ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 312

Kentucky Governor: Kim Davis is an “Inspiration” for Breaking the Law for Jesus

By Hemant Mehta

In a promotional video for Christian bigot Kim Davis‘ new book, all about how she refused to grant legal marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Kentucky, Governor Matt Bevin praised her activism, calling her an “inspiration” to children and public servants everywhere.

“Against all the scorn, all the enmity, all the vitriol, all the nastiness, she stood firm,” Bevin said. “I think Kim Davis is without question an inspiration, not only to leaders like myself — people in the public arena and those outside the public arena — but to my children, the children of America. People, even if they disagree with her, have got to respect the fact that here is a woman who was willing to put it all on the line out of conviction for what she believed and knew to be her right as an American citizen. And her faith and her conviction in the fact that that faith was protected by the First Amendment in our Constitution — in our Bill of Rights, specifically — is something that she was willing to put front and center, and if that’s not admirable, if that’s not something we would want all Americans to emulate, I don’t know what is.”

The governor of Kentucky thinks being a human speed bump on the road to civil rights is inspirational.

That’s bad enough, but the same video ends with a reworked version of the famous poem by Martin Niemöller that begins “First they came for the Socialists…” Because Kim Davis is practically fighting the Nazis.

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Religious ‘nones’ could shake up American politics — but many roadblocks stand in their way

By Kelsey Dallas

SALT LAKE CITY — In 2016, religiously unaffiliated Americans, or “nones,” represented 21 percent of registered voters, one percentage point more than white evangelical Christians. However, they only accounted for 15 percent of actual voters, according to Pew Research Center and national exit polls.

Secular activists see the gap between these two figures as a call to action for 2018 and beyond. They plan to improve voter turnout and shape the “nones” into a dominant political force.

“We want to be seen as a powerhouse constituency,” said Sarah Levin, director of grass-roots and community programs at the Secular Coalition for America.

If that happens, the “nones” could help drive faith groups from the public square, reducing religious exemptions meant to protect people with more conservative beliefs, said John Green, a professor of political science at the University of Akron. But that’s a big “if,” he added.

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China tests giant air cleaner to combat smog

By David Cyranoski

A 60-metre-high chimney stands among a sea of high-rise buildings in one of China’s most polluted cities. But instead of adding to Xian’s smog, this chimney is helping to clear the air. The outdoor air-purifying system, powered by the Sun, filters out noxious particles and billows clean air into the skies. Chinese scientists who designed the prototype say that the system could significantly cut pollution in urban areas in China and elsewhere.

The technology has excited and intrigued researchers — especially in China, where air pollution is a daily challenge. Early results, which are yet to be published, are promising, says the project’s leader Cao Junji, a chemist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics in Xian in central China.

“This is certainly a very interesting idea,” says Donald Wuebbles, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who has heard about the system but not seen it in action. “I am not aware of anyone else doing a project like this one.”

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New ways to fight HIV and tuberculosis emerge at AIDS conference

By Jon Cohen

BOSTON—Some people naturally handle HIV infection better than others, but only two clear genetic explanations have ever been found. Now, a new study reported here today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections finds a third: a genetic signature that leads to a better control of the virus in people of African descent. It could clarify sometimes puzzling differences in the way the disease progresses in untreated people, and it might offer clues about new treatment strategies.

Weeks after a person is infected with HIV, levels of the virus in the blood skyrocket before dropping down to a “set point” that remains relatively constant after the immune response kicks in. Lower set points confer a couple benefits: Even without HIV/AIDS drugs, people progress more slowly to disease, and they’re less likely to transmit the virus to others. About 25% of the time, genetic factors drive the lower set point, according to previous genome-wide association studies.

Of the two known genetic factors, the most powerful comes from genes that control proteins known as human leukocyte antigens (HLAs). Different HLAs determine the strength of a person’s immune response against HIV. The second factor is white blood cells that are naturally resistant to HIV infection. HIV needs to dock on two different receptors to enter a cell, and mutations in one of them, known as CCR5, thwart HIV.

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Battle Between HHS And Christian College Comes To Dramatic End

By Nicole Fisher

A district court has granted a permanent injunction for a U.S. college, saying that it has unending protection from a Department of Health and Human Services mandate, marking a major shift in the health policy landscape.

The “contraceptive mandate” imposed under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires companies and universities to provide contraception in their health plans. While it has evolved over time, the general premise goes against many organizations’ religious beliefs, and throughout the life of the ACA, it has seen lawsuits from groups ranging from Hobby Lobby to Notre Dame to Little Sisters of the Poor to Wheaton College.

In the case of Wheaton College in Illinois, the district court just ruled in favor of the school, declaring that the federal government violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Diana Verm, Wheaton alumna and legal counsel at Becket, which represented the College, said: “In 2016, the Obama administration made concessions at the Supreme Court that made this outcome inevitable. It essentially admitted that the mandate violated the beliefs of religious organizations and that it had other ways to get these services to women who want them. This administration therefore had few options for defending the mandate, and it makes sense that a court would rule that the government can’t use Wheaton or its health plans to provide services that violate its faith.”

