A Romantic Rationalist

Two blog(er)s that I greatly admire, Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy and PZ Myers of Pharyngula disagree over just what atheists/skeptics/non-believers/rationalists/free-thinkers (I will be using these somewhat interchangeably throughout the remainder of this piece) ought to be advocating with regards to the revelation (pun intended) that Pope Benedict XVI, while still the (presumably fallible...you can be sure that Bill Donohue will point that out before long) Cardinal Ratzinger, knew of, and was complicit in, the shuffling around of Catholic priests against whom substantive accusations of child sexual abuse had been leveled, in what plainly was, and is, an ongoing attempt to shield those priests (and those above them in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church) from investigations by temporal and civil authorities. There is even documentary evidence that indicates that the Church has been aware of the existence of pedophilic priests for decades. More documentary evidence has surfac...

“Faith” is a very slippery concept and the meaning changes with the context in which it is used. In our culture we are inculcated from a young age to regard “faith” as a virtue. But is it always a virtue? One of ways in which the word “faith” is used is a relatively trivial one, commonly used in the context of encouraging another person, as when a parent encourages their nervous son or daughter before a musical recital or big exam by saying something like: “You’ll do fine, I have faith in you.” Another, more profound way in which the word is used is when someone says something like: “I have faith in the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, and in the Enlightenment values of reason and free inquiry on which the leading Founding Fathers drew.” A third way in which “faith” is used is in defending ones certainty of the truth of a proposition when there are no other good reasons to conclude that it is, in fact, true. Too frequently, one ...

At the moment, I am living in one of the last states to hold their primary elections, South Dakota . I grew up here but was absent, except for short visits, from 1983 until 2005. With the Democratic race going right down to the wire, South Dakota voters (at least the Democrats) are the recipients of much unaccustomed attention from Senators Clinton and Obama. This attention is probably a good thing if it serves to overcome voter apathy and get people fired up for the whole informed self-government thing. Though I am not registered with any political party, I certainly won’t be voting Republican. Nor am I terribly enthused about the Democratic contenders. The lengths the Democratic candidates have gone to in bending over backwards to appeal to “people of faith” have, quite frankly, appalled me. Sen. Obama announced on May 31 st that he has withdrawn from membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago after repeatedly having to distance himself ...