ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 249

The Lie Generator: Inside the Black Mirror World of Polygraph Job Screenings

By Mark Harris

Christopher Talbot thought he would make a great police officer. He was 29 years old, fit, and had a clean background record. Talbot had military experience, including a tour of Iraq as a US Marine, and his commanding officer had written him a glowing recommendation. In 2014, armed with an associate degree in criminal justice, he felt ready to apply to become an officer with the New Haven Police Department, in his home state of Connecticut.

Talbot sailed through the department’s rigorous physical and mental tests, passing speed and agility trials and a written examination—but there was one final test. Like thousands of other law enforcement, fire, paramedic, and federal agencies across the country, the New Haven Police Department insists that each applicant take an assessment that has been rejected by almost every scientific authority: the polygraph test.

Commonly known as lie detectors, polygraphs are virtually unused in civilian life. They’re largely inadmissible in court and it’s illegal for most private companies to consult them. Over the past century, scientists have debunked the polygraph, proving again and again that the test can’t reliably distinguish truth from falsehood. At best, it is a roll of the dice; at worst, it’s a vessel for test administrators to project their own beliefs.

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The world has just over a decade to get climate change under control, U.N. scientists say

By Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis

The world stands on the brink of failure when it comes to holding global warming to moderate levels, and nations will need to take “unprecedented” actions to cut their carbon emissions over the next decade, according to a landmark report by the top scientific body studying climate change.

With global emissions showing few signs of slowing and the United States — the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide — rolling back a suite of Obama-era climate measures, the prospects for meeting the most ambitious goals of the 2015 Paris agreement look increasingly slim. To avoid racing past warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial levels would require a “rapid and far-reaching” transformation of human civilization at a magnitude that has never happened before, the group found.

“There is no documented historic precedent” for the sweeping change to energy, transportation and other systems required to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) wrote in a report requested as part of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

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WHO Endorses Traditional Chinese Medicine. Expect Deaths To Rise

By Steven Salzberg

A few days ago, a news story in the journal Nature reported that the World Health Organization, which is supposed to be devoted to improving the health and medical care of people around the globe, will for the first time endorse a belief system called “traditional Chinese medicine.” I’m labeling TCM a belief system because that’s what it is–but the WHO will be endorsing it as a set of medical practices.

The Nature writer, David Cyranoski, presents this news in a classic two-sides-of-the-story format, describing the “endless hours” that TCM proponents spent on such important topics as the “correct location of acupuncture points and less commonly known concepts such as ‘triple energizer meridian’ syndrome.” Later in the article (but much later), he points out that scientists have argued that qi and meridians simply don’t exist.

Cyranoski also falls into the trap of using the phrase “Western medicine” as if it were just an alternative point of view. An apt response is this comment from a biology Ph.D. student, who goes by @astrelaps on Twitter:

“What a weak, equivocal article from the world’s preeminent scientific journal. “For those steeped in Western medicine…” is like writing “For those steeped in climate science” or “For those steeped in evolutionary biology” when reporting on climate change denial or creationism.”

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‘New Age’ beliefs common among both religious and nonreligious Americans

By Claire Gecewicz

Most American adults self-identify as Christians. But many Christians also hold what are sometimes characterized as “New Age” beliefs – including belief in reincarnation, astrology, psychics and the presence of spiritual energy in physical objects like mountains or trees. Many Americans who are religiously unaffiliated also have these beliefs.

Overall, roughly six-in-ten American adults accept at least one of these New Age beliefs. Specifically, four-in-ten believe in psychics and that spiritual energy can be found in physical objects, while somewhat smaller shares express belief in reincarnation (33%) and astrology (29%).

But New Age beliefs are not necessarily replacing belief in traditional forms of religious beliefs or practices. While eight-in-ten Christians say they believe in God as described in the Bible, six-in-ten believe in one or more of the four New Age beliefs analyzed here, ranging from 47% of evangelical Protestants to roughly seven-in-ten Catholics and Protestants in the historically black tradition.

Moreover, religiously unaffiliated Americans (those who say their religion is atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”) are about as likely as Christians to hold New Age beliefs. However, atheists are much less likely to believe in any of the four New Age beliefs than agnostics and those who say their religion is “nothing in particular.” Just 22% of atheists believe in at least one of four New Age beliefs, compared with 56% of agnostics and eight-in-ten among those whose religion is “nothing in particular.”

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The Kavanaugh court is the one conservatives have worked decades to build

By Robert Barnes

The Kavanaugh court will be the one conservatives have worked for decades to construct, experts say, with velocity the only question about the Supreme Court’s advance to the right.

Expect re-energized efforts from social and religious conservatives to get their issues — gun control challenges, religious objections to gay rights — before a court where like-minded justices will make up the majority.

On the other hand, the proliferation of lawsuits from blue-state officials objecting to President Trump’s efforts to loosen environmental standards and impose tougher sanctions on immigration could fizzle.

Gone will be what one law professor called the “mushy middles” of Supreme Courts past, when justices such as Lewis F. Powell Jr., Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony M. Kennedy held the key votes and sometimes abandoned their usual conservative colleagues to side with the left.

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Christian woman on death row in Pakistan for insulting Prophet Muhammad to make final court appeal

By Alex Matthews-King

A Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan for insulting the Prophet Muhammad will have her final appeal heard by the Supreme Court on Monday, her lawyer has said.

