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Will Mindfulness Change the World? Daniel Goleman Isn’t Sure

By Jay Michaelson

…ferent lineage in this book—the lineage of science journalism. That’s my training, my background, and my profession. That’s how I know there’s a book to be written—by following the science. That’s what happened here. I saw that there was a surge in science about attention that had huge implications for our lives, and that was enough for me to write a book. I really see this in the framework of attention skill-building. I don’t see it as a book th…

Take the Van Gogh Challenge: Doctor Who Part VII

By Gabriel Mckee

…, why. Religion (as I see it—and of course that’s the point!) differs from science inasmuch as it isn’t primarily about describing the world as it is (although it should take our best understanding of the natural world into account), but about depicting the world as it could be, and transforming it into that better vision of reality. And of course, when religion takes a harmful view of the future, it can often contribute to bringing about a minor…

How To: Write a Science-Explains-Religion Op-Ed

By Andrew Aghapour

So you’ve decided to write an opinion piece about how science has just about explained religion. Congratulations! What you’re doing is incredibly important, and it couldn’t be easier. Just follow these four easy steps and you’ll get published in no time: 1. Write a short, disarming introduction. You don’t want to lose religious readers from the start, so try opening with something cheeky, like a reference to those popular television cavemen, or a…

The Social Science Animal: Brooks Argues for Emotion over Reason

By Beatrice Marovich

…hy.” This is an interesting proposition, and it’s telling: if Brooks’ tale about who we are gets a bit mystical at points, this is no accident. There are spiritual motivations behind Brooks’ appropriation of scientific research. Like Rousseau, to live (and to be fully human) is the grand, didactic lesson with which Brooks hopes to shape and teach us. I should say that Rousseau features prominently in this analysis because Animal takes its very for…

Fragments of Secular Sanctity

By Louis A. Ruprecht

…seum. That is why I am not sure whether this is a story about religion, or about science, or about art. Perhaps it is a story about something else entirely, a curious and half-hidden alternation between the sacred and profane. This is partly a story about the modern museum. The first modern public art museum in the world was opened to the public in 1734, in Rome, just three years before the alleged theft of Galileo’s suspect digits. This was the C…

Falwell’s Fall Was Unrelated to the Anti-Science, Racism, and Patriarchy Trifecta that Built Liberty

By Rita Nakashima-Brock

…parents in Holmes County, Mississippi, successfully sued the U.S. Treasury about three whites-only religious schools that operated tax free. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision in their favor in Green v. Coit, saying that such schools, having been founded in the wake of the desegregation mandate, “cannot demonstrate that they do not racially discriminate in admissions, employment, scholarships, loan programs, athletics, and extracurricular pro…

Oil Spill Blues: Prayer, Science, and Grassroots Activism

By Lauri Lebo

…e problem in dealing with the environmental disaster, whether by prayer or science, is that nobody knows how bad it will get before it can get better. Until the Deepwater Horizon well is stopped, scientists say there is simply no way to assess the extent of the damage. “There is an unbelievable amount of uncertainty,” Bahr said. “I’ve never seen so much uncertainty as a scientist. All these variables. It’s amazingly complicated.” Landry said this…

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s Legacy of Eugenics and Racism Can’t Be Ignored

By John P. Slattery

…ersons of various ethnic backgrounds, a patent disregard for the limits of science, and a disregard for the weakest and poorest among humanity. But first, let’s be clear: before World War II, much of the Western World was, what most of us would now regard as openly racist. Anti-Semitism, anti-blackness, anti-immigration, anti-disability, and misogyny dominated the populations of the United States and Europe. Leaders in science and industry coupled…

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s Legacy of Eugenics and Racism Can’t Be Ignored

By John P. Slattery

…ersons of various ethnic backgrounds, a patent disregard for the limits of science, and a disregard for the weakest and poorest among humanity. But first, let’s be clear: before World War II, much of the Western World was, what most of us would now regard as openly racist. Anti-Semitism, anti-blackness, anti-immigration, anti-disability, and misogyny dominated the populations of the United States and Europe. Leaders in science and industry coupled…

Louisiana Citizens Horrified that there’s Evolution in Science Books

By Lauri Lebo

…textbooks don’t comply with the anti-evolution law known as the “Louisiana Science Education Act,” which the Family Forum helped write and successfully lobbied for in 2008. The LSEA instructs educators to promote “critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.” It also allows teachers…