal Arts, Religion, and Irreligion: A Cross- Sectional Analysis of Student Religiosity and Secularity at the Claremont Colleges Jennie Frishtick Scripps College Recommended Citation Frishtick, Jennie, "Liberal Arts, Religion, and Irreligion: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Student Religiosity and Secularity at the Claremont Colleges" (2016). Scripps Senior Theses. Paper 834. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/834 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Scripps Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scripps Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LIBERAL ARTS, RELIGION, AND IRRELIGION: A CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF STUDENT RELIGIOSITY AND SECULARITY AT THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES by JENNIE FRISHTICK SUBMITTED TO SCRIPPS COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS PROFESSOR PHIL ZUCKERMAN, SOCIOLOGY, PITZER COLLEGE PROFESSOR ANDREW JACOBS, RELIGIOUS STUDIES, SCRIPPS COLLEGE KARA PLACEK, SOCIOLOGY, PITZER COLLEGE APRIL 22, 2016 Liberal Arts, Religion, and Irreligion: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Student Religiosity and Secularity at the Claremont Colleges ABSTRACT This study measures levels of religiosity and secularity among students at the Claremont Colleges, including students’ (ir)religious affiliations, beliefs, and practices. The religious landscape in the U.S. is shifting in multiple ways, and young adults feature prominently in these changes. Using data from an online survey of students, the present study addresses the following research questions: What is the (ir)religious makeup of the student body at the Claremont Colleges? Do the observed patterns mirror those of the general U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • With Professor Phil Zuckerman
    4 The Secular Circular Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara www.SBHumanists.org FEBRUARY 2015 February Program: Jennifer Ouellette Me, Myself and Why: What Science Has to Say About Who We Are and How We Got That Way As diverse as people appear to be, all of our genes and brains are nearly identical. In Me, Myself, and Why, Jennifer Ouellette dives into the miniscule ranges of variation to understand just what sets us apart. She draws on cutting edge research in genetics, neuroscience, and psychology enlivened as always with her signature sense of humor-to explore the mysteries of human identity and behavior. Jennifer is the author of four popular science books, including Me, Myself and Why: Searching for the Science of Self (2014). She specializes in physics and many related topics, with particular emphasis on how science intersects with popular culture, as well as science communication and outreach. Ouellette is the former director of the Science & Entertainment Exchange, an initiative of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) designed to connect entertainment industry professionals with top scientists and engineers to help the creators of television shows, films, video games, and other productions incorporate science into their work. She is also a prolific blogger, maintaining a blog at Scientific American called Cocktail Party Physics, where she and other female contributors chat about the latest science news. When: Saturday, February 21st, 2015 Where: Patio Room, Vista del Monte (Park ONLY in spaces marked "VDM".) Time: Meet at 2:30pm for socializing and light refreshments provided by HSSB. Program begins at 3:00 pm Cost: $2 members/$5 non-members Dinner: Vista del Monte.
    [Show full text]
  • "Goodness Without Godness", with Professor Phil Zuckerman
    THE SECULAR CIRCULAR Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara www.SBHumanists.org NOVEMBER 2012 November Program: "A Tour of the Observable Universe" Chuck McPartlin Chuck McPartlin has been showing the sky to people in Santa Barbara for about thirty years, and just received the 2012 Las Cumbres Amateur Outreach award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, sort of an amateur astronomy Nobel Prize. As Outreach Coordinator for the SB Astronomical Unit, the local amateur astronomy club, his group brings telescopes and astronomy presentations to schools, campgrounds, parks, hotels, elderhostels, and shopping centers, reaching over 10,000 people a year. In real life he is a computer nerd, working for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. Chuck will lead us on a tour of our solar system, starting at the earth, hitting the Sun, the major planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets. We'll find out what happened to Pluto, and why. Then we'll venture out of our solar system, talking about stars, constellations, and interesting deep sky objects visible in amateur telescopes, both within and beyond our home galaxy. We'll end up at the Cosmic Microwave Background, the surface of the fireball of the Big Bang, at the edge of the observable Universe. Date: November 17, 2012 Location: Patio Room at Vista del Monte. (Park ONLY in spaces marked "VDM".) Time: Doors open at 2:30pm. Program begins at 3:00 pm Cost: $2 members/$5 non-members Dinner: Vista del Monte. $22. RSVP [email protected] or 967-7911. For more details, see Judy Fontana's article below.
    [Show full text]
  • The English Translation
    [Article from ‘Der Spiegel’ magazine, issue 30/2011, pages 106-107] Evangelical church in Brandenburg, German: Mainstream culture of non-denominational people Society Non-believing Trendsetters How do non-believers differ from believers? Atheists are educated, tolerant people, who know more about God, even though they do not believe in Him themselves. Barry Kosmin is a market researcher of a somewhat different kind. The customers he researches are consumers of companies with names such as Lifechurch.tv or World Overcomers Christian Church™. The sociologist analyses souvenir shops, television programmes and church services offered by US churches. However, above all Kosmin researches those groups of customers who are on strike and are not consumers of these religious products: the atheists. “The non-denominational group is the fastest growing segment on the world view market”, says Kosmin. “Their numbers have doubled to 15 percent over the past 20 years in the USA.” The head of the “Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture” at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut belongs to the few scientists who have dedicated themselves to the study of secularism. Secularism includes groups such as atheists, agnostics, humanists and those who are religiously indifferent. Worldwide, religionless people account for 15 percent of people (1 billion), in third place after Christians (around 2.3 billion people) and Muslims (1.6 billion people). However, surprisingly little is known about them: who are they, and what do they believe? [Article from ‘Der Spiegel’ magazine, issue 30/2011, pages 106-107] “Sometimes I feel like Christopher Columbus on an expedition to an unknown continent”, says Kosmin.
    [Show full text]
  • The Social Science of Secularity (Cover Story) Web Version 1/6/2011 (8Th Proof)
    Free Inquiry • February/March 2012 1 Pasquale, FL — The Social Science of Secularity (Cover Story) Web Version 1/6/2011 (8th Proof) BRIDGING THE GULF: AT LAST, SOCIOLOGY MEASURES SECULARITY The Social Science of Secularity Frank L. Pasquale omething novel happened during this century’s first decade: Social scientists (re)discovered the nonreligious. Call it “reach - Sing critical mass” or a “tipping point,” but suddenly quite a few researchers in quite a few places began to focus their attention directly on the nonreligious—not just as a foil for better understand - ing the religious but as a subject of inquiry in their own right. There have, of course, been studies in the past few decades of the phenomenon of religious doubt and populations with labels such as “nones” (those who profess no named religious affiliation or identity), “apostates” (an unfortunate term for those who exit or abandon religion), the “unchurched,” and the “unreligious,” among others. But apart from a few notable exceptions, much of this work has aimed to learn why religion was failing these people rather than learning who they are, how they think, how diverse they are, what they do, and why. Four decades ago, “unbelief” and “irreligion” were briefly ex - plored as coherent fields of study, but these initiatives were regret - tably short-lived. The focus on unbelief was an initiative of— mirabile dictu —the Vatican! The Baby Boom generation was experimenting with various beliefs—and with unbelief. It seemed to most social scientists at the time that the Enlightenment vision of religion’s decline was well under way, at least in the Euro- American sphere.
    [Show full text]
  • Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns1
    Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns1 Phil Zuckerman From the Cambridge Companion to Atheism, edited by Michael Martin, University of Cambridge Press, 2007 Determining what percentage of a given society believes in God – or doesn’t -- is fraught with methodological hurdles. First: low response rates; most people do not respond to surveys, and response rates of lower than 50% cannot be generalized to the wider society. Secondly: non-random samples. If the sample is not randomly selected – i.e., every member of the given population has an equal chance of being chosen -- it is non-generalizable. Third: adverse political/cultural climates. In totalitarian countries where atheism is governmentally promulgated and risks are present for citizens viewed as disloyal, individuals will be reluctant to admit that they do believe in God. Conversely, in societies where religion is enforced by the government and risks are present for citizens viewed as non-believers, individuals will be reluctant to admit that they don’t believe in Allah, regardless of whether anonymity is “guaranteed.” Even in democratic societies without governmental coercion, individuals often feel that it is necessary to say that are religious, simply because such a response is socially desirable or culturally appropriate. For example, the 1 Thanks for help with this chapter to: Steve Bruce, Russ Dalton, Paul Froese, Ronald Inglehart, Charles Lachman, Peter Nardi, and Marvin Zuckerman. 1 designation “atheist” is stigmatized in many societies; even when people directly claim to not believe in God, they still eschew the self-designation of “atheist.” Greeley (2003) found that 41% of Norwegians, 48% of the French, and 54% of Czechs claimed to not believe in God, but only 10%, 19%, and 20% of those respondents self-identified as “atheist,” respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • Contrasting Irreligious Orientations Atheism and Secularity in the USA and Scandinavia
    PHIL ZUCKERMAN Contrasting irreligious orientations Atheism and secularity in the USA and Scandinavia theism and secularity are not static, fixed orien- and ‘hard’ seculars. Chaeyoon Lim et al. (2010) have tations. Rather, atheism and secularity are con- added ‘liminals’ – those ‘betwixt and between’ re- Atoured, malleable, and deeply shaped by cul- ligiosity and secularity – as a distinctive type, rather tural and social forces. A clear example of the degree similar to those people exhibiting the ‘fuzzy fidelity’ to which atheism and secularity can be lived and ex- discussed by David Voas (2008), and further elabor- pressed quite differently in different socio-cultural lo- ated by Ingrid Storm (2009). Peter Lüchau (2010) cations is revealed by comparing and contrasting the distinguishes between ‘atheists’ and the ‘a-religious’ ways in which they are manifested in the United States – the former actively care about religion and seek to and Scandinavia. curb its influence, while the latter simply do not care about religion one way or another. And finally, N. J. Demerath (2001) and Phil Zuckerman (2008) have Introduction discussed the non-believing, ‘culturally religious’ – In his groundbreaking book Toward a Sociology of Ir- those who identify with a religion, even while simul- religion (1971), Colin Campbell spoke of a ‘range of taneously rejecting its actual creeds and supernatural irreligiousness’ (p. 35), thereby alerting scholars to the assumptions, an orientation very similar to what Ina mistake of speculating or hypothesising about a fixed, Rosen (2009) calls ‘religion-as-heritage’. In short, the ideal, or ‘pure’ type of secularity. Echoing this senti- diversity of secular orientations is significant, and this ment, Paul Pruyser (1974: 195) has acknowledged a significance is becoming more and more recognised ‘complexity of unbelief’, suggesting that unbelief may (Pasquale, Galen & Zucker man 2013).
    [Show full text]
  • The Irrational Ape: Why Flawed Logic Puts Us All at Risk and How Critical
    To Mathilde, Danny and Laura – for the inspiration, the ideas and the encouragement CONTENTS Prologue Introduction: From Absurdity to Atrocity SECTION I: Without Reason 1. An Indecent Proposition 2. Stripped to the Absurd 3. It Does Not Follow SECTION II: The Pure and Simple Truth? 4. The Devil in the Details 5. Smoke without Fire 6. The Nature of the Beast 7. Bait and Switch SECTION III: Trapdoors of the Mind 8. Schrödinger’s Bin Laden 9. The Memory Remains 10. Daggers of the Mind 11. Great Expectations SECTION IV: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics 12. Chance Encounters 13. Sifting the Signal 14. Size Matters SECTION V: News of the World 15. Skewing the Balance 16. Tales from the Echo Chamber 17. The Outrage Machine 18. Bad Influencers SECTION VI: The Candle in the Dark 19. The Edge of Science 20. Rise of the Cargo Cult 21. A Healthy Scepticism Epilogue Acknowledgements About the Author References and Further Reading Index PROLOGUE As heroes go, Stanislav Petrov is hardly a household name – it does not leap from our lips, nor does it adorn monuments. Yet every one of us alive probably owes our existence to this obscure Russian. Why? Well, on 26 September 1983, Petrov was a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Defence Forces. He was serving as the chief officer on duty at Serpukhov-15, a bunker just outside Moscow. This facility was home to OKO, the Soviet missile early warning system – Russia’s eye on its enemy. These were fraught times. The Cold War was at its zenith, and deployment of US nuclear-missile systems across Europe had enraged the Kremlin.
    [Show full text]
  • Explaining Nonreligion and Secularity in the U.S. and Beyond
    Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network 3RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Explaining Nonreligion and Secularity in the U.S. and Beyond November 19-20, 2014 Pitzer College Claremont, CA NYU PRESS “SILVER” WINNER OF THE 2008 FOREWORD MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD, RELIGION CATEGORY Changing Faith The Post-Secular in Question The Dynamics and Consequences of Religion in Contemporary Society Society without God Americans’ Shifting Religious Identities EDITED BY PHILIP GORSKI, What the Least Religious Nations DARREN SHERKAT DAVID KYUMAN KIM, JOHN TORPEY Can Tell Us About Contentment “A fascinating glimpse into the changing reli- AND JONATHAN VAN ANTWERPEN PHIL ZUCKERMAN gious landscape in the U.S.” “An important contribution to the vast litera- “This glimpse of an alternate, secular reality is Jennifer Glass, ture on secularization and religion in contem- at once humbling and profoundly inspiring— University of Texas - Austin porary society.” and it comes not a moment too soon....Truly $24.00 • PAPER Sociology of Religion indispensable.” $55.00 • CLOTH Sam Harris, The New York Times Religious and Secular Co-published with the Social Science Research Council $23.00 • PAPER Reform in America Islam and Secularism The Atheist Ideas, Beliefs, and Social Change EDITED BY DAVID K. ADAMS Madalyn Murray O’Hair in the Middle East AND CORNELIUS A. VAN MINNEN EDITED BY JOHN L. ESPOSITO BRYAN F. LE BEAU “Should be of interest to anyone seeking a AND AZZAM TAMIMI “Belongs on the short shelf of books on fresh perspective on American history.” American atheism, church-state relations, Examines the origins and growth of the and school prayer.” Journal of the Academy movement to abolish the secularizing reforms for Evangelism of the past century by creating a political order The Journal of American History $25.00 • PAPER guided by Shariah law.
    [Show full text]