Found 5665 Result(s)
The Dead Speak!
One of the things I love most about Richard Dawkins’s books is that I am guaranteed to learn a heap of new things—even on subjects I already know a lot about. The Genetic Book of the Dead: A Darwinian Reverie is no exception. It is a lovely and far-reaching tour through life’s diversity, complexity, and …
This article is available for free to all.The Science of Evolution as a Guide to Understanding Our Human Nature
Science and religion provide two different paths for understanding human nature. Science relies on empirical evidence and reasoning, religion on faith. At the core of all religions lies faith—a profound belief that transcends the need for tangible evidence. Martin Luther captured this tension well, stating, “Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has.” While this …
CFI’s Flagship Educational Program Celebrates Ten-Year Anniversary
Ten years ago, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science launched the very first workshop of the Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES) in the state of Florida. Like every U.S. state, Florida’s official state science standards include standards for the teaching of evolution. However, like every U.S. state, Florida has a long history …
This article is available for free to all.The Body Is Not Sacred
Anthropology used to be at the forefront of fighting the intrusion of religion into classrooms and other academic settings.1 But now, it is embracing religious concepts of sacredness, spirituality, and human souls to censor and hinder scientific discoveries and dissemination of knowledge from their conferences, museums, classrooms, and labs. Although the concepts are religious, the main …
Henry Pratt Fairchild, Immigration, and the Legacy of Scientific Racism in the United States
Henry Pratt Fairchild (1880–1956, PhD, Yale University) spent the bulk of his academic career at New York University, where he was on the faculty for twenty-six years and served as chairman of the Department of Sociology in the Graduate School. He conducted and published research on race, nationalism, and ethnic conflict; he also was involved …
This article is available for free to all.Monkey Business—the Trial of the Century
The trial of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes began on July 11, 1925, and continued for eleven days. The outcome: John Scopes, a biology teacher, was guilty of violating Tennessee’s Butler Act, which outlawed the teaching of “any theory that denies the divine creation of man,” and fined $100. The verdict of guilty was returned …
Billions of Years of Sex
At least 3.8 billion years ago, the first life on Earth appeared as asexually reproducing, single-celled organisms. It then took more than a billion years before sexually reproducing organisms appeared. One of author Kevin Lee Teather’s two objectives for The Evolution of Sex was to examine how sexual reproduction evolved and eventually predominated. He addresses …
A Primer on the Fine-Tuning Argument—and a Critique
In this issue, Jan Willem Nienhuys provides an analysis and penetrating criticism of one version of the fine-tuning argument that noted Christian apologist William Lane Craig has been peddling. Nienhuys does an excellent job of demolishing Craig’s argument, and, as a bonus, also provides a lucid explanation of the “cosmological constant.” Nonetheless, because the fine-tuning …
The Hundred Decimals of William Lane Craig
Christian apologist William Lane Craig has attracted attention by asserting that it was quite all right if a loving god should order or condone genocide. This is not an assertion a morally serious person would make. However, I haven’t taken Craig seriously since the time I discovered the nonsensical fine-tuning proof for the existence of …
Is Secular Humanism Ready to Replace Religion? If Not Now, Will It Ever Be?
Many secular humanists view religion as irrational, divisive, and a major contributor to prejudice, intolerance, and violence. Among religion’s harshest critics are the so-called New Atheists, who have described religion as “the most prolific source of violence in our history,” “a menace to society,” and “a threat to human survival.”1 Around the world, many people …