ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 95

Hubble Spots Black Hole ‘Missing Link’

By Bruce Dorminey The Hubble Space Telescope has detected the best-ever candidate for an intermediate- mass black hole (IMBH) —- a medium-sized black hole some 50,000 times the mass of our Sun in the act of gobbling up a passing star. If this discovery holds, it will provide astrophysicists with the long-sought after missing link in …

Christian Actor Kirk Cameron: Let’s Pray for 30 Days to “Send Fear Running”

By Beth Stoneburner It’s the question everyone asks during a pandemic: What would Kirk Cameron do? The Christian actor is calling on everyone to pray for 30 days in order to… oh, who knows. But thank goodness there are doctors and scientists and other professionals doing the actual work of helping people get through this time of crisis. “I …

Prince George’s County pastor holds service in defiance of Governor’s order

By Ike Ejiochi A defiant pastor in Prince George’s County appears to have disregarded Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s social distancing rules. State Police interrupted a church service of about 50 people over the weekend, and the entire encounter was captured on cell phone video, and posted on the pastor’s Facebook page. A group of about 50 people gathered …

Texas pastors demand a “religious liberty” exemption to coronavirus stay-at-home orders

By Ian Millhiser Last week, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who oversees the area of Texas that includes Houston, issued an order requiring “all individuals currently living within Harris County … to stay at their place of residence except for Essential Activities” (in Texas, the title “county judge” refers to the chief executive of a county government). …

OPEN DISCUSSION APRIL 2020

This thread has been created for discussion on themes relevant to Reason and Science for which there are not currently any dedicated threads. Please note it is NOT for general chat, and that our Comment Policy applies as usual. There is a link to this at the foot of the page. If you would like …

The $1 billion bet: Pharma giant and U.S. government team up in all-out coronavirus vaccine push

By Jon Cohen The crowded race to develop a vaccine against the new coronavirus just received a potential billion-dollar boost: Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced on 30 March that it and the U.S. government, through a military research agency, would together devote up to that amount to move a candidate product made by its Janssen …

‘My Pillow’ Trends After MyPillow Founder Urges Americans To Focus On Religion During White House Coronavirus Briefing

By Jeffery Martin After MyPillow founder Mike Lindell appeared Monday during a White House coronavirus task force briefing to announce his company’s intention to produce face masks to help mitigate the spread of coronavirus, the term “My Pillow” became the number one trending topic on Twitter. Lindell told reporters he had diverted 75 percent of …

Viciously anti-LGBTQ group runs Central Park tent hospital & forces volunteers to reject gay rights

By Bil Browning Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian group that regularly takes advantage of humanitarian crises to spread their far-right agenda, has been revealed as the charity behind a tent hospital that has been erected in New York City’s Central Park. Franklin Graham, son of the famous evangelist Billy Graham, leads the group. Graham’s history …

Falwell Holds One-Man-Stand As Coronavirus Fears, Criticism Rain Down On Liberty U

By Kate Riga After nearly 2,000 students flooded back to Liberty University fresh off of spring break, the school’s president Jerry Falwell is mounting a one-man stand against the governor, local officials and The New York Times. The doctor who runs Liberty University’s student health service, Dr. Thomas Eppes, told the New York Times that already at …

The Cult of the Shining City Embraces the Plague

By Jared Yates Sexton President Donald Trump answered questions Tuesday afternoon for a Fox News virtual town hall surrounded by a frame of graphics. In the lower right-hand corner, a box documented the market’s delirious approval of Trump’s bizarre recent push to ease the state of emergency around the coronavirus pandemic to aid the economy. …