ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 228

Romaine to Honey Smacks Cereal: Why Were There So Many Foodborne Outbreaks in 2018?

By Rachael Rettner From E. coli-tainted romaine lettuce to Salmonella in cereal, this year certainly had its fair share of foodborne illness outbreaks. Health warnings had consumers discarding bags of lettuce, searching their cupboards for recalled cereal and avoiding premade wraps at grocery stores. All of this might have left you wondering: Why did we seem to have so …

If Science and Religion are at War, Science is Winning

By David G. McAfee The conflicts between religion and science have existed and been well studied for generations, yet many people deny they exist at all. As someone who studied religion in college, I’ve seen both sides of this. On one hand, it’s true that many people apply religion and science in different ways, meaning they …

Lawsuit alleges Wyoming employer required worker to study Scientology

By Shane Sanderson An occupational therapist made his employee take Scientology courses as a condition of her employment, she alleges in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed this week. Julie A. Rohrbacher filed suit Monday against Teton Therapy, a set of physical and occupational therapy offices that operate in four Wyoming locations, including Lander, where …

Measles outbreaks in U.S. and Europe should be a wake-up call for states with loose immunization rules

By the LA Times Editorial Board Public health officials in New York and New Jersey are fighting a measles outbreak that has sickened dozens of people since November, most of them unvaccinated members of orthodox Jewish communities. The virus was traced to travelers from Israel, which is dealing with its own measles outbreak at the …

Why the Johnson Amendment is always debated and never repealed

By Jacob Lupfer As the 115th Congress winds down amid chaos in Washington, one unsettled debate concerns a long-uncontroversial line added to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code in 1954 barring nonprofit entities, including houses of worship, from endorsing candidates for office. Republican-aligned elites in and out of government are once again having a …

CO Atheist Group’s Sign Says “Make Christmas Great Again” By Skipping Church

By Hemant Mehta Taking a page from American Atheists, the Western Colorado Atheists and Free Thinkers just put up a digital billboard near Grand Junction that reads, “Make Christmas Great Again… Skip Church!” Even more amusing? It’s right near a Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A. The $265 ad will only be up for a week, coming down on Christmas …

W.Va. mom says her daughter was bullied after they balked at Bible classes in public school

By Corky Siemaszko The chill set in not long after word got out that Elizabeth Deal’s little girl was not taking the Bible class at her West Virginia public grammar school. Her daughter, Jessica Roe, then a first-grader, felt it first. When her teacher and the pastor who ran that class realized they didn’t have …

Trump’s ‘Merry Christmas’ pledge fails to manifest at his own businesses

By Adam Gabbatt During Donald Trump’s presidential campaign he talked often about his determination to win one particular war. A war that had been raging for years, he said. The war on Christmas. But despite Trump’s repeated claims that “people are saying Merry Christmas again” instead of the more inclusive “happy holidays”, there are several places …

Winter Solstice: The Science of the Shortest Day of 2018

By Laura Geggel The winter solstice is in full stride today (Dec. 21), which boasts the fewest hours of daylight for 2018 in the Northern Hemisphere. Although the solstice gets an entire day of recognition, it happens in an instant: at 15:23 p.m. EST (10:23 p.m. GMT), when the North Pole is at its farthest tilt of …

A push for compromise on LGBTQ protections may tear evangelicals apart

By Yonat Shimron In the space of 48 hours, Americans got another taste for the raging battles over LGBTQ protections: On Tuesday (Dec. 18), Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in suburban Denver, was back in court arguing that the state of Colorado is punishing him over his refusal to bake a cake — this time celebrating a gender …