There’s a popular (I’m tempted to say “standard”) secular liberal argument in support of a secular public sphere. Appeals to faith, the argument goes, might have purchase on the faithful, but not on those outside a particular sect. The Bible interpretation of a certain denomination or the pronouncements of popes and rebbes may legitimately persuade … Public Reason

Last weekend I presented at a local conference, with faculty members from various departments across campus talking about their work. Since I have been working on a paper (with Maarten Boudry) having to do with the limits of physics and how we might find a signature of a supernatural cause in data, I talked about … Resistance to evidence

Today’s my day for pointing out horrors from Turkey. (You know, the “secular,” “democratic” country whose moderate Islam US policymakers would like to see as an inspiration to other Muslims.) I’ve just read about a Turkish cartoonist being prosecuted, with the state demanding one year’s imprisonment for “insulting the religious values accepted by the people” … More nonsense from Turkey

This is almost untranslatable, but I’ll try. It’s the answer to a Turkish high school exam in a philosophy course, which made it to the Turkish media, and was apparently originally praised by Islamists as an example of a brave Muslim student standing up to an atheist teacher. The question is: “Prove to me that … High weirdness on a Turkish philosophy exam

I’ve occasionally complained about the lack of attention to secularity and nonbelief as an academic area of study. Fortunately, this appears to be changing. There are enough nonreligious people around to justify some social scientific interest. Enterprises such as The Non-religion and Secularity Research Network are up and running, and should produce some interesting stuff as … The Non-religion and Secularity Research Network

Last night, Mike Hout, creationist nuclear engineer from NASA, was on campus to explain why evolution was religion, not science. So I had to go and waste two hours of my life, naturally. The was nothing new about it. (I should stop hoping I will come across new and interesting forms of nonsense very often.) … Representativeness

The Harun Yahya operation, responsible for much Islamic creationist literature, has apparently decided to strike a blow against infidel bus ads. They have put up ads on London buses themselves: Your name Your email Subject Your message (optional)