Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Final Burnee links for 2015

Unbelievable? Is God the best explanation for apparent design in nature? – Jonathan McLatchie & Cory Markum - Saturday 24th October 2015 02:30 pm
Anyone who listened to the Unbelievable? show about Intelligent Design might like to check out the discussion of it over on the Unbelievable? Facebook profile (not the Group), including some highly percipient contributions from previous Skepticule guest James Croft.



John Maddox Prize: Scientist who once claimed Prince Charles tried to silence him wins for 'standing up for science' | Science | News | The Independent
Deserved recognition, after persecution by the Prince of Woo.



Evolution and creationism; a valuable new resource | Primate's Progress
Critique of creationism from those closest to it.



East Herts Council's decision to stick with prayers leaves it wide open to accusations of prejudice | Herts & Essex Observer
Yet another example of why we need secularism in the UK.



On the tragic events in Paris: an attack on freedom and human dignity - British Humanist Association
Human dignity and value.



Conversion via Twitter - The New Yorker
Is this a damaged life? I believe so, but in my judgement (yes, I judge) such lives can rectify themselves. Listen to Skepticule Extra 012 for our 2011 conversation with Megan's parents: http://www.skepticule.co.uk/…/08/skepextra-012-20110812.html



National Secular Society - So called Lord’s Prayer ‘Ban’: It’s Winterval all over again
Stephen Evans congratulates the CofE on its cinema prayer "ban".



These Pranksters Read Bible Passages to People, Telling Them It Was the Qur’an; They Were Shocked
It's OK Christians, I'm sure these mischievous Dutch cherry-picked the extremely rare nasty bits....



Mr Green and Mr Grey will not be visiting us today — with Stevyn Colgan at Winchester Skeptics | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Mr Green and Mr Grey did not visit us at Winchester Skeptics last Thursday. But Stevyn Colgan did (and some of us got the inside scoop over a curry afterwards).



Good Dinosaur review - creation.com
Haha, this is disarmingly cute of those wacky creationists, getting all twisted up about a cartoon. Makes me wonder what goes on inside their heads (something, obviously).



Unbelievable? Is the UK's Christian heritage history? Peter Hitchens vs Terry Sanderson - Saturday 19th December 2015 02:30 pm
Peter Hitchens and Terry Sanderson on this week's Unbelievable? were ostensibly talking about the recent Woolf Commission Report on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, but the programme mostly consisted of Terry Sanderson repeatedly denying that he wants to eliminate all religion and Peter Hitchens repeatedly claiming that morality is impossible without Christianity, that everything good about Britain is due to its Christian heritage, and that secularists, humanists and atheists want to throw it all away.

Peter Hitchens doesn't really understand what secularism is, stubbornly conflating it with humanism and atheism — or possibly he does but deliberately misrepresents it in order to bolster a false premise. As Terry Sanderson pointed out, Peter Hitchens' view of human nature is inherently pessimistic, which makes him appear a bit misanthropic and sad.

In all, a frustrating and unedifying episode, demonstrating that while the British public would probably be more or less OK with secularism, secularists still have some way to go in persuading certain vocal sections of the media.



John Gray’s awful review of Dawkins’s “An Appetite for Wonder” | Center for Inquiry
Hey, that Dawkins fella wrote another book. Must be crap because ... well ... Dawkins!
It continues to amaze me that people criticise Richard Dawkins for writing stuff he hasn't written.



The Fallen of World War 2: A Data Visualization of War and Peace | Omeleto
Extraordinary and thought-provoking animation.

Peace.