New York Times columnist Paul Krugman details the Republican war against science.

Several groups, notably the National Academy of Sciences, are encouraging scientists to be more vocal politically and even run for office. Scientists have a lot to contribute to our political discourse, especially where it concerns issues like climate change and stem-cell research. But unfortunately, scientific literacy isn’t a perfect safeguard against believing in silly things.

The Standard-Examiner had an interesting history piece about Ernest L. Wilkinson’s ultra-conservative tenure as BYU president from 1951 to 1971. Wilkinson led a thuggish school spy ring that conducted witch hunts against suspected communists, atheists, homosexuals, and others.

Atheist writer Sam Harris spends another hour on YouTube to answer questions submitted by users of Reddit.com. Topics include science, morality, free will, and religion. Here is the first Q&A session he did back in June.

Dad’s Primal Scream poses some difficult questions to Mormons, many of which deal with the nature of progressive revelation and the role of prophets.

Steve Gershom explains how he’s “doing fine” as a gay, devout Catholic. His is an interesting perspective in that he maintains that homosexuality is a sin.

Fox News received over 8,000 death threats after Blair Scott of American Atheists discussed the group’s lawsuit to stop a cross from being erected at the WTC Memorial on the network’s “America Live”.

There is a growing rift within America’s evangelical Christian community, with an increasing number of conservative Bible scholars doubting the existence of Adam and Eve—something that is widely and uncritically accepted by the laity.

Secularism is gaining ground with every generation in the United States. Even reliably religious demographics like Hispanics, less-educated whites and women have seen a marked decrease in religiosity. That CFI has announced the first ever Women in Secularism conference reflects this trending.

A typo of Biblical proportions: A 1631 printing of the Bible read “Thou shalt commit adultery” instead of “Thou shalt not commit adultery”.

50 renowned (atheist/agnostic) academics speak about god. And another 50, for good measure.

Andrew S. of Irresistible (Dis)Grace explains why ex-Mormons appear to be so angry in an insightful two-part series (part 1, part 2). I addressed this subject in my post “Am I an anti-Mormon” as well.

4 good reasons not to read the Bible literally.

As the LDS Church became more racially sensitive, folklore about Cain and Bigfoot became less pervasive. I suppose the traditional image of Cain as a big black man became less palatable after members’ attitude and the church’s policies toward blacks changed.

A fun, instructional video on how to resign from the LDS Church.

Mormon blogger Joanna Brooks, writing for the Washington Post, debunks 5 myths about Mormonism.

NPR sparked a fury over its report last month on so-called “ex-gay conversion” therapies. Some felt the piece created a false balance and legitimized the discredited practice. Another shortcoming is that it failed to mention that the protagonist is LDS and that the ex-gay programs he attended also had Mormon ties.

A video on the strange powers of the placebo effect.

Doves & Serpents compiled a list of the worst LDS talks. Ezra Taft Benson, Dallin H. Oaks, and Boyd K. Packer are the most frequent repeat offenders.

Wikileaks accidentally released thousands of dangerous documents that revealed the identities of confidential agents and sources. Earlier this year, I wrote a post critical of Wikileaks for leaking similarly life-threatening information.

A US pastor calls for a national registry for atheists. His justification: “There are already national registries for convicted sex offenders, ex-convicts, terrorist cells, hate groups like the KKK, skinheads, radical Islamists, etc..” Here is The Thinking Atheist’s video response.

My friend Dan writes about his encounter with homophobia at a Logan physical therapy clinic.

New York Times editor Bill Keller asks us to “confront our scruples about the privacy of faith in public life—and to get over them.” He argues that we ought to ask tougher questions about candidates’ religions, and Joanna Brooks volunteers a few questions to ask Huntsman and Romney about their Mormon faith.

17 misconceptions about evolution and their responses.

Why we don’t need religion to be moral or have an objective moral worldview.

The Book of Morma is the feminine counterpart to the Book of Mormon. From the book’s site: “In this imaginary parallel universe, a female Goddess has established a plan of salvation and ordained her only borne Daughter to be the Savioress of the world.  Priestesses and prophetesses bring the heavenly messages to the people through a matriarchal order.” I love this project, because the real Book of Mormon has a curious dearth of women in it.

