Well-known novelist Richard Hoyt has written Twisted Script, a novel that satirizes both Evangelicalism and Islam. Apparently he’s had trouble getting it published through conventional means. (Surprise, surprise.) So he’s making it available very cheaply online. If anyone is interested, take a look. Your name Your email Subject Your message (optional)

Apparently, probable US presidential candidate Newt Gingrich just declared that “I have two grandchildren: Maggie is 11; Robert is 9,” Gingrich said at Cornerstone Church here. “I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they’re my age they will be in a secular … A secular atheist country dominated by radical Islamists

I highly recommend a review article by Scott Atran and Joseph Heinrich, “The Evolution of Religion: How Cognitive By-Products, Adaptive Learning Heuristics, Ritual Displays, and Group Competition Generate Deep Commitments to Prosocial Religions.” It’s a great summary of current thinking about scientific explanations of religion. (Thanks to Konrad Talmont-Kaminski) Sample quotation: In sum, religion, as an … “The Evolution of Religion”

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I just got back from Belgium, where I was on the PhD defense committee of Maarten Boudry, a philosopher interested in science and pseudoscience and science and religion issues. He’s already done some really good work and he put together an excellent thesis. I hope those of us interested in such matters will be hearing … Voas paper

Stuart Elliot pointed me to an interesting interview with Nidhal Guessoum online, concerning Islam and science. I met Guessoum last month at the AAAS meeting. Interestingly, I was responding to a question after my talk, and I gave Guessoum as an example. He turned out to be in the audience. (I had not met him … Guessoum interview

The atheist blogosphere (to the extent that there is such a thing) seems convulsed about the question about whether public advocacy of atheism etc. is a good idea—after all, maybe the public can’t handle it. (I’ll just mention a post by Jason Rosenhouse; follow the links back from him if you’re at all interested.) Everybody’s … Disturbing the public

After my presentation Friday at the AAAS meeting, I stopped by the reception of DoSER (AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion). It was interesting, but my impression was that this was a bunch of people trying to keep the peace by setting aside discordant voices: Dawkins-style nonbelievers and Discovery Institute-style believers. (In other words, … DoSER