Atheism and Critical Thinking. This is a web series by a UK artist and secular humanist (QualiaSoup) discussing critical thinking, science, philosophy and the natural world. He discusses the following: Makers of supernatural claims have an inescapable burden of proof. Explaining the concept, refuting common objections and giving a number of reasons that atheists are sometimes 'fervent'. A look at some of the principles of critical thinking. Faith has no place demanding agreement or punishing disagreement. A look at some of the flawed thinking that prompts people who believe in certain non-scientific concepts to advise others who don't to be more open-minded. A poor understanding of probability leads many people to put forward supernatural explanation for events that are far more common than they think.
Watch the full documentary now (playlist - 1 hour, 32 minutes) Erik Davis - Is yoga a religion? I started practising yoga 12 years ago at a newly opened studio in San Francisco called the Yoga Tree. One day, I was coming out of a back bend — ustrasana , or camel pose, to be exact — when my bodymind abruptly and briefly fluttered into a tingling otherworld of uncanny and dizzying bliss. After the class, I asked the teacher about the experience, curious about how he’d parse my trippy little altered state. ‘Probably low blood pressure,’ he said. ‘Coming out of backbends can restrict your blood flow. You might want to watch that.’ I paused. ‘This wasn’t just a head rush. ‘Ah,’ he said, and launched into telling me about the nadis . At the time I was struck by the fluid ease with which my teacher switched from Western physiology to Eastern esotericism. One thing that Jois probably did not see coming, however, was the conscription of yoga into America’s culture wars.
Jois would have been particularly struck by the location of the battle. Though I suspect it’s wrong, I love this idea. Vatican Inc. - People & Power. Pope Benedict's resignation shocked the Catholic Church and left the Vatican in disarray. His successor will face many challenges, from recurrent sexual scandals to concerns about financial impropriety at the Vatican's own bank. In 2011, we investigated allegations that bank had been involved in money laundering and examined Pope Benedict's plans for cleaning up the secretive system. But with many of the reforms having fallen short and the Vatican's finances still under a cloud, the next pope will have to introduce new rules to clean up the financial system. At the heart of the Vatican, the sovereign papal state at the heart of Rome, is the Vatican's own bank, the Institute of Religious Works (IOR).
Until now the IOR has operated with few of the regulations that govern the activities of banks in the wider world, with sometimes disturbing results. Filmmakers Alessandro Righi and Emanuele Piano have been examining this latest chapter in the history of a notoriously secretive organisation. Mark Rowlands - Is there a right to believe? Here is a true story. A young philosophy lecturer — let us call him Shane — is charged with the task of introducing young minds to the wonders of philosophy. His course, a standard Introduction to Philosophy, contains a section on the philosophy of religion: the usual arguments-for-and-against-the-existence-of-God stuff. One of Shane’s students complains to Shane’s Dean that his cherished religious beliefs are being attacked. ‘I have a right to my beliefs,’ the student claims.
But what exactly does it mean to claim ‘a right to my beliefs’? This sort of right can’t be what Shane’s student is asserting. Instead, the student’s assertion seems to be what we might call a moral right to believe. We can have moral rights to different sorts of things — most obviously, to commodities (food, shelter), freedoms (of thought, expression, pursuit of happiness) and treatments (non-discrimination).
You have the right to be completely uninterested in views that you find stupid or abhorrent 20 May 2013. Www.humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/1bha-briefing-bishops-in-the-lords-2011-final.pdf. Creationism in school: Science quiz gets it totally wrong. This came out a while back, but I wanted to see if it could be verified before writing about it. Via Elise Andrew at “I F’ing Love Science” on Facebook, I see it has in fact been verified. According to Snopes.com, this is the first page of an actual “science” quiz given to fourth graders at a school in South Carolina.
Phil Plait writes Slate’s Bad Astronomy blog and is an astronomer, public speaker, science evangelizer, and author of Death From the Skies! Photo via reddit Once you’ve stopped screaming in rage and/or pounding your head against the desk, let’s discuss this. To start with, this photo is real, and was part of a quiz given at Blue Ridge Christian Academy, a private religious school.
My complaint is one of simple reality. And it’s not just wrong, it’s spectacularly wrong. Mind you, things can be wrong and still scientific. The thing that gets me is not the issue of legality here, nor necessarily who is promoting it. But this? Dinosaurs existed long before humans? Science Under Attack (BBC Horizon Documentary)
Vatican Inc. - People & Power. Mark Rowlands - Is there a right to believe? Creationism in school: Science quiz gets it totally wrong.