ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 144

LDS Church opposes proposed Utah rule that would ban ‘conversion therapy’

By Lee Davidson The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Tuesday opposed a proposed rule that would ban Utah-licensed mental health professionals from using conversion therapy — such as trying to turn a gay child straight or alter a minor’s gender identity. “The church is concerned that the proposed professional licensing rule is ambiguous in …

Family Spent 9 Years in a Secluded Dutch Farmhouse ‘Waiting for the End of Days’

By Marc Santora The man immediately struck the bartender as a bit off. His beard was disheveled, he was in a daze, and his clothes seemed straight out of the 1980s. It was near closing time at Chris Westerbeek’s small pub in a rural Netherlands village, Café De Kastelein, and he sent the stranger away. …

How evolution builds genes from scratch

By Adam Levy In the depths of winter, water temperatures in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean can sink below zero. That’s cold enough to freeze many fish, but the conditions don’t trouble the cod. A protein in its blood and tissues binds to tiny ice crystals and stops them from growing. Where codfish got this talent …

Ugandan President Says “Kill the Gays” Bill Isn’t Returning

By Jeff Taylor A spokesperson for Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has said the country has no intention of bringing back a bill that would impose the death penalty for homosexuality. Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo said last week the government planned to reintroduce the legislation, colloquially known as the “Kill the Gays” bill, which …

‘Ron Reagan’ trends after atheist group runs ad during Democratic primary debate

By Yaron Steinbuch Ron Reagan crashed the Democratic presidential primary debate Tuesday night with a plug for an atheist group that turned his name into the top trending search on Google – as he declared that he was “not afraid of burning in hell.” “Hi, I’m Ron Reagan, an unabashed atheist,” the 61-year-old son of …

Michele Bachmann: Climate Change Is a Fraud Because ‘God Says We Will Never Be Flooded’

By Kyle Mantyla Former Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann appeared on Jan Markell’s “Understanding The Times” radio program last weekend, where she urged pastors to start preaching the “truth” from their pulpits that climate change represents no threat to humanity because God said in the Bible, after Noah’s flood, that he would never again destroy the world with …

Scientists Are Chasing an Ancient Signal That Could Explain the Modern Universe

By Becky Ferreira All around the world, radio antennae in remote landscapes are scanning the sky for the same faint signal from the “cosmic dawn,” a time when the first stars shone more than 12 billion years ago. If detected, the signal will shed light on some of the most enduring mysteries about the origins …

Secretary Mike Pompeo Goes Full Christian on U.S. State Department Homepage

By Megan Hamilton The U.S. State Department has apparently gone full Christian. At least that’s how it appears if you click on the website’s homepage, where you’ll find a photo of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo above the headline “Being A Christian Leader.” If that isn’t creepy, I don’t know what is. Replace “Christian” with any other …

A new study reveals how the last woolly mammoths died out 4,000 years ago. That’s after the Egyptians had built the pyramids.

By Aylin Woodward About 4,000 years ago on a remote island in the Arctic, the last woolly mammoth died out. Elephantine in shape and size, mammoths (official name Mammuthus primigenius) dominated the northern hemisphere during Earth’s last ice age for nearly 90,000 years, before changing climates and human hunting drove them to extinction. Scientists have …

Inside The Christian Legal Army Weakening the Church-State Divide

By Sarah Posner Never before has the Christian right been as elated about the prospects for transforming the federal judiciary as it is now, with the Senate engaged in the rapid-fire confirmation of judges nominated by President Donald Trump. As the confirmations mounted — 43 appellate and 99 trial court judges by the summer recess …