The first person that brought the news of Alexander's death was Asclepiades the son of Hipparchus. Demades desired the people to give no credit to it: " For," said he, " if Alexander were dead, the whole world would smell the carcass."
- Plutarch's Lives; Phocion 22

The gospels to modern Christians are what the Declaration of Independence is to most Americans. We remember a good line or two and try to turn that into an entire philosophy while ignoring all the boring or troubling bits.

“It’s disheartening to see those who hold themselves out as voices of reason pretend this is merely an academic debate while falling for the junk ‘science’ and fabrications of a movement hell-bent on enforcing so-called ‘traditional’ gender roles and norms.” solid case from @nickfish.me et al.

Templeton has been doing this - and exactly this - for a couple of decades now. If I was more cynical, I'd gin up a "science points to the modern Christian upper-class idea of God" essay and try for some of their sweet, sweet lucre.

I try to be a skeptic in the broad sense. That's a feeling that humans may not have access to certainty. If knowing something means being 100% certain, I'm not sure we're warranted in saying we know anything, which makes language tricky. I'm agnostic about everything, so what does the word mean?

Watching the arguments in the online atheist sphere. It reminds me of how second-wave feminists split with the anti-war movement due to the objectification of women. I suspect this is common in a lot of movements. All we agree on is a lack of God.

Grew up in the 80s listening to the Moral Majority and similar rant about American moral decadence while Trump was attending coke-fueled parties in NYC with Marla Maples on his arm. Watching the heirs to Falwell rally around Trump is a very painful confirmation that is was all a sham.

100 years ago today, #OTD in 1925, Edwin Hubble announced that Andromeda and other spiral nebulae were definitely separate galaxies outside the Milky Way, in a paper read to an AAS meeting by H.N. Russell.

There was no doubt that the Universe was more than just our little island of stars. 🧪 🔭 ⚛️

If God existed, He would send more subtle signs than this.

So long, Dawk.

Look out for that swan ...

Has anyone in the history of creation ever been moved by an argument over burden of proof or arguments over the definition of religion? But two-thirds of the discourse seem to be "prove that God exists/doesn't exist" or "atheism is just another faith." Worse than unhelpful, it's boring.