ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 44

A Physicist Has Come Up With Math That Makes ‘Paradox-Free’ Time Travel Plausible

By David Nield No one has yet managed to travel through time – at least to our knowledge – but the question of whether or not such a feat would be theoretically possible continues to fascinate scientists. As movies such as The Terminator, Donnie Darko, Back to the Future and many others show, moving around in time creates a …

How Amy Coney Barrett’s Religious Group Helped Shape a City

By Adam Wren In 2002, when Amy Coney Barrett moved here to begin her academic career, she joined the faculty at the law school where she’d been a student, attended Notre Dame football games and eventually joined a Primal Fitness gym where she’s currently known for her fierce pullup workout. She also connected with one …

Redfield voices alarm over influence of Trump’s new coronavirus task force adviser

By Monica Alba The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has grown increasingly concerned that President Donald Trump, pushed by a new member of his coronavirus task force, is sharing incorrect information about the pandemic with the public. Dr. Robert Redfield, who leads the CDC, suggested in a conversation with a colleague …

Pastor Who Downplays COVID in Church Makes Volunteers Sign COVID Risk Waivers

By Hemant Mehta For months now, Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in California has been telling his congregation not to take the virus seriously. He’s openly celebrated the lack of social distancing and face masks in his congregation, once telling a packed house, “the good news is you’re here, you’re not distancing, and you’re not wearing masks.” …

The Quiet of Covid-19 Has Birds Singing Sultrier Songs

By Dharna Noor While social distancing measures have pushed many people into sexless, joyless bubbles, San Francisco birds are getting flirtier and more coy. I’m glad someone’s getting some. Coronavirus precautions and shutdowns have have made cities a lot quieter. In a study published in Science this week, researchers found that, with fewer cars roaring, people chattering, and construction projects …

Why the Media and Democrats Should Reject the Christian Right’s Pearl-Clutching and Address Problematic Religious Views

By Chrissy Stroop America is trapped in an abusive relationship—not just with the pussy-grabbing President Donald Trump, our abuser-in-chief, but also with the Republican Party, its white Christian base, the police, and the increasingly uninhibited “good guys with guns,” whose vigilante actions are evidently becoming increasingly brazen. And unless liberals, leftists, and all Americans of good conscience are …

A new conservative Supreme Court justice could boost religious rights at the cost of LGBTQ protections

By Samantha Schmidt and Sarah Pulliam Bailey A conservative replacement on the Supreme Court for late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday, could provide a major boost to religious rights while threatening years of advancements for the LGBTQ community, legal experts and activists say. In cases spanning same-sex marriage rights to workplace protections, the …

NC pastor yells ‘white power’ from truck during weekend Trump parade, videos show

By Carli Brosseau Unlike most of the speakers at the Trump rally at Ace Speedway on Saturday, Jesse Hursey wore a suit. His black leather shoes shone. His hair was carefully brushed back. The satiny red tie he wore over a light blue shirt flapped in the breeze. Hursey faced the racetrack stands. A crowd …

Earth’s new minimoon might be a rocket humans launched into space in the 1960s

By Rafi Letzter Earth is getting a small new moon, but it might have been made by people. Astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona first detected the object back in February as a flash of light darting across space. Right this moment, it’s not in orbit around the Earth, but it’s nearby. And it’s going …

Megachurch pastor who held no-mask services misses hearing after refusing to wear mask in court

By Jaclyn Peiser Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Tony Spell, a pastor of a Pentecostal megachurch in Baton Rouge, has preached to hundreds of parishioners to not wear masks while holding indoor, in-person church services and defying an emergency order from the governor prohibiting large gatherings. “We are God’s anointed,” Spell said in an Aug. …