Asia Bibi has spent nine years in prison after being accused of contravening the country’s strict blasphemy laws following a dispute in June 2009.

The case has drawn international attention to Pakistan’s treatment of its religious minorities and Ms Bibi’s supporters, including Pope Benedict XVI, who called for the charges to be dismissed, saying she is being persecuted for her faith.

Ms Bibi has already received one stay of execution from the Supreme Court, in 2015, after lower courts rejected the appeals.

If her appeal fails the mother of five, from the rural village of Ittan Wali, Punjab, will become the first woman to be executed for blasphemy in Pakistan.

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Here Are the Biggest Church/State Separation Cases Facing the Next Supreme Court

By Hemant Mehta

With Brett Kavanaugh‘s ascendance to the Supreme Court, there’s now a solid conservative bloc that isn’t going away anytime soon. Those five justices are all male and all Roman Catholic (though Neil Gorsuch‘s religious label is up for debate). The question isn’t whether they’ll tear down between church and state; it’s how quickly they’ll do it and which parts of the wall they’ll destroy first.

So let’s look at some of the major cases that the Court could be taking up this session and what could happen as a result:

City of Pensacola, Florida v. Kondrat’yev and Maryland-National Capital Park v. American Humanist AssociationThese two cases involve giant Christian crosses on public property in Pensacola (Florida) and Prince George’s County (Maryland), respectively.

In the Pensacola case, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the cross in Bayview Park needed to come down, but the judges made very clear their decision was based on legal precedent which they were bound to follow. In other words, they were pleading to the Supreme Court to take up the case and reverse it.

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At Secretive Retreat, Evangelicals Celebrate Brett Kavanaugh’s Confirmation

By Lee Fang

As the Senate prepared to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on Saturday afternoon, evangelical Christian leaders were gathered at a secretive retreat in North Carolina to plan the conservative movement’s path forward.

The Council for National Policy, which operates covertly and brings together faith-based conservatives to discuss political strategy, was holding a planning meeting in a second-floor ballroom at the Westin hotel in Charlotte when the Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s second Supreme Court pick by a 50-48 vote.

After a tumultuous few weeks in which Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault, the group had remained cautious until the final moments, several participants told The Intercept. Following the Senate’s procedural vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination on Friday, the CNP attendees gathered that evening during dinner to pray that victory was near.

Their prayers, it seems, were answered. Kavanaugh’s confirmation cemented a decadeslong push to cement a conservative majority on the high court, an objective long desired by the CNP.

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Atheist Groups Respond to Brett Kavanaugh’s Confirmation to the Supreme Court

By Hemant Mehta

Here’s what atheist and church/state separation groups are saying about the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. This post will be updated as more statements come in.

Larry T. Decker, Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America:

“The confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to our nation’s highest court is a supreme injustice. By voting to confirm Judge Kavanaugh, the Senate has compromised the integrity of the Supreme Court and imperiled the civil rights of the most vulnerable among us. Our decision to oppose Kavanaugh was taken after a serious consideration of his record, to the extent it was available, and how his rulings would impact secular Americans and the separation of church and state. Throughout his legal career, Judge Kavanaugh has repeatedly issued rulings and opinions that convey a disturbing rejection of the constitutional principle of a separation between church and state. There is no reason to doubt that Justice Kavanaugh will bring this radical jurisprudence with him to the Supreme Court and issue rulings that erode the Establishment Clause, undermine civil rights, and further distort the principle of religious liberty. The damage done by these rulings will far outlast Justice Kavanaugh’s tenure on the Court or the political careers of the Senators who helped put him there.”

“One doesn’t even have to look too closely at Judge Kavanaugh when they recognize the unwavering support of the religious right. This well funded, extreme religious minority has proven time and time again that they do not care about values or the Constitution — they care nothing about the things that truly make America great. They care about their agenda and their agenda only, at all costs and at all expense. Our nation needs to wake up to the damning effects they have on our democracy and strip this minority of their political might.”

“The United States is still a democracy and its future will not be decided by any one judge’s rulings but by the votes of tens of millions of Americans. Those Senators who voted to confirm Kavanaugh must know they are supporting the theocratic agenda of an extreme religious minority at the expense of women, LGBTQ Americans, religious minorities, and nontheists. The Secular Coalition for America will ensure that voters do not forget which side they chose.”

 

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Why Flu Epidemics Work Differently in Big American Cities

By Rafi Letzter

Flu epidemics in small towns are bad, but at least researchers understand them. A new paper published today (Oct. 5) in the journal Science shows that dense urban centers in the United States have lost a lot of the natural defenses that keep the flu from rampaging year-round through the population. And that causes the flu to behave in ways scientists are just beginning to understand.

Under normal circumstances, the researchers wrote, the flu is contained to the colder, dryer parts of the year. That’s because the virus spreads through the air; when a sick person coughs and sneezes and otherwise expels the flu into the air, it can survive long enough to infect someone else nearby. But the humid, warmer months of the year are bad for the virus. It can’t survive exposure to that wet air as long, and struggles to spread from person to person. So flu peaks in winter epidemics and largely subsides in the summer.

In America’s big cities though, the researchers found, this seasonal, natural flu regulation has broken down. People are so frequently packed so closely together that the flu never really loses its ability to spread through the population. All that humidity in the air is less of a problem for the virus when it has to travel just a few inches to reach the next person.

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