Congratulations, Darwin: Americans Are Finally Embracing Evolution

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Aug 28, 2021

This was unexpected and devastating news from the Center For Inquiry: Tom Flynn, the editor of Free Inquiry magazine and former executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism, died at 66 earlier this week. The cause of his death was not announced. CFI set up a memorial page in his honor and are coordinating donations in his name.
An off-duty pilot gave passengers aboard a flight to Chicago an earful after commandeering the PA system and droning on about his history of sexual abuse, sex addiction, and homosexuality. At the end of his self loathing confessional the pilot got to the point we all saw coming from a mile away: “Ultimately, I want to share the love of Christ with you.”
I stand by this:

There are many problems with today’s Republican Party, but this one wasn’t on my list:

Christian reality star Josh Duggar’s attorney must know the case against his client is damning, because he’s throwing Donald Trump under a bus in an effort to get the charges dropped on a technicality.
Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime explains:
When federal agents started looking into Duggar in 2019, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) was under the control of Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan, and the probe continued into the tenure of Acting Secretary Chad Wolf. The Government Accountability Office later found that Trump appointed both men unlawfully, circumventing the normal process of congressional approval. Federal judges later ruled similarly, invalidating some of the agency’s actions under their control.
In short: The agents who investigated Josh Duggar were illegally appointed, therefore Duggar’s alleged possession of illicit photos of children (how’s that for avoiding a spam filter?) should still be a secret; flawless logic from a lawyer who has no faith in the innocence of his client.
Should I give him the money?

The chaplains at Harvard University just elected longtime Humanist chaplain Greg Epstein as their leader: An honorable promotion for someone who’s known for building bridges with the faithful as they work toward common goals rather than trying to burn them all.
From the New York Times:
Mr. Epstein, 44, author of the book “Good Without God,” is a seemingly unusual choice for the role. He will coordinate the activities of more than 40 university chaplains, who lead the Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and other religious communities on campus. Yet many Harvard students — some raised in families of faith, others never quite certain how to label their religious identities — attest to the influence that Mr. Epstein has had on their spiritual lives.
Creationist Kent Hovind wants you to know he definitely is NOT a cult leader:

Brigham Young University is known for being one of the most homophobic schools in the country, and yet one of the leaders of the Mormon Church chastised students for not being sufficiently anti-gay.
A recent survey from the Pew Research Center found that the more religious Americans are, the less likely they are to believe in intelligent life beyond Earth.
Surely the Dunning-Kruger effect is at play here.
This week the Minnesota Supreme Court shot down an appeal made by the attorneys of Stephen Allwine, a church elder at the United Church of God who was charged in 2018 with the first degree premeditated murder of his wife.
Desperate to no longer be married, Allwine staged his wife’s murder to appear as a suicide after a hired hitman took his money (bitcoin) and ran. Why not just divorce her? Divorce was discouraged in Allwine’s church (but murder is more of a grey area, evidently).
Some Christians just love pretending to be victims:

Australian police ticketed 31 churchgoers at Christ Embassy Sydney on Sunday after they were busted gathering in violation of COVID public health orders. Now that’s how you do it.
Thirty adults were fined $1,000 each and the church was issued a $5,000 penalty.
The police minister, David Elliott, was “quite stunned” by the reckless behaviour, saying if major cathedrals can stream services then suburban churches can as well.
Christian blogger and professional mommy-shamer Lori Alexander has come up with yet another reason women shouldn’t work outside their home:
Yes, teenagers can have sex in cars, but it’s far more comfortable and easier for them to have it in their own homes and in their own beds. When mothers aren’t home, it’s too easy for them to fornicate. When a mother is home full time, it’s impossible for them to do this IF the mother is a godly woman who would never allow her teenagers to do this. My teenagers sure knew this!
Judging on prudishness, I’d venture to guess Alexander would be the last to know what’s going on with her teenagers’ budding sexuality.
Jessica Hagy always knows how to connect interesting ideas. (I am *so* there for Line BD.)

Two siblings were expelled from Springs Charter Schools Temecula Student Center in California for refusing to wear masks, citing their Christian faith as permission to put other students at risk of infection.
Roy Speckhardt, the departing executive director of the American Humanist Association, is shifting gears by taking a new role with a voting rights group.

Honestly, it seems like a natural step up to go from leading a prominent atheist group to promoting civil rights for all. Best of luck to him!

Nearly 140 years after his death, Charles Darwin can begin to rest in peace. According to a new paper published in the journal Public Understanding of Science, the public acceptance of evolution in America is finally outpacing the rejection of evolution after decades of running neck-and-neck.
“From 1985 to 2010, there was a statistical dead heat between acceptance and rejection of evolution,” said lead researcher Jon D. Miller of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. “But acceptance then surged, becoming the majority position in 2016.”
Examining data over 35 years, the study consistently identified aspects of education — civic science literacy, taking college courses in science and having a college degree — as the strongest factors leading to the acceptance of evolution.
And you thought God lived in Heaven? Silly atheists.