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elfs- The Bible Literacy Project responds to Criticism
- There are two groups in the U.S. vying to have the Bible taught in schools. One is the National Council on Bible Curriculum, which starts with the assumption that the Bible is true and teaches it as history. The Bible Literacy Project, on the other hand, teaches the Bible as literature and asks students to read it with a critical, analytical eye. Worldnet Daily is incensed that someone might suggest students ask "Why does good and evil exist?," declare that "Job is a... difficult book that provides no clear cut moral answers," or ask that students ponder Dostoevsky's maxim "Without God, all things are permitted," and discuss a world where all things were permitted.
I mean, never mind that all three of these topics were, in fact, hot topics both in my Jewish sunday school, or in my Anglican-led Comparative religions class in high school. These are all very valid, and powerful, subjects for Biblical literacy. The NCBC is out to Christianize an America without critical thinking. The BLP does the honorable thing of telling you that faith without reason is blind. (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars) - Posthumanism at the NY Times
- Gary Marcus makes the once-upon-a-time outrageous proposal that someday we'll all be Simon Illyan with a chip in our brains to provide perfect recall as needed, and that this will be a good thing.
- We have more atmospheric CO2 than in 1988. We're better off than in 1988. Therefore...
- This has to be just about the stupidest argument I've seen yet about global warming. It almost makes me hang my head in shame for posting two Cato-based entries the other day. Indur Goklany gives a cherry-picked list (which I mostly have no complaints about) showing that human life, globally, is actually doing better it was in 1988, and therefore worrying about anthropogenic global warming is unnecessary alarmism. Correlation and causation 101, anyone? (via Matthew Yglesias)
- Anti-gay attitudes spook big businesses considering Oklahoma
- Kansas and Texas both saw threats from high-tech businesses saying they would not locate new business in those states because of their pro-ID education policies, and Kansas has backed off. Now Oklahoma, home of Sally "Gays are the biggest threat America has ever faced" Kern, is worried that her recent outburst may cause them to deal with a similar threat from businesses with gay and lesbian executives or clientele. (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
- The death of private, enclosed spaces
- Frank Gehry describes the new world of architecture, one in which the old rules of privacy and purpose have given way to a nomadism driven by cell phones and wireless laptops, in which the only thing anyone needs is an outlet embedded in the table of their nearest cafe'. The blend of work capacity and creature comforts afforded by new cafe's and similar spaces will change architecture forever.
- Researchers uncover details about how dietary restriction slows down aging
- Woot! Dietary restriction has long been known to increase lifespan, but how? Scientists at the UW have figured out part of the mechanism, and are now developing drugs that cause the ribosomal modification that leads to an increased lifespan. (via IO9)
- "Academic Freedom Bills" and Sex Education
- Muahahahahah. I'd vote for Ted Deutsch (D-Boca Raton, FL) if the man ever runs for anything bigger. Ronda Storms (R-FL) introduced a bill last month to allow teacher to teach whatever they wanted about "scientific theories about the origin and evolution of life" without fear of reprisal. Deutsch argued that the bill should extend to all the sciences, and then dropped the bombshell that that included sex education and reproduction. C'mon, Miss Storms, teach the controversy!
- Ratzinger lays the blame at our feet.
- According to the BBC article, Pope Ratzinger "laid part of the blame for the crisis, of which he feels 'deeply ashamed', on a breakdown in US values."
Oh, bullshit. It's your house, Popesy, while God is away. You're supposed to keep it in order. You and your officials. Instead, you knowingly moved bad priests from one parish to another, hid their crimes, protected them from lawsuits, and generally acted more like a criminal conspiracy than a source of moral order.
If only you had some book you could use to teach your subordinates not to put their hands inside the choirboys' robes!
