There’s an interesting documentary on Google, Turning Muslim in Texas, about a number of Southern Baptists converting to Islam, often because they don’t think Christianity is conservative enough. It’s one of those things that feed my suspicion that moral critiques of conservative religion have an element of futility about them. The submission, the strictness, the … Turning Muslim in Texas

I received a phone call from Declan Heavey of the “Network of those Abused by Church” yesterday. He asked my help in publicizing some legal troubles NAC has ran into. (He has been contacting a number of secular bloggers etc., I understand.) Being too far away from Britain, I have no way to know much … Network of those Abused by Church

Teenagers abandoning evangelical churches in droves? So say many church leaders according to the New York Times. For those outside the subscription wall, here’s the money quote: “I’m looking at the data,” said Ron Luce, who organized the meetings and founded Teen Mania, a 20-year-old youth ministry, “and we’ve become post-Christian America, like post-Christian Europe. … Teen Spirit

From P.Z. Myers at Pharyngula: For more context and discussion of this list (including suggested additions and criticism) visit Pharyngula. UPDATE (October 4, 2006): The slides for the talk in which this list was given–about why scientists should oppose religion–may be found here.

There’s an interesting review, by Logan Paul Gage, of Francis S. Collins’s book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. In a backhanded way, Gage makes a good point: Collins is very eager to find design in physical cosmology (not his expertise), but soundly rejects a similar form of reasoning in biology … Searching for Design

Jefferson Public Radio did an interview with me last August, in connection with my appearance at the Jefferson Center. It was on science and religion, naturally. It was a very nice interview, so I’ve put it online.

Normally, I don’t take faith—of the blind faith, leap in the dark, I have a feeling down deep it’s true varieties—too seriously. It’s intellectually worthless, and too transparently an attempt to protect some claims from criticism. That doesn’t, however, mean that the faith-attitude isn’t widespread and effective. This past week I encountered a lot of … Faith in faith

See here.

Let me recommend Jacques Berlinerblau’s The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously to readers of the Secular Outpost. It’s a damn good book, and raises questions that nonbelievers and secularists will want to wrestle with. My primary interest lies in the science and religion area — which, in practice, usually becomes natural science … The Secular Bible

Matt Young has a report on Panda’s Thumb about the Jefferson Center’s Summer Institute this year — an event where I appeared as the “skeptical scientist” representative. It was fun, and I was impressed with the Jefferson Center. I’d urge anyone interested in a humanistic viewpoint that’s about more than religion-bashing to get involved, especially … Jefferson Center Summer Institute