There’s an interesting blog-debate between skeptic Steven Novella and intelligent design proponent Michael Egnor. Both Egnor and Novella come from a neuroscience background, though Novella’s materialism is by far the more scientifically mainstream view than Egnor’s dualism. I am entirely in Novella’s camp, I confess. The materialist position is continuous with the rest of science, … Materialists and dualists

I got interviewed by the Reasonable Doubts podcast while I was visiting CFI-Michigan last month. Part 1 of the interview, concerning Islam, is available online now. Reasonable Doubts seems to be an interesting program. It started last year, I hope it catches on.

Nonbelievers have to put up with a good deal of nonsense in places where fundamentalist Christians have a lot of influence. But then, there are fundamentalist Muslim environments, where never mind outright nonbelief, you can get your life ruined just for exploring more liberal interpretations of Islam. Afghanistan, which Western powers “liberated,” is at it … Another fundamentalist death sentence in Afghanistan

According to the Secular Student Alliance, MySpace.com has deleted what was the largest atheist grouping in the world. They say this was “due largely to complaints from people who find atheism offensive.” Interesting. I wonder what to make of this. Conservative Christians demonstrating that they can be as nasty as conservative Muslims? The very existence … No Atheists on MySpace

World population growth is in the 1-2% per year range. GDP growth is typically 2-3%; US economists consider about 3% the ideal. Most of what is decent about modern life depends on growth. From biology, we might expect a nasty, Darwinian competition for resources. In Richard Dawkins’s words, During the minute that it takes me … Growth

Anyone interested in current scientific approaches to explaining religion as a human phenomenon should take a look at The Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories, and Critiques, edited by Joseph Bulbulia et al. It has a lot of good stuff.

I recently read The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam’s Threat to the Enlightenment, by conservative commentator Lee Harris. It’s pretty worthless, except as evidence that anyone seems to feel free to write a book on Islam, without the benefit of research or experience. Some of Harris’s points are sane enough. Liberal Enlightenment-based politics is different. … The Suicide of Reason

A short while ago I asked, Why is skepticism primarily a male thing?, and speculated on how traditional gender roles inclined women toward religiosity. There’s an interesting post on the feminist blog Pandagon, called “Feminism helps collapse religion,” that addresses some of the same questions. The comments on it are also interesting. Still, there’s no … Women, feminism, and religion

On the Touchstone web site, there’s an article by Logan Paul Gage, “Staying Power”, that is an interesting current example of the argument that religion is socially beneficial. Presumably this means that religion deserves public support of some kind. Some of the article is basic conservative spin. But it’s not entirely so easy to dismiss. … Religion as a social good

A Turkish-language atheist web site has been rendered inaccessible to Turkish readers, due to a court order obtained by a leading Muslim creationist movement. I’ve received a plea for help, in the form of protests against Turkish institutions. The full text of the plea has also been posted on a blog page. Here are some … Atheist web site blocked in Turkey