My mother-in-law is is one of the kindest, most open-minded persons I know. A retired elementary school teacher who taught for four decades in a gritty urban district, she radiates intelligence and goodness. She stands with science on all the hot-button issues of our day, such as evolution. Now in her early 80s, she is…Continue Reading…
In her book Doubt: A History, the scholar and poet Jennifer Hecht writes about having awe for the universe without being religious. She talked about this during a radio interview: It seems that if you have a doctrine, a version of rationalism or a version of atheism that makes it so that you have to be worried about using the…Continue Reading…
Roger Cohn, the editor of Yale Environment 360, conducted an interesting interview with Mary Evelyn Tucker, a scholar who studies the intersection of ecology and religion. This is a perennial interest of mine, even though I’m a life-long atheist. Most people in the world (including many scientists) possess a religious faith or seek out some kind…Continue Reading…
Despite my many faults, I’m a nice guy. I can be too sarcastic for some, and lately I’ve been cranky because of a growing sleep deficit, but those who know me know I’m a caring, good-natured person. This is not meant to sound self-serving. Think of it as background context for the anecdote I’m about…Continue Reading…
We have an annual event in the U.S. that I think is kind of hokey but also well-meaning. After reading this dispatch from the recent Ecological Society of America conference, I thought maybe the idea could be broadened a bit, into something that allowed a local pastor to tag along with an ecologist or climate scientist…Continue Reading…
That’s what a certain organization is trying to urge with this controversial billboard outside Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey. I’m all for “celebrating reason,” but picking on Santa Claus to make your point? Then again, the target audience appears to be people who are secretive not only to their friends and family, but maybe even…Continue Reading…