A Catholic Reply to “How to Suck At Your Religion”

An anti-religious (and specifically, anti-Catholic) webcomic is making the rounds on the Internet right now. It’s part of a webcomic called The Oatmeal, and is called “How to suck at your religion.” I have to warn anyone clicking that link that it’s really offensive: profane, lewd, and blasphemous, all at once. Honestly, if you don’t… Continue reading A Catholic Reply to “How to Suck At Your Religion”

Is the Shroud of Turin Authentic?

Italian researchers with the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development are claiming that the Shroud of Turin couldn’t have been a Medieval forgery, because the available technology to forge it wasn’t existent. And what they’re suggesting produced the image (a flash of light) is incredible.  From a Telegraph article summarizing the… Continue reading Is the Shroud of Turin Authentic?

Abortion Waiting Periods Work

A reader over at the National Catholic Register wrote in response to an article about taxpayer-funded abortions in D.C. (thank God I live in Virginia now!): The idea that women don’t sufficiently “reflect” on their own medical decisions unless forced to by the government is insulting and infantalizing.  The real effect of these delays is… Continue reading Abortion Waiting Periods Work

Hawking and Mlodinow’s Proof for God, Revisited

In February, I wrote a post showing that Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow’s attempt to disprove the necessity of a Creator actually does the opposite.  By having a book-length discussion of the logical premises which atheists have to accept in order to write off a Creator, it became clear that the argument was circular.  This was the… Continue reading Hawking and Mlodinow’s Proof for God, Revisited

Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow’s Inadvertent Proof for God

There’s an old saying about giving a man enough rope, and he’ll hang himself – the idea being that if someone is wrong or lying, the longer they go on, the more obvious this becomes.  Well, Bantam Books gave Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow all the rope they wanted, and the result is The Grand Design, in… Continue reading Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow’s Inadvertent Proof for God

Abortion, Religion and Politics

Two thoughts on the nexus between religion in politics in the abortion debate: (1) The Abortion Catch-22 Keep an eye open on this.  When religious leaders speak out against abortion from the pulpit, they’re said to be “getting involved in politics.”  Meanwhile, politicians who advocate against abortion are said to be forcing their religion on… Continue reading Abortion, Religion and Politics

Why Jerry Coyne is Wrong on Science and Religion

In a USA Today editorial from two days ago, Professor Jerry Coyne attempts to argue that science and religion are irreconcilable foes.  The editorial is frustrating, in that it’s a series of assertions which never really rise to the level of a developed argument: he simply makes a series of arguably-true and patently-false claims, one… Continue reading Why Jerry Coyne is Wrong on Science and Religion

Stem Cell Research and “Science v. Religion”

I. Is Opposition to Embryonic Stem-Cell Research Anti-Science? A 2005 New York Times article begins: When Donald Kennedy, a biologist and editor of the eminent journal Science, was asked what had led so many American scientists to feel that George W. Bush’s administration is anti-science, he isolated a familiar pair of culprits: climate change and… Continue reading Stem Cell Research and “Science v. Religion”

Kagan, Partial-Birth Abortion, and the “Proper Place” of Science

The big story surrounding Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, is that while she was working for the Clinton White House, she secretly drafted a “scientific opinion” for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists claiming that partial-birth abortions were necessary. In other words: Kagan’s boss, President Bill Clinton, wanted partial-birth abortion to remain legal.… Continue reading Kagan, Partial-Birth Abortion, and the “Proper Place” of Science

When Does Human Life Begin?

The central argument motivating the pro-life movement is that a new life begins at the union of sperm and egg, called either “conception” or “fertilization” (there’s been a clever move by pro-choicers to redefine conception as “implantation,” in true Orwellian fashion, so fertilization may be the better term). For the vast majority of people, the… Continue reading When Does Human Life Begin?