ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 604
December 26, 2015
Texas governor kicks out a ‘winter solstice’ state capitol display, calling it ‘juvenile parody’
by Matthew Watkins
To celebrate the season, the Texas Capitol has multiple Christmas trees and a Nativity scene on its grounds. But after a complaint by Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday, “a winter solstice” display urging the separation of church and state has been kicked out.
The display was a cardboard cutout of the nation’s founding fathers and the Statue of Liberty looking down at the Bill of Rights in a manger. It had been set up in the Capitol’s basement, hardly a high-traffic area, and didn’t generate much of a public response.
But after finding out about it, Abbott called it a “juvenile parody” in a letter asking the State Preservation Board to remove the exhibit.
Now that it’s gone, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the group behind the display, says it’s considering its legal options.
The Preservation Board approved the exhibit days earlier. But after receiving the letter from Abbott, the agency reconsidered. Executive Director John Sneed snapped a picture of it and texted it to Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth), who chairs the House Administration Committee. Geren said to take it down.
Read more by clicking on the name of the source below.
The Impossible Defense of an Accused ‘Atheist’ the Saudis Want to Behead
by Creede Newton
In Saudi Arabia the number of writers and bloggers facing the whip and the sword—and even crucifixion—is growing. Sound a bit like ISIS? Many think so.
GAZA STRIP — It’s been a bad year for Saudi Arabia’s public image. An unusually large number of death sentences and executions have sparked outrage from rights groups and activists across the world.
The latest controversy comes from the case of Ashraf Fayadh, a 35-year-old Palestinian poet whose death sentence was handed down for charges of apostasy on Nov. 17.
Now, in a strange twist, a Palestinian human-rights lawyer in the besieged Gaza Strip will do his best to save Fayadh’s life. But Raji Sourani, Fayadh’s representative and a veteran human-rights crusader, isn’t quite sure how to do it. He began an interview with The Daily Beast by admitting it’s his “first time dealing directly with the Saudi Arabian legal system.”
Sourani does know that he won’t have access to Fayadh. “Our only contact is through his sister and mother in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “His other sister is here [in Gaza]. She’s the one who asked for my assistance.”
Sourani says that the charges against the poet are baseless and motivated by a personal dispute with another Saudi over a European soccer match. “He was arrested in 2013, then again in 2014, and that time he was sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes.”
The repeated arrests, followed by a new judge being appointed to the case who decided Fayadh was promoting atheism (through a collection of poems that weren’t even published in Saudi Arabia), seems fishy to Sourani.
Also, Fayadh was accused of having inappropriate relations with women, a charge supported by the fact that Fayadh had some photos on his phone of female friends and colleagues he had met while attending cultural events throughout the world.
What’s more, Fayadh has denied that he’s anything but an athiest.
“I am not an atheist and it is impossible that I could be,” he told the Associated Press. “The judgment against me was based on the testimony of this student… The terminology I am condemned for is not even in the book, but the accusation against me was based on wrong interpretations for some of the poems.”
Sourani, the experienced lawyer and founder of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, says that the next step is to write Fayadh’s appeal, and to reach out to Saudi officials, including King Salman.
Sourani recognizes that appealing to the king may seem like a suspiciously extrajudicial move for the head of a human-rights organization to make, but he points to Article 50 of the Saudi constitution, which says that “The King, or whoever deputizes for him, is responsible for the implementation of judicial rulings.”
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Why You Should Stop Sleeping Late On The Weekends
Photo credit:
Hitting snooze on the weekend may be bad for you in the long run. Lisa A/Shutterstock
We’ve got some bad news: Sleeping a few extra hours on the weekend may actually be bad for you. In effect, by spending a few additional hours in the land of dreams, you are giving yourself “social jet lag,” according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. This, they say, can lead to health problems in the long run.
December 25, 2015
What We’re Reading
Here’s just a few items to keep you busy over the weekend. Best wishes for the holiday season from all of us at NCSE.
The North Carolina Town That’s Scared of Solar Panels, Revisited, Vox, December 18, 2015 — Dave Roberts re-examines the town which blocked a solar farm—one worry was reportedly that the panels would “suck up all the energy from the sun”—looking at the roots of NIMBYism and tools for overcoming it.
This Ancient Femur Might Muddle Up Human Evolutionary History, Washington Post, December 21, 2015 — Researchers found a femur in China that adds to the growing evidence that human relatives once thought long-extinct may have lived as recently as 10,000–20,000 years ago.
