Peter Higgs Criticises Evangelical Protestants

© The Guardian In a video interview with the Spanish paper El Mundo, Peter Higgs, the man after whom the Higgs Boson was named, has criticised that particle's epithet, 'The God Particle': It's inviting people to confuse theoretical physics with theology, and that's not a good thing to do. Indeed, it has nothing to do with god -...

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Gun Ownership and Gun Deaths

It seems intuitively obvious to me that deaths by firearm would increase according to availability of firearms, and the prevalence of gun crime in the United States appears to bear this out. But that is just one data point; do the statistics bear this out? Well I'm no statistician, but I can just about use Excel, so here's the developed...

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Queenie and Cam

After attending today's Cabinet meeting, the Queen performs her celebrated ventriloquism act on David Cameron. ...

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The Land of the Weak and the Home of the Cruel

O say can you see by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, Those broad smiles and bright eyes, through the madman's gunsight, In the schoolrooms once safe, were no longer beaming? And the barrels' red flare, shots shattering the air, Gave proof through the day that our vice was still there; O...

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The Pope is a Twitterer

Here are his first three tweets; the second I thought was rhetorical, but he answered it himself. Looks like talking to himself will be the holy order of the day. Needless to say, this has caused quite a hubbub. Here are some responses: Hmm, good point, well made. Pontifex needs some grooming advice. Well, Christians are...

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Steiner Update

Following on from my recent outline (inspired by Andy Lewis) of the issues with Steinerism now that some Steiner schools are to be funded by the taxpayer, here are a few more notes on the subject. Andy Lewis has done some more posts: What Every Parent Should Know About Steiner-Waldorf Schools Steiner Schools and Risk Factors...

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Craig's Communist Manifesto

William Lane Craig has produced some booklets for children: Ah, sweet, and delightfully illustrated. For forty years Dr. Craig has been drawing for his family pictures of the endearing characters Brown Bear, Red Goose, and their two children Charity and John. Now through the wonderful renderings by Marli Renee, these characters help...

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TV or not TV?

I attended the Healing powers of the mind? conference the other day, hosted by Stephen Law, which featured three fascinating talks on different sorts of healing, and a presentation by Andy Lewis, of Quackometer fame, on Anthroposophy and Spiritual Science. The story he told was intriguing, and links in with some of the things I said in...

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In Bad Faith

Gordon Wilson, of Solas Eric MacDonald has written an insightful piece on the religious motivations behind political stances. He notes there are a number of issues where politicians base their views on their religious beliefs rather than their expressed arguments. He cites Matthew Parris's article in yesterday's Times (“Religion does...

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Creationism: Conspiracy Road Trip

Here's Jerry Coyne discussing the practicalities of fitting all the world's animals onto a boat that is too large to remain stable. In this show, Conspiracy Road Trip, Andrew Maxwell takes conspiracists on a variety of subjects, such as 9/11 and UFOs, and challenges their beliefs. On this occasion, he took five British creationists (four Christian and one Muslim) to the States to look at some of the evidence and discuss...

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Craig's Odd Views on Animal Suffering

Stephen Law has drawn attention to the above video, by SkyDivePhil (good work), that presents the scientific evidence to debunk William Lane Craig's odd view of the animal kingdom: God has shielded almost the entire animal kingdom throughout its history from an awareness of being in pain! For those of us who are pet owners and lovers of animals, this is a tremendous comfort and a cause of praise to God for His goodness and...

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