Life Without a Net
Archive for July 2009
Greta Christina: Children and Masturbation
Greta Christina has a great blog post relating a question she received from a reader. Read the whole post HERE. Here’s the gist of it. A woman wrote that she is having a problem with her 4 year old daughter masturbating. She doesn’t want to discourage her from doing so, but is worried about how … Continue reading
Francis Collins, God, and Me
I’m a little late getting to the party, but I feel like I have to comment on both Francis Collins’ nomination as the director of the NIH and the comments made by… um… notable commenters. Sam Harris’ recent article in the NY Times has created all the stir you’d expect. Christians are mad because they … Continue reading
Dating, Mating, Sex, and Reproduction Part II: What Men Want
It’s easy to joke about men’s taste in women. Women do it all the time. It’s the staple of most comedians’ repertoires. For all the jokes men tell about “dumb blondes” there are at least an equal number of jokes about “dumb jocks” or men who “think with the little head instead of the big … Continue reading
Dating, Mating, Sex, and Reproduction Part 1: What do Women Want?
Describing Humans The science of human nature lagged behind other hard sciences for most of the 20th century. There were several reasons for this. There was considerable resistance from the religious, who were still reeling from the widespread acceptance of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection. To them, quantifying human animals as if they … Continue reading
Bush’s Sex-Ed Fails Miserably
A recent article in the UK Guardian reports that the evangelical Christian approach to sex education — Abstinence Only — has been an abysmal failure. It’s not as if there wasn’t already evidence, but this latest report by the CDC has added a punctuation mark to the argument for comprehensive sex education with readily available … Continue reading
P.Z. Myers Proves Me Wrong
Ok. Not really. But it’s a catchy title, don’t you think? I have to admit, though, I had a small moment of panic when I checked Pharyngula today. Front and center is an entry entitled A Lesson in Atheist Philosophy. After my insistence that Atheism is Not a Philosophy, I had a momentary image of … Continue reading
Today’s Annoying Strawman
Speaking of misunderstanding atheism, I’d like to highlight the fallacy/strawman that’s annoying me the most right now. Theist: “You atheists are wrong for saying that atheism causes people to be good people.” (Or, causes societies to be less dysfunctional, or causes people to go to jail less, or whatever…) Let me say this clearly and … Continue reading
Misunderstanding Atheism
I recently received an email from a friend who, having read my articles on Science vs Religion and Atheism vs. Agnosticism, took issue with my position — not because he believes in God, but because he disagrees with my characterization of epistemology and my definition of agnosticism. On the one hand, his letter has led … Continue reading
Religion* is Not Compatible with Tolerance
VIDEO LINK ABC Middle East correspondent Anne Barker became the target of an angry mob of Orthodox Jews. The protest she was filming was happening because a local council decided to open a municipal carpark on Saturday. As she filmed, several protesters noticed her. I found myself herded against a brick wall as they kept … Continue reading
I’ve Got A Message From God
I’ve been thinking a little bit about communication from God. This is a little off the beaten path for me, but I’m going to tackle it anyway. Ordinarily, I try to stay away from arguing about things like how many angels can fit on the head of a frog’s penis, but this one seems a … Continue reading
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