The Labour Humanist

"Pushy homos and uppity females getting you down?"

"Pushy homos and uppity females getting you down? Why not cloak your hate in faith and say: It's my religion!" At the Labour Humanist we like to promote some of the independent political cartoonists out there. So please do check out Mikhaela Reid. And here's a great example of her work:

Worth a moment of your time (Jan 26 2007)

Cross U-Turn: If British Airways think it's the end of the matter...thnk again.
Suzanne Evans PR Blog with evidence from the US on how BA's decision to allow staff to wear public symbols of religion could end up in the courts:

"This is why I sense trouble ahead. A Wiccan wearing a five-pointed star on her lapel meets a Christian wearing a cross on his. Are they going to meet each other in a neutral way? Or is religion going to get in the way of a good working relationship?...A current court case in the USA centres on a Wiccan ex-Starbucks barista, who claims she was asked on several occasions to remove the pentacle from around her neck, despite the fact her colleagues, including her Christian Manager, all wore crosses...I fear it won’t be long before we see a similar case here. Evangelicals in all faiths often will not accept open proselytising by those of other faiths, too often refusing to afford them the rights they demand for themselves."

Adoption Row: The Catholic Church is making a simple, naked power political gesture
Andrew Brown says the adoption row has nothing to do with morals and everything to do power games by the main churches:

"(the Catholic church)...wants from this is a recognition that its view of morality should take precedence over that of a democratically elected parliament. What is more, the view of morality they are fighting for is particularly homophobic in a way that Vatican teaching more generally isn't. Catholic adoption agencies might consistently refuse to consider as parents unmarried couples, remarried couples, single parents, couples who practice contraception, supporters of the death penalty and anyone else who breaches Catholic moral teaching. That would be a consistent stand and one so wildly unpopular that no bishop would consider it. In all those cases, the church has managed to finesse the problem, and with a nod and a wink if necessary allowed humanity to triumph. But the homosexuals are different. They really are the victims of widespread popular prejudice."

Worth a moment of your time (Jan 23 2007)

Psychology explains bias towards aggresive foreign policies?
Rationally Speaking looks at the psychology of bias in foreign policy making:.
"The basic idea is that humans are affected by a large number of “biases,” i.e. instinctual reactions affecting our judgment in a non-rational, and often downright irrational, way. Many of these biases, according to Kahneman and Renshon, explain why political “hawks” win arguments in the public arena much more often than they ought to when compared to their stereotypical rivals, the “doves.” (The authors are of course quick to point out that their argument doesn't prove that an hawkish strategy is always, or even often, wrong, just that the hawkish argument often carries the day for the wrong reason.)

Video worth your time: Psychic charlatan Sylvia Brown gets wonderfully exposed by CNN

Worth a moment of your time (Jan 19 2007)

I come across huge amounts of interesting online material but there's not enough time to repond to or comment upon most of it. So, every now and then I'm going to flag up articles and blog entries that might be of interest to the regular passer-by of this blog. Here's today's:

Skeptical US conservatives fight back.
Heather McDonald - a non-believing American conservative - blasts her Christian conservative colleagues:Upon leaving office in November 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft thanked his staff for keeping the country safe since 9/11. But the real credit, he added, belonged to God. Ultimately, it was God’s solicitude for America that had prevented another attack on the homeland...Many conservatives hear such statements with a soothing sense of approbation. But others—count me among them—feel bewilderment, among much else. If God deserves thanks for fending off assaults on the United States after 9/11, why is he not also responsible for allowing the 2001 hijackings to happen in the first place?

After Evolution Evangelicals are now switching targets to gravity with the new "Intelligent Falling" theory.
Intelligent Falling...teach the controversy!
"Proponents of Intelligent Falling assert that the different theories used by secular physicists to explain gravity are not internally consistent. Even critics of Intelligent Falling admit that Einstein's ideas about gravity are mathematically irreconcilable with quantum mechanics. This fact, Intelligent Falling proponents say, proves that gravity is a theory in crisis."
(Humour alert)

The Sociology of anti-MMR campaigners
MMR has divided parents in their attitudes to vaccinations, but can you predict who is most likely to side with the "you can't trust scientists" brigade?
"It's not surprising at all that parents prone to antivaccination beliefs have family histories of illness or an interest in alternative medicine such as homeopathy, as much of "alternative medicine" is hostile to vaccination."