Deutschland Unter Allah

Prominent German architect Joaquim Reinig believes that Hamburg should demolish fifty Christian churches and replace them with the minarets of mosques, so migrants won't be afraid of losing their identity.  Because Jews and Christians are theological brothers of Muslims with many similarities, they should have no fear of this.

Turks Can't Be Germans Too

Almost half of ethnic Turks living in Germany place the demands of their religion above the laws of the land in which they reside.  A third of those surveyed would rather live in the same society as Mohammed--almost a millennium and a half behind the rest of the world.  Nonetheless, a majority express a readiness to integrate, even while considering it impossible.  Germany will just have to change to make it possible.

Multipolarity is Orthodox

While the Catholic Pope Francis calls walls unchristian and washes the feet of migrants, the Russian Orthodox Church makes the ethical argument for sovereignty in the face of the financial and cultural pressures of transnational elites.

Soft and Hard Targets of Scepticism

When people like this get together, they become tribal. They pat each other on the back and tell each other how smart they are compared to those outside the tribe. But belonging to a tribe often makes you dumber.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Fucking Loves Science

‘Science’ here has very little to do with the scientific method itself; it means ontological physicalism, not believing in our Lord Jesus Christ, hating the spectrally stupid, and, more than anything, pretty pictures of nebulae and tree frogs.

Space-Awe For Health

The replicability of the overview effect, whereby seeing the Earth from space induces a life-changing sense of wonder, could lead to virtual reality awe machines.  Alternatively, this may just tell us that those who go to the heavens come back lighter.

JREF Narrows Challenge

The overabundance of dowsers and psychics hoping to be tested but unwilling to submit to the arbitrary, fluid, and unfairly weighted experimental protocols established by an ornery stage magician -- The Amazing Randi -- has forced the James Randi Educational Foundation to limit applicants for the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge to established psychics (sic) with a TV crew.

Believers are Dumb; Non-Believers are Evil

In the battle between conflicting paradigms of existence, two modes of experiencing truth are forced into competition by the efficient arrangement of human neural architecture.  Social and analytic thinking require different parts of the brain, a brain that will suppress the neuronal networks not useful for the problem at hand.

Empathy for others predicts spiritual beliefs, while also entailing low scores on critical thinking and mechanical reasoning.  Those more disposed to analytical thought are less likely to be religious, but more likely to express traits in common with psychopathy.  While religiosity correlates with empathic concern, non-religiosity correlates with self-centred impulsivity and coldheartedness.

It could be possible to engage both mental modules in tandem, but the percipients would have to be aware of the differing functions of the brain, and the manner in which cognition and emotion act at odds with one another in the interest of simplicity.

Religious in the Next Life

In America, less people are praying, professing a religion, or attending religious services than a generation ago, but more people believe there is something to experience beyond this mortal plane -- proving that theocrats, zealots, molesters, and mad gods don't have a monopoly on wonder.

First worldwide survey of religion and science

The study's results challenge longstanding assumptions about the science-faith interface. While it is commonly assumed that most scientists are atheists, the global perspective resulting from the study shows that this is simply not the case.

Saudi Arabia Sentences Poet to Death for “Renouncing Islam”

Isn’t it cute that one of the U.S. government’s closest allies has a “morality police.” Where are the Hollywood celebs when it comes to the Saudis? Crickets, as usual.

Does religion make kids less generous?

"A common-sense notion is that religiosity has a positive association with self-control and moral behaviors," Decety said. "This view is unfortunately so deeply embedded that individuals who are not religious can be considered morally suspect. In the United States, for instance, non-religious individuals have little chance to be elected to a high political office, and those who identify as agnostic and atheist are considered to be less trustworthy and more likely to be amoral or even immoral. Thus, it is generally admitted that religion shapes people's moral judgments and prosocial behavior, but the relation between religiosity and morality is actually a contentious one, and not always positive."

Was Charles Fort a Fortean?

"Today, we are fed the false choice of the extraterrestrial (meaning the extrasolar) hypothesis, but the length, depth and intimacy of this phenomenon suggest- to anyone willing to consider the implications of the evidence- that this phenomenon is a permanent condition of the planet and of our species. Fort wrote of this a century ago but no one seems to be able to face up to this yet. Certainly not most of the most visible Forteans."

From Christian faith to nihilistic void

"Commentators have mentioned the excessive submission ('love your enemy', 'turn the other cheek') and the guilt ('original sin'). However, despite all their imperfections and the corruption they've been subjected to, traditional religions still convey some important values: solidarity, charity, community, love. In this sense the materialistic, individualistic values that have been hammered into our minds are far worse than the religious ones that preceded them."

Is Richard Dawkins destroying his reputation?

"Dawkins might claim he only attacks the faith, not its individual believers, but in Sardar’s view his depiction of that faith denies its social and political complexity. 'What he is doing,' Sardar said, 'is creating a world that is more belligerent than the one we find ourselves in.'"

James Randi: debunking the king of the debunkers

"According to Sheldrake, his direct requests for data were twice ignored. After appealing to others at the JREF, Randi eventually wrote back, explaining that he couldn’t supply the data because it got washed away in a flood and that the dogs he tested are now in Mexico and their owner was 'tragically killed last year in a dreadful accident.'"

Reflections on the skeptic and atheist movements

"The Harris-Chomsky exchange, in my mind, summarizes a lot of what I find unpleasant about SAM: a community who worships celebrities who are often intellectual dilettantes, or at the very least have a tendency to talk about things of which they manifestly know very little; an ugly undertone of in-your-face confrontation and I'm-smarter-than-you-because-I-agree-with [insert your favorite New Atheist or equivalent]; loud proclamations about following reason and evidence wherever they may lead, accompanied by a degree of groupthink and unwillingness to change one's mind that is trumped only by religious fundamentalists; and, lately, a willingness to engage in public shaming and other vicious social networking practices any time someone says something that doesn't fit our own opinions, all the while of course claiming to protect 'free speech' at all costs."

Narrative and the New Nihilism

"This isn't an argument for that old time religion. I realize that we've reached the same point the Romans did when Jupiter no longer made sense. But I don't think Scientism is a viable replacement, especially given that it seems to be just a stop on the road to full-bore nihilism.

I realize we are one of those great turning points in history. But these are the times when empires fall. The media and the educational system - more totalitarian than any previous regime dreamed of being - has raised a generation with no loyalty to anything but its own reflection. To what end? I don't think that's truly been thought through."