“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” — Benjamin Franklin
Over at DiscoverMagazine.com, Chris Mooney takes issue with this blog post by Jerry Coyne on what Coyne calls “accomodationism” of religion in stances by the National Academy of Science and the National Center for Science Education, two leading scientific organizations in the US.
I have to side with Coyne on this one. If anyone’s attack is unfair, it is Mooney’s…
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Atheist soldier sues Army for ‘unconstitutional’ discrimination - CNN.com
A soldier handing out coins with Christian messages written in Arabic… another soldier using the Quran for target practice… atheist soldiers being discriminated against… I can’t imagine why Muslims would have a problem with our military on their soil.
My favorite illustration of confirmation bias is Nicholas Taleb’s retelling of a tale by Cicero in his book
The Black Swan:
One Diagoras, a nonbeliever in the gods, was shown painted tablets bearing the portraits of some worshippers who prayed, then survived a subsequent shipwreck. The implication was that praying protects you from drowning. Diagoras asked, “Where were the pictures of those who prayed, then drowned?”
Well, there’s no picture, but here’s a story of one little girl who witnessed the awe-inspiring power of prayer:
WESTON, Wis. - Police are investigating an 11-year-old girl’s death from an undiagnosed, treatable form of diabetes after her parents chose to pray for her rather than take her to a doctor.
Wisconsin girl, 11, dies of treatable diabetes probed after parents pick prayer over medicine
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