The Boston Globe gives a brief history of Mormons’ involvement in politics.

Salt Lake City ranks 3rd for same-sex couples among mid-sized US cities, behind Fort Lauderdale and Berkeley. The number of reported same-sex couples living together in Utah jumped 73 percent over the past decade, according to recently released Census data. And while Utah as a whole strongly opposes gay marriage, a majority of young Utahns support it.

Dr. Michael Coe, arguably the preeminent scholar in Mesomerican studies, talks to Mormon Stories about the ever-elusive Book of Mormon geography and archeology.

Mormon Stories also interviewed LDS scholar and apologist Daniel C. Peterson. I often disagree with Peterson on Mormonism, but I agree with much of his critical review of Christopher Hitchen’s book God is Not Great.

My friend Neal runs an amateur Mormon apologetics blog, and in his most recent post, he asks that Mormons abandon this popular but false argument for the Book of Mormon’s historicity.

Speaking of religious apologetics, philosopher William Lane Craig is among the foremost defenders of Christianity and a seasoned debater. Craig has requested a debate with Richard Dawkins, but Dawkins has not taken him up on the invitation.

Those atheists who have debated Craig have almost uniformly lost—including Hitchens, who is himself an experienced and spirited debater. Only Yale professor Shelly Kagan has soundly bested Craig, in my opinion.

FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was recently sentenced to life for child rape, and it seems he has been attempting suicide—perhaps hoping to be a martyr—while in jail. He is in serious condition, and is having to be force-fed to be kept alive.

With polygamy back in the news, some comparisons between Jeffs and Joseph Smith have been made. I don’t think the comparison is fair or apt, but then again, Smith had the benefit of not living in an age of video cameras and tape recorders.

An analysis of the LDS Church’s highly effective SEO practices. (SEO stands for “search engine optimization”; the church has been successful in dominating search results and driving traffic to its sites.)

100 facts every teen atheist must know. My list of must-know facts would’ve been different, but it’s an interesting and informative list all the same.

Girls locked up inside fundamentalist religious compounds. Kandahar? No, Missouri.

Michelle Bachmann recently hired Peter Waldron to her campaign staff. Waldron has been accused of and arrested for terrorism in Uganda. He was also a prominent proponent of Uganda’s internationally-decried “Kill the Gays” bill.

Contrary to many think, Muslim Americans are the staunchest opponents of military attacks on civilians compared with members of other major religious groups Gallup has studied in the United States.

Magician and atheist Penn Jillette has a new book out, God, No!. Something about practicing magic seems to lend itself to atheism.

Atheists generally have an aversion to the word “belief”, especially in the context of the evolution/creationism debate, because it has a religious connotation and is often confused to mean mere opinion. CFI blogger Michael De Dora argues that his fellow atheists needn’t harbor such reservations about “belief”.

Brandon Pearce shares his essay on why he left the LDS Church.

A concert event (“Rock Beyond Belief”) organized by atheist, agnostic and other non-theist soldiers has been cleared by the Army to take place next spring at Fort Bragg.

The Mormon blog Millennial Star compares apostasy to conspiracy thinking. The comparison may sound offensive or absurd at first blush, but the author’s discussion of the issue is thoughtful.

The New Yorker explains how a godless universe isn’t devoid of meaning and how secularism can be a positive affirmation of the here and now.

Arguably, an 800-page compilation of the best essays of Christopher Hitchens’ career, came out this weekend. It may well be his last book, as Hitchens was diagnosed with cancer last year.

GQ magazine ranks Salt Lake City and Provo among the worst-dressed cities in the country. Our fashion sense aside, Utahns are still counted among the best looking people. Maybe it’s all that plastic surgery.

Harrison Ames argues that the frequent use of corrective words and phrases like “rather” and “in other words” in the Book of Mormon is more consistent with dictation than inspired translation.

A preview of this year’s Sunstone conference, August 3-6 in Ogden.

New rule: When you lose your religion, you must blