May Day

Today is Labor Day in much of Latin America, May Day or International Worker's Day in many European countries, China, Cuba, and the Russian Federation (and in the U.S. and UK, though it's not a federal holiday in either), Beltane for pagans and Wiccans (approximately the midpoint between the vernal equinox and summer solstice, though in reality it's off by a few days), and the National Day of Prayer for evangelical Christians. While they pretend the day of prayer is for all religions that believe in the Abrahamic god, Shirley Dobson, wife of James Dobson of Focus on the Faily, runs the national task force and requires coordinators to sign this statement of faith:

I believe that the Holy Bible is the inerrant Word of The Living God. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only One by which I can obtain salvation and have an ongoing relationship with God. I believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, his virgin birth, his sinless life, his miracles, the atoning work of his shed blood, his resurrection and ascension, his intercession and his coming return to power and glory. I believe that those who follow Jesus are family and there should be unity among all who claim his name. I agree that these statements are true in my life.

So much for the "Judeo" in "Judeo-Christian." Jews, Muslims, and liberal Christians don't qualify--this is an explicitly sectarian organization, endorsed by government in blatant contradiction of the First Amendment.

Pharyngula reports that the Minnesota Atheists have declared today a National Day of Reason and will be demonstrating at the state capitol in St. Paul.

By the way, today is also Loyalty Day in the United States, declared by every U.S. president every year on this day since 1958 as an anticommunist counter to May Day.

So there's a wide variety of possible celebrations--you can thank the labor workers of the past for the 8-hour workday, rage against capitalist exploitation, express your loyalty to our wise and just leaders, celebrate the act of pretending to talk to an invisible being, or be thankful that you've been fortunate enough to have the ability to reason.

Logrolling in our time

The sadly defunct Spy magazine used to have a feature called "Logrolling in Our Time," in which it pointed out examples of authors providing favorable cover blurbs to each other. Like this:

"Written with his customary verve and flair, The Mind of the Market is Michael Shermer at his best. Roving over the entire sweep of history, and drawing on the best of modern science, Shermer attempts a grand synthesis of research from psychology and the neurosciences to demonstrate that markets are moral and that free trade meshes well with human nature. Shermer entertains as well as informs, and in the process he deepens the argument for economic, political and social freedom." --Dinesh D’Souza, author of What’s So Great About America, on Michael Shermer's book, The Mind of the Market

"As an unbeliever I passionately disagree with Dinesh D'Souza on some of his positions. But he is a first-rate scholar whom I feel absolutely compelled to read. His thorough research and elegant prose have elevated him into the top ranks of those who champion liberty and individual responsibility. Now he adds Christianity to his formula for a good society, and although non-Christians and non-theists may disagree with some of his arguments, we ignore him at our peril. D'Souza's book takes the debate to a new level. Read it." --Michael Shermer, author of The Mind of the Market, on Dinesh D'Souza's book, What's So Great About Christianity

D'Souza is clearly not a "first-rate scholar." Neither, for that matter, is Shermer. Both are popularizers.

History and future of the Discovery Institute

Ross Anderson, journalist and former Senior Fellow of the Discovery Institute, gives an interesting history of the founding of the organization. He describes how DI got into the intelligent design business, which has proved to be its major source of funding.

About two years ago, the Discovery Institute founded the Biologic Institute to perform scientific research. At long last, they finally have a website up, and its cast of characters contains many names recognizable from the film "Expelled." Still no scientific theory of intelligent design, however.

National Review on "Expelled"

John Derbyshire of National Review has written about "Expelled." A couple of key paragraphs:

I think this willful act of deception has corrupted creationism irredeemably. The old Biblical creationists were, in my opinion, wrong-headed, but they were mostly honest people. The “intelligent design” crowd lean more in the other direction. Hence the dishonesty and sheer nastiness, even down to plain bad manners, that you keep encountering in ID circles. It’s by no means all of them, but it’s enough to corrupt and poison the creationist enterprise, which might otherwise have added something worthwhile to our national life, if only by way of entertainment value.
...
And now here is Ben Stein, sneering and scoffing at Darwin, a man who spent decades observing and pondering the natural world — that world Stein glimpses through the window of his automobile now and then, when he’s not chattering into his cell phone. Stein claims to be doing it in the name of an alternative theory of the origin of species: Yet no such alternative theory has ever been presented, nor is one presented in the movie, nor even hinted at. There is only a gaggle of fools and fraudsters, gaping and pointing like Apaches on seeing their first locomotive: “Look! It moves! There must be a ghost inside making it move!”

Quite right. There is no scientific theory of intelligent design.

UPDATE (May 1, 2008): Commenter tom points out a subsequent Derbyshire post about Ben Stein's remarkable statement on the Trinity Broadcasting Network that while "Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place ... science leads you to killing people."

Ben Stein is a shameful, despicable human being.

Jesus Made Me Puke

Matt Taibbi goes undercover with the Christian right--at the megachurch of John Hagee, whose endorsement for president John McCain is happy to have.

(Via Pharyngula.)

Evangelical Christian support of eugenics

John Lynch points to an essay by Dennis Durst on "Evangelical Engagements with Eugenics, 1900-1940."

Christian persecution complexes

Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars links to and comments on an essay by Elizabeth Castelli on the history of Christian persecution, real and imagined. It's interesting how many Christians argue that they are being persecuted, even as they are engaged in persecution themselves.

Which reminds me again of Robby Berry's classic "Life in Our Anti-Christian America."

More on Mike Edmondson and the Expelled viral video

Simon Owens at Bloggasm interviewed Michael Edmondson, creator of the "Beware the Believers" viral video that was widely acclaimed by critics of the film "Expelled" for its humor and polish. Apparently the segment was originally intended to be in "Expelled," but the producers decided to turn it into a viral video instead, since it didn't fit with the character of the film. (Insert your choice of snarky comment about how it didn't fit here.)

WorldNetDaily publishes something sensible

It's a letter to the editor from Jeremy Gunn, director of the Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at the ACLU, in response to an idiotic falsehood-ridden column by Pat Boone.

If anyone ever comes across an attempt by the anti-ACLU crowd to actually respond to the content of Gunn's letter, I'd be interested in seeing it. I suspect it will most likely be ignored, and any alleged responses will not respond to its content.

(Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars.)

Matthew LaClair op-ed in Los Angeles Times

Matthew LaClair has an op-ed piece in today's Los Angeles Times in which he talks about his evangelizing history teacher and the biased textbook used in his class.

James Q. Wilson defends his textbook in a companion L.A. Times op-ed; the bulk of his defense is that the later edition of his book fixes the problems LaClair complains about.

UPDATE (June 29, 2008): The July/August 2008 issue of the Skeptical Inquirer comments on this controversy. It seems that the later edition of the book is not yet available for schools and contains most, if not all, of the same misrepresentations and problems that LaClair complained about. Wilson, through his dishonest op-ed, has thrown away his credibility.