Anyone getting deeply involved in debates over creationism and intelligent design eventually runs across the name of Howard Van Till, a physicist with a Calvinist Christian background who taught at Calvin College. Having him on board as a defender of science has been invaluable, especially as an example of someone who seemed theologically conservative but … Howard Van Till

Physicist Vic Stenger’s God: The Failed Hypothesis—How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist is now available. It should interest most Secular Outpost readers, especially those who like to read about science and religion issues. I wrote one of the jacket blurbs for it: “Both casual readers interested in what science has to say about … God: The Failed Hypothesis

At the Overcoming Bias blog, Robin Hanson raises the question of how to interpret the fact that more of the U.S. public believes in God than university professors do, more of whom in turn believe in God than their counterparts at elite universities. He offers the following as possibly relevant considerations: Hanson suggests that factors … Godless Professors

OK, time for a quick laugh. Eddie Tabash led me to MrDeity.com, and I’m passing the meme on… Your name Your email Subject Your message (optional)

I just got back from a conference on “The Evolution of Religion,” largely devoted to discussing evolutionary and cognitive science-based explanations of human religiosity. There’s some fascinating work being done, and I expect this topic will be of increasing interest to secular people as the field continues to mature. As I pointed out in my … Do the more aggressive skeptics misunderstand religion?

As if covering up molestation by its priests were not bad enough, Trent Stamp of Charity Navigator points out that, according to researchers at Villanova University, 85% of Roman Catholic dioceses have discovered embezzlement in the last five years, and 11% report that more than $500,000 was taken. As Stamp suggests, if this were reported … Embezzlement in the Catholic Church

Gene Expression has a nice ten-question interview with Heather MacDonald, John M. Olin Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, about her article in The American Conservative in August of last year, in which she revealed her atheism. She wasn’t in the closet about her conservatism. Hat tip to Catallarchy. Your name Your email Subject Your message … Interview with Heather MacDonald on coming out as an atheist conservative

I’ll be off to an International Conference on the Evolution of Religion later this week. It should be interesting. The speakers are largely psychologists, anthropologists, cognitive scientists etc. with a foot in evolutionary biology, plus some biologists and religious studies types. Then there’s a smaller array of theologians and philosophers who’ll comment on the first … Evolution of Religion