A few weekends ago, a friend of mine and I went to a free workshop titled “Unlocking the Mysteries of Islam.” We went not to criticize or confront anyone’s beliefs, but to find out more about Islam from actual Muslims who were willing to put together a workshop open to the public. There were two …
Author Archives: dlgilbert
Woo by the ton!
Given that folks in the Skeptic, Science, and Atheist communities generally refer to new age healing, astrology, homeopathic “remedies,” and other spiritual-type wackiness as “woo,” I found this sign near my house very, very humorous. Woo for $299 a ton! That sounds like a great deal for the Discovery Institute… although, on second thought, they …
More fun with church signs
A recent change to the sign of a local church provides this: Love, not time, heals all wounds. God needs your love, too. I like the sentiment of the first part, though I think time plays a part, too. However, the second part gave me pause and actually got me thinking about something that’s puzzled …
Kevin Jennings appointed to education department
Kevin Jennings will become the assistant deputy secretary of education for the department’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. That’s quite a mouthful. According to this article, “the office oversees financial assistance for drug and violence prevention and is in charge of developing program policy for the Department of Education.” Among his many distinctions, Mr. …
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Judging theories on their merits
In Friday’s The Daily News Online in Batavia, NY, John Cantillion wrote a letter to the editor in response to a piece by Reverend Fred Jensen a few days before. I didn’t read the original piece, but the reply by Mr. Cantillion was just so awash with misinformation and theological chest thumping that it was …
Church of Scientology banned from editing Wikipedia
I’m a big proponent of free speech, so this may seem contradictory, but I’m delighted that the Wikipedia “surpreme court” has decided to ban Wikipedia contributions by any IP address owned or operated by the Church of Scientology. The “Church” of Scientology is well known for its efforts to remove any Scientology-related materials and criticisms …
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Ricky Gervais: Darwin was wrong.
Since I haven’t been posting much lately, I thought I’d toss in a little bit of humor courtesy of Ricky Gervais. I just caught this on Unreasonable Faith and wanted to share because everyone can use some laughter to brighten up their day. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foPL1arjriA
I support stem cell research
Neil Gaimen supports stem cell research, too. Since President Obama removed the restrictions on stem cell research funding, the National Institute of Health has been working on a set of guidelines for scientists wanting said funding. A draft of the guidelines has been issued and the next 14 days are the public comment period for …
It seems I was a bit vague.
My last post about gluten-free communion wafers seems to have a conclusion that is a bit vague… at least a lot more vague than I’d intended (ie… not at all). The two commenters, “David” and “stephanie” concluded that my post was criticizing the Catholic church’s position on the gluten content of the Eucharist hosts. The …
Jesus is Gluten Free
Last week, I heard mention of a company making gluten-free hosts (or communion wafers). I didn’t think much of it, since it seems logical that someone (especially a child) who had coeliac disease would not want to eat something during communion that would make him ill. However, upon further examination, I found the issue to …