How Science Education Can Save the World, Huffington Post, December 21, 2015 — University of Massachusetts professor Scott Auerbach tells us how science education can help us save the world (and stop climate change). Hint: the answer involves rethinking how we approach science and mathematics with students.
Animated Life: The Living Fossil Fish, The New York Times, December 22, 2015 — This animated documentary covers the discovery of the so-called living fossil, the coelecanth, described here as “an awesome survivor and one of the biggest natural history surprises of the 20th century.”
A Deeper Confusion (PDF), Evolution: Education and Outreach, 2015 — A detailed and informative review of two popular books about junk DNA—John Parrington’s The Deeper Genome and Nessa Carey’s Junk DNA—by Georgi K. Marinov, who worries that they are “guaranteed to only generate even deeper confusion.”
Secretary Kerry: Grant Humanitarian Parole for Group of Targeted Bangladeshi Bloggers
Honorable John F. Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S. Deparment of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Mr. Secretary:
We write on behalf of several leading organizations that represent writers and publishers and defend freedom of expression to convey our deep concern regarding a group of targeted Bangladeshi writers, bloggers, and publishers who are in urgent danger due to their secular beliefs and writings. Five among them have been killed by Islamist extremist groups this year alone, and dozens more have been publicly threatened. The government of Bangladesh has not provided adequate protection to those at risk and, in some cases, has promoted the idea that these bloggers should self-censor in order to deter attacks against them—or that they should leave the country. In what appears to be a concession to appease Islamist groups, Bangladeshi officials have also arrested secular bloggers on charges of insulting religious sentiments in the past.
We write to urge the U.S. government to provide humanitarian parole for a limited number of high-profile Bangladeshi secularists at imminent risk of attack. The dire situation that these writers face fits the criteria and high threshold applicable to the granting of humanitarian parole.
We understand that these visas are designated for emergency circumstances in which there is no other recourse for the individuals at risk. This situation applies here. These writers are unable to seek protection from their own government and are under threat of deadly attack from identifiable non-state groups who have acted on their threats and rhetoric repeatedly in the past. Humanitarian parole is these writers’ only option, as they are otherwise unable to leave the country. As they are still in their own country, they do not qualify for assistance from UNHCR and are not displaced. These visas would provide the only form of relief in this situation. If the United States is unable to grant humanitarian parole to all writers facing these circumstances, we would urge you to mobilize likeminded governments so that other international placements can be secured, including in countries that can offer expedited refugee determinations
Read more by clicking on the name of the source below.
Rights Groups Urge US to Protect Secular Bangladeshi Writers
Leading human rights organizations on Monday urged the United States to offer emergency sanctuary to Bangladeshi writers targeted by Islamic extremists for their secular beliefs.
Groups including PEN American Center, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders made the appeal in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
“These writers are unable to seek protection from their own government and are under threat of deadly attack from identifiable non-state groups who have acted on their threats and rhetoric repeatedly in the past,” the letter said.
Four bloggers and a publisher have been killed in the South Asian nation this year alone, and dozens more have been publicly threatened by Islamist groups.
Read more by clicking on the name of the source below.
Why Is It So Hard To Find This Damn Panda?
Photo credit:
Where’s that damn panda? Gergely Dudás/Facebook
An illustration featuring a concealed panda among a crowd of snowmen is sweeping across social networking websites, and it’s causing people to tear their hair out. Hungarian artist Gergely Dudás posted the frustrating Christmas puzzle on his Facebook page on December 16, and it has been causing people problems ever since.
U.S. Festive Decorations Use More Electricity Than These Countries Do In A Year
Photo credit:
Houses like this use up a lot of electricity during the festive period. V Smoothe via Wikimedia Commons
Some people go to extraordinary lengths to keep up with the Joneses during the festive period, decorating their houses, lawns, mailboxes, cars and even pets with all sorts of sparkly decorations. Often these involve fairy lights and other electrical devices, resulting in a pretty hefty Christmas energy bill. In fact, the amount of electricity used to power these festive decorations in the U.S. alone is greater than the entire annual consumption of some developing countries.
Fossil Friday
Whose snout is this, from Permian days,
On your computer is showing?
Submit your guess (ten words or less)
If you believe you are knowing.
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