Josh Duggar confesses … ‘I have been the biggest hypocrite ever’

Well how could I possibly let it pass, I’m shocked I tell you, totally shocked and devastated … oh OK, I’m not. Background So just in case you missed it, Josh Dugger has been caught with his pants down … quite literally. Gawker has all the juicy details and starts with a good summary … In … Read more

Secularphobia

Secularphobia

Secularphobia is one of those phobia words that rather a lot of people have a bit of a phobia about (logo-phobia perhaps). Such words do convey and describe fears that are quite real. Some we are familiar with … Homophobia: there still are many out there with an irrational fear of people who were born … Read more

Atheism explodes in Saudi Arabia, despite state-enforced ban

A recent article in Salon reports on the rising tide of disbelief in Saudi Arabia … In this country known as the cradle of Islam, where religion gives legitimacy to the government and state-appointed clerics set rules for social behavior, a growing number of Saudis are privately declaring themselves atheists. The evidence is anecdotal, but … Read more

The Guardian’s Hatchet job of Maajid Nawaz

The former Islamic extremist and now anti-extremist campaigner, Maajid Nawaz, has had a bit of a hatchet job done to him by David Shariatmadari within a Guardian article. He was supposedly being profiled, but then Mr Shariatmadari laced it all with some anonymous quotes and essentially stuck the knife into him. Was it Really A hatchet Job? … Read more

Will Religion ever vanish?

OK, let’s cut to the chase and give you the answer up front … probably not in our immediate future, because humans are by nature naturally selected with many cognitive biases that make us like this. There is a really good article over at BBC Future by Rachel Nuwer that covers this question, and so I’m … Read more

The GOP Debate … what did they say and who won?

OK, so there is plenty of coverage of the GOP candidate debate and so I need not cover it in too much detail except to perhaps add a few additional rather obvious observations. As a hint, the picture above more or less sums it all up. So what did they actually say? Every candidate more or … Read more