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Does Faking Religion Lead to Depression?

By Brandon Withrow

At the recent National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump called the United States a “nation of believers.” The highly Christian language of his speech—focused on the Bible and being “created in Jesus Christ”—underscored for some the president’s focus on Christian nationalism and the exclusionary nature of his vision for America.

Of course, there can be real problems when a nation circumscribes who belongs and who doesn’t by whether they are people of faith. That type of social duress can be culturally and personally unhealthy. In fact, according to a recent study in the journal, Society and Mental Health, individuals who consider leaving a faith, but do not, tend to experience more depression than those who decide to leave.

The research, done by Matthew May, assistant professor of sociology at Oakland University, analyzed the still data-wealthy Portrait of American Life Study (PALS), which (through 1300 interviews) focused on the religious life of 2,610 participants from 2006-2012.

“PALS,” says May, “is the only data set that asks people if they have seriously considered dropping out of religion.”

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This Weird Google Earth Picture Does Not Show a Crashed UFO

By Rafi Letzter

A popular YouTube channel that peddles conspiracy theories is trying to convince viewers that photos of an avalanche on an island near Antarctica depict an alien spaceship crash site.

In a video posted to the channel SecureTeam10, a narrator claims that an image of South Georgia Island taken from Google Earth shows the remains of an extraterrestrial craft that slammed into the side of a mountain and skidded a long distance across the ice.

The photo does show a lot of disturbed ice on the side of a glacier near Mount Paget, a 9,629-foot-tall (2,935 meters) prominence on the British-controlled island far to the south of Argentina. A long trail extends away from the main disturbed area, leading to a white object that appears embedded in the snow on top of the glacier.

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Latest US weather satellite highlights forecasting challenges

By Jeff Tollefson

The United States filled a crucial gap in its weather-forecasting arsenal when it launched its latest geostationary satellite on 1 March. The craft will enable meteorologists to track hurricanes, snow storms and other threats as they develop. It will also beam down data that researchers can use to measure air temperature and humidity — if they can work out how to incorporate them into their models.

Scientists currently can’t use much of the information collected by geostationary satellites, which sit above a particular location on Earth, and polar-orbiting satellites, which swing around the planet’s poles. It’s a long-standing problem caused by the kind of data collected and the large uncertainties that arise when forecasters try to integrate the measurements into their weather models. Now researchers are starting to overcome these technical challenges, with encouraging results for both short- and longer-term forecasts.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-17 (GOES-17) will assume a position above the equatorial Pacific Ocean. When its data are combined with those from the identical GOES-16, which is already parked over the Atlantic Ocean, they will monitor the Earth from Africa to New Zealand. Weather forecasters around the world use such geostationary satellites to monitor storms, and their models incorporate limited data on atmospheric moisture and wind speed and direction.

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Florida state senator: Only ‘thoughts and prayers’ will stop evil behind shootings

By Morgan Gstalter

A Florida state senator said the only thing that is going to stop “the evil” behind mass shootings is to send “thoughts and prayers.”

During a debate on a proposed assault weapons ban in the Florida legislature on Saturday, state Sen. Kelli Stargel (R) said she finds it offensive when people tell her that the kind words are not enough to stop mass shootings. 

“When we say ‘thoughts and prayers,’ it’s frowned upon. And I take real offense at that because thoughts and prayers are really the only thing that’s gonna stop the evil from within the individual who is taking up their arms to do this kind of a massacre.” 

It’s not the weapon that matters, Stargel said, but rather “the evil from within” that causes people to commit heinous crimes. 

“But are we going to ban fertilizer, which is what they used in the Oklahoma bombing?” Stargel asked. “Are we going to ban pressure cookers, which is what they used in the Boston massacre? Are we going to ban the multiple handguns that were used in other assaults? Are we going to ban the sawed-off shotgun as what was used in Columbine?” 

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Kansas Republicans Pass Anti-Transgender Resolution “Motivated By Love”

By Sarahbeth Caplin

Kansas politicians should probably be focusing on their state’s economic woes… or maybe gun safety. Instead, the state’s Republicans made it a priority to condemn any and all efforts to validate transgender identities.

At the state party’s annual meeting in Wichita on February 17, the Kansas Republican Party approved a resolution entitled “Regarding Human Sexual Identity” and its stance against medical treatments.

…

The resolution stated that the party “recognizes the dignity of every human being, including those who identify as LGBT,” but affirmed “God’s design for gender as determined by biological sex and not by self-perception” and opposed “all efforts to validate transgender identity.”

If God loves you, stand up! Not so fast, trans people…

The party also prioritized the “rights” of ignorant, bigoted parents who don’t want their kids sharing bathrooms with their trans classmates despite the fact that those those classmates are at far greater risk of harm than their cisgendered peers.

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