Jerry Coyne, the evolutionary biologist, has a very good book review article on science and religion, “Seeing and Believing,” in The New Republic.

Our moral lives are rooted in our interests and our agreements. If we want to explain our moral lives, from gut-level moral perceptions to moral discourse intended to persuade others and ourselves, we need not go beyond very thisworldly interests and agreements. Hence morality is, broadly speaking, politics. If morality is politics, it is ugly. … A cynic’s definition of morality

Conservative Jewish writer and intelligent-design supporter David Klinghoffer writes on the Discover Institute’s ID blog, arguing that both Hitler and Stalin’s versions of totalitarianism were inspired by Darwin. Apparently, “The Soviet state was, then, an experiment in applied Darwinism.” Klinghoffer’s main theme is that without the restraint due to recognition of God’s higher laws, secular … Evolution leads to totalitarianism?

I’m not entirely certain why I object to supernatural beliefs. Sure, supernatural claims are, I think, invariably mistaken. But that alone is no reason to object. A false belief may still be socially useful, culturally meaningful, or commendable in a zillion different ways. Now, particular religions, including all the really popular ones, very often do … Supernatural? Ick.

The trilemma argument goes something like this: Jesus claimed to be God. Therefore, either Jesus was in fact God, or else he was a liar or a lunatic. But clearly Jesus was neither a liar, nor a lunatic, so he must in fact be God.C. S. Lewis presented the trilemma argument in a 1943 BBC … The Trilemma – How Old?

Skeptics have long argued that the human propensity to believe in gods is due to a pervasive and potent feature of human psychology–the tendency to project human form and activity. The Greek philosopher Xenophanes, maybe the first critic of religion, noted over 2500 years ago that people’s gods looked and acted like them. Ethiopians worshipped … Theism and the Genetic Fallacy

This one is devoted to Catholic-bashing and conspiracy thinking. On the other hand, lately I’ve been reading a fair bit of conservative Catholic philosophy. There’s an argument that conservative Catholics and Chick deserve each other.

I was just refereeing a paper that among other things, found a slight gender imbalance among Turkish (Muslim) college students surveyed about their acceptance of evolution. About a quarter overall accepted evolution, with female students being a few more percentage points in favor than the males. The paper also had a reference to an American … Gender in creationism

Vic Reppert sent me a link to his Dangerous Idea Blog where he discusses Sam Harris’s effort to debunk misconceptions about atheism: http://dangerousidea.blogspot.com/2008/12/sam-harris-on-myths-and-truths-about.html Vic’s comments are generally even-handed. He often takes heat from some of his nuttier correspondents for not being mean enough to us atheists, and I admire his commitment to fairness. I do … Vic Reppert on Misconceptions about Atheism