Sir Terry Pratchett, The Daily Mail (U.K.), June 21, 2008 (via nonplussedbyreligion)
Terry Pratchett, witty as ever.
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Why We Need College Degrees More than we Need Faith
By Lawrence M. Krauss
Rick Santorum has made a number of outlandish statements recently during this presidential campaign that appear derive from his religious worldview, ranging from the claim that contraception is ‘harmful to women’ to the claim that birth control encourages more abortions. But while his criticism of President Obama’s encouragement of Americans to attend college, calling such aspirations snobby, was also off the mark-those with a college degree, for example, have been shown to vastly greater earning potential and job opportunities than those without one-his claim that many students who enter college with a ‘faith commitment’ leave college without one may in fact have some basis in reality. However, the conclusion he draws from this claim is precisely wrong.
“If it is true that those who are more educated have a greater tendency to question their religious faith, shouldn’t we consider that this might be telling us more about religious faith than about how harmful getting a college degree can be?”
This is a great article. Click through to read the rest of it.
(via fuckyeahtopher)
“The government isn’t telling religious people do things they think are immoral. They are mandating that professional service providers must do the generally accepted right thing so that society can build a level of trust and expectation around these services.
They’re not telling Catholics they have to dispense birth control, treat gays equally, and so forth. They’re telling pharmacists, and health care providers, and adoption agencies that they have to do it. If being Catholic is more important to you than being a competent professional, then quit. You’re free to do so. There are a lot of other jobs out there where you can adhere to your rigid, antiquated beliefs without screwing up other people’s lives.”
Goodbye, Christopher Hitchens. A great loss of a great mind.
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The Second City’s excellent anti-Rick Perry ad.
Meanwhile, the real ad has, as of this writing, 171,134 dislikes and has been flagged for hate or abusive speech, as it should the fuck be.
“God-fearing vagina penetrators.” omg.
(via cocknbull)
Instead of focusing on the scientific inadequacy of theistic arguments, Kitcher critically examines the spiritual experiences underlying religious belief, particularly noting that they depend on specific and contingent social and cultural conditions. Your religious beliefs typically depend on the community in which you were raised or live. The spiritual experiences of people in ancient Greece, medieval Japan or 21st-century Saudi Arabia do not lead to belief in Christianity. It seems, therefore, that religious belief very likely tracks not truth but social conditioning. This “cultural relativism” argument is an old one, but Kitcher shows that it is still a serious challenge. (He is also refreshingly aware that he needs to show why a similar argument does not apply to his own position, since atheistic beliefs are themselves often a result of the community in which one lives.)
Rebecca. 23. New York City. Nerd. Feminist. Comedy fan. Proud alum of Phroth Humor Magazine. I used to work at BuzzFeed and Driver Digital but now I work for the internet.
