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Religion 101

Recent blog posts have addressed some controversial matters arising from the intersection (some might say collision) between religion and our secular culture in general — and our secular public schools in particular. I’ve addressed common misconceptions and misinformation revolving around such heated issues as teaching creationism and posting the Ten Commandments in U.S. public schools,…

In recent blogs, I’ve been concerned with clearing up some common misconceptions relating to areas of interface (sometimes involving significant controversy and conflict) between religion and secular American culture. Having previously discussed why teaching creationism in public school science classes, or posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, are both inappropriate and unconstitutional, I…

At sunset today (as I write, Wednesday, January 23, 2013), Muslims around the world will begin their observance of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, an observance known in the Islamic world as Mawlid al-Nabi (Arabic for “Birth of the Prophet”), or simply Mawlid for short. Mawlid falls each year upon the 12th day of…

To attempt to put a more “human face” upon all of this abstract armchair argumentation over the constitutionality and legality (or otherwise) of the government posting or supporting displays of the Ten Commandments in U.S. public schools, let’s wrap things up by just trying to look at the whole issue from a much more personal…

In my previous blog entry, I underscored the fact that since U.S. public schools are secular state institutions, they therefore cannot endorse or promote religion in general, or any specific religions or religious doctrines in particular. And this means that it is flatly unconstitutional for the Ten Commandments to be posted (and thereby promoted) by…

In my previous blog entry, I mentioned the fact that U.S. public schools are taxpayer-supported, government-operated state institutions (teachers and other public school staff members are state employees), and that, as state institutions, U.S. public schools are therefore required to function as secular institutions (owing to the constitutional principle of “separation of church and state”…

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, there simply is no alternative scientific theory in legitimate, evidence-based competition with evolution. “Creation scientists” frequently attempt to present what they take to be valid empirical data in support of creationism (or at least which seems to them to contradict evolutionary theory), but all such attempts thus…

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, the theory of evolution is far from “a theory in crisis,” and is in fact fully accepted by the overwhelming majority of scientists worldwide. Within the U.S. alone (where belief in creationism is widespread among the public), polls indicate that about 95% of scientists generally, and over…

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, a sizable proportion of the American public in general fails to understand that in science, a theory is not just a working hypothesis or a mere educated guess, but actually a systematic, comprehensive, testable, and scientifically well-supported explanation of observed phenomena. Theories never become facts; theories explain…

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, a sizable proportion of the American public in general seems to have the impression that creationism and evolution are equally legitimate heavyweight contenders in the scientific marketplace of unsettled ideas. With so much anti-evolution creationist propaganda currently in circulation, and with so many periodic attempts to introduce…
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