Time Scales, on Campus and in the Blogosphere

My major “service” activity at work is involvement with the Minerva program, which attempts to blur the line between academic and residential life. I enjoy this because it gives me the opportunity to work closely with students outside a narrow academic context, and I’ve been very impressed with the creativity and responsibility of the students […]

Foundation and Left Behind

In Friday’s installment of his ongoing examination of Left Behind: The Movie, Fred Clark points out some gaps in the movie-Antichrist’s plan, where it departs from the loopy prophetic cosmology of the Left Behind books. He then notes how they could’ve done better: If Team Nicolae had really done their homework, they’d have consulted with […]

Buddhists Are Citizens Too

Lots of people are giving Obama props for the shout-out to atheists in his inaugural address, but I’m deeply concerned about what he said. Or, rather, what he didn’t say: We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. Where are the Buddhists? He left out a major world religion! […]

Uncomfortable Question: Creationist Theology

In the uncomfortable questions thread, David White asks: Ever entertained the notion that attacks on true science from the muscular political creationism/ID lobby might be vitiated by exposure of their great and inexplicable theological flaw (gasp!) dating all the way back to William Paley? Not really, no. Because, you know, there are only so many […]

Race, Gender, and a Job for Slacktivist

I was on Baby Duty today, so I spent some time listening to Bloggingheads dialogs, including Kerry Howley and Richard Rodriguez: There’s a lot of good stuff in here, but I almost hesitate to post about it, because it’s practically guaranteed to bring out the worst sorts of commentary. There’s a bunch of stuff about […]

No Mock Trials Without Preconditions

Inside Higher Ed this morning has a story about a mock trial to be held at Northern Kentucky University: The trial centers around the termination of fictitious biology teacher Susan Scott (a traditionally trained evolution adherent), who according to her complaint, encouraged students to “explore creation theories.” Scott, who will be played by Simon Kenton […]

The Pope’s Astronomer, and Galileo’s Telescope

Some time back, I saw Brother Guy Consolmagno talk at Boskone, and said “You know, I should invite him to campus.” For those who don’t recognize the name, he’s an SF fan and an astronomer (well, planetary scientist) who also happens to be a Jesuit brother. He works at the Vatican Observatory, where he is […]

The End Is Here

After five long years, Fred Clark has reached the final pages in his exhaustive deconstruction of Left Behind (fittingly enough, they include a phone call). If you would like to see the beginning, the first few pages are here, but the series really starts with Left Behind Is Evil. Fred’s analysis has run to much […]