ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 191

National Day of Prayer Is Illegal, But Courts Won’t Hear Challenges

By Andrew L. Seidel Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer, the day our secular government tells citizens that they should pray, violating the Constitution in the process. The First Amendment says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” And yet, in the early 1950s, Congress passed this law: “The President shall …

This Asteroid Will Come Incredibly Close to Earth on Friday the 13th, 2029

By Meghan Bartels The solar system has a sense of humor: A decade from now, on Friday, April 13, 2029, a large asteroid will streak across the sky — but it’s a cause for excitement, not fear, scientists say. That asteroid, called Apophis, stretches about 1,100 feet (340 meters) across and will pass within 19,000 miles (31,000 kilometers) …

Biggest Denisovan fossil yet spills ancient human’s secrets

By Matthew Warren Scientists have uncovered the most complete remains yet from the mysterious ancient-hominin group known as the Denisovans. The jawbone, discovered high on the Tibetan Plateau and dated to more than 160,000 years ago, is also the first Denisovan specimen found outside the Siberian cave in which the hominin was uncovered a decade ago …

A Cruise Ship Has Been Quarantined In Saint Lucia Because Of Measles

By Claudia Koerner The Caribbean island of Saint Lucia quarantined a cruise ship to prevent the spread of measles, a public health official said Tuesday. The country’s chief medical officer, Dr. Merlene Fredericks-James, said in a video message that Saint Lucia authorities learned early Tuesday of a case of measles on the ship. After discussions with other …

Pete Buttigieg, please don’t equate religion with morality

By Kate Cohen “I’m not necessarily going to vote for him,” I told my husband a week ago when he found me furtively watching yet another interview with presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg. “I just like listening to him.” It was like any YouTube obsession: One video naturally led to the next. I kept clicking, and …

BOOK CLUB

We have created this thread to provide a dedicated space for the discussion of books. Pretty much any kind of book – it doesn’t have to be about atheism or religion or science or politics. It doesn’t even have to be non-fiction. All we ask is that, whatever the topic or genre, the books are …

During the Last Lunar Eclipse, a Meteor Smacked the Moon in the Face at 38,000 Mph

By Brandon Specktor On January 21, 2019, the full moon passed entirely into Earth’s shadow and, well, got smacked in the face pretty hard. Seconds after the total phase of that night’s lunar eclipse began, a meteorite slammed into the moon’s surface, causing a brief but bright flash of light visible to amateur astronomers across the …

China plans mission to Earth’s pet asteroid

By Elizabeth Gibney China has set its sights on deep space. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is planning a robotic mission that would return samples from an asteroid and visit a comet — and it has invited international researchers to take part. The ten-year mission, which has yet to be formally approved by the …

Atlah Church Is Classified As A Hate Group. It’s Able To Run A School Anyway.

By Rebecca Klein Ten years ago, “Daily Show” correspondent Jason Jones sat down to interview a pastor in the classic style of the program ― the correspondent played straight while talking to someone with ridiculous ideas. The interviewee, James Manning, had plenty. Manning, the pastor at Atlah World Missionary Church in Harlem, was famous for …

A Very Deluded 50% of Americans Think Evangelical Christians Face Discrimination

By Sarahbeth Caplin Literally half of Americans believe evangelical Christians face at least some discrimination, despite them being the largest religious group in the country, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. Christianity Today explains why this may be the case: Recently, some evangelicals have grown concerned over perceptions of unfair treatment in various settings, …