Pew Research invents a new typology for religious belief, using their survey data to sort folks into one of seven categories. Our constituency likely rests primarily within the “Solidly Secular” (obviously) and a little bit “Religion Resisters” (aka “spiritual but not religious”). “Sunday Stalwarts” are the true believers, and the scarier ones are the less-churchy but more right-wing, the “God-and-Country Believers.”
As Hemant points out, the Solidly Secular are largely well-educated, well-payed, white, and male. Shock of shocks.
Elizabeth Bruenig says that while Archbishop Viganò’s accusations against Pope Francis are certainly part of a coordinated campaign by conservatives within the church that don’t like how fluffy Francis is, those accusations still might be true. So she tried to find out, and wound up “inspiring fear” in Cardinal McCarrick by knocking on his door and waiting around. Poor guy.
President Trump is under the impression that Google is intentionally serving up negative and “fake” news about him in search results. He says Google is “RIGGED” against him and other conservatives, and the administration is looking at ways to address this made-up issue. Brian Fung at the Post muses on what, exactly, Trump could do to hurt Google.
The GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate in Missouri, state Attorney General Josh Hawley, campaigns his desire to see the Johnson Amendment repealed. BUT WAIT TRUMP SAYS HE ALREADY DID THAT WHAT IS TRUTH
This will drive Jim Underdown nuts: A police station in Los Angeles is found to have a kiosk promoting Scientology. It’s gone now after complaints, but no one seems to know who put it there.
Russian protest band Pussy Riot, the members of which were imprisoned years ago for performing in a Moscow church, plays a show at a Christian music festival in the UK. Why? It’s a “Christian gesture.”
American cities are bracing for the heatwave that never ends. It’s bad, folks. The Post reports:
Across the Southwest, people have long made accommodations to the heat, but climate change and urban development are forcing far more considerations. An increasing number of cities face extreme heat for much of the summer, with highs surpassing 100 and even 110 degrees for weeks at a time. Even in the final days of August, Phoenix is sweltering at 107 and San Antonio at 104.
Such relentless, triple-digit temperatures — the equivalent danger of rising seas in many coastal communities — are straining power grids, buckling roads, grounding planes and endangering lives. The Phoenix area reached a dubious record last year: at least 155 heat-related deaths.
Appropriately, California is poised to enact a law that bring the state’s energy production to being 100% carbon-free by 2045. Oh, that’s silly. We’ll all be dead by then.
Susan Gerbic interviews Adam Conover, CSICon speaker and Ruiner-of-Everything, who says, “I’m very excited to come to CSIcon. I’ve been a skeptical thinker for a long time, and it’s very heartening to be able to bring these themes to such a wide television audience.”
Folks in Oregon have lost it. The state Medicare program will now work to taper off prescribed opioids for patients by using alt-med crap.
A federal court says the Pennsylvania House can’t bar atheists from delivering invocations.
A journalist is arrested for daring to record video of two police officers in the process of another arrest. Oh, I should say this is not in Turkey or Russia, but the Soveriegn Republic of Denver. Both tell her to “act like a lady” as they cuff her, and claiming that they are doing so in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which they also say supercedes the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Jennings Brown at Gizmodo explores the burning question: If we find Bigfoot, should it be capture or killed? Well we’re doing such a good job of verifying its existence, why not just jump to the “can I kill it” question?
Anyway, I think ol ‘Squatch didn’t turn up here.
I liked this: Richard Dawkins gushes about the person with whom he will share a stage for two tour appearances, Carolyn Porco:
Carolyn Porco. What a star. Saganesque scientific eloquence [link to TED talk] plus a commanding grip on her science that should make humanity proud of science itself [link to her presentation on Enceladus]. Delighted, daunted, to share platforms with her in Oct.
Quote of the Day
Enjoy some fun reading today with quotes by critics from Business Insider‘s list of the 69 (of course) worst sci-fi movies of all time. Some examples I liked:
#61. Batman and Robin: “Like a wounded yeti, ‘Batman & Robin’ drags itself through icicle-heavy sets, dry-ice fog and choking jungle vines, before dying in a frozen heap.” – Desson Howe, Washington Post
#57. Atlas Shrugged Part 1: “Who’s the idiot responsible for this fiasco? You can’t blame the Tea Party, an organization of 9 million that the film’s producers are exploiting to get butts into seats. There’s an object lesson in objectivism for you.” — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
#53. Transformers: The Last Knight: “It is not so much lazy filmmaking as it is a very expensive middle finger to common sense and the basic concept of entertainment.” — Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail
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Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is.