Progress is born of doubt and inquiry. The Church never doubts, never inquires. To doubt is heresy, to inquire is to admit that you do not know—the Church does neither.
Robert Ingersoll, Ingersoll's Lectures, pg. 151, 1878.

Archive for February, 2007

Pedophiles in Southern Baptist churches?

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

It appears that allegations are emerging regarding pedophiles within the Southern Baptist churches similar to the Roman Catholic scandal of recent years. Organizations such as Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and websites such as Stop Baptist Predators are organizing campaigns for Southern Baptist conventions to police their own.

FOX News’ dirty attacks against Obama

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

Now, I’m not a shill for any political candidate over another, but this video highlights some of the many unsophisticated attacks FOX has brought against Senator Obama recently.

A word on arrogance

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

A common misconception or accusation against atheists is that we are arrogant. Many theists believe that for atheists to claim that absolutely no god exists would be for us to claim to have all of the knowledge in the universe (omnipotence), which we do not have. Despite the fact that I know of no atheist who actually claims such a thing, let’s look at this from the other point-of-view.

Victims of the war on drugs: dogs

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

Forgotten victims of the war on drugs:

In the course of researching paramilitary drug raids, I’ve found some pretty disturbing stuff. There was a case where a SWAT officer stepped on a baby’s head while looking for drugs in a drop ceiling. There was one where an 11-year-old boy was shot at point-blank range. Police have broken down doors, screamed obscenities, and held innocent people at gunpoint only to discover that what they thought were marijuana plants were really sunflowers, hibiscus, ragweed, tomatoes, or elderberry bushes. (It’s happened with all five.)

Here’s the secret, buy more shit [updated]

Friday, February 23rd, 2007

Apparently there’s some new ‘woo woo’ bullshit percolating through the country at the moment. Some ‘philosophers’ are touting a new self-help method of turning your life around called The Secret. It seems Oprah is all over it, helping to reveal the ’secret’ and expand its marketing empire. Currently there’s a DVD, book, CD and more.

New Design

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

Welcome to Truth and the Devil, everyone. I hope the new site design is pleasing. I find it more organized, engaging and easier to navigate. I’m particularly fond of the new logo.
New Truth and the Devil logo

Hopefully you’ll see some new activity in the coming days and weeks. Also beware of subtle changes that might continue be made as I work out any bugs.

Feel free to leave any comments, especially if you find any bugs.

DNA Wrapping and Replication

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007

This remarkable animation shows the processes of folding, wrapping, and replicating of DNA in our cells. This really makes me want to learn biochemistry.

A death in the family

Thursday, February 1st, 2007

I received a call Monday night at 10:30 from my grandma. I quickly realized something was wrong by the tone of her voice. As I heard my mom sobbing in the background, my grandma told me that she and my mom were at the hospital, and my mom’s husband (my step-dad) had died from a massive heart attack at the age of 51. On their wedding anniversary, no less.

It’s hard to know how to react in a situation like that. My mom was too hysterical to talk with, but I called my brother to let him know, and we both rushed down from Lawrence to Wichita to see her.
It’s been a turbulent couple of days, but I wasn’t really emotionally involved until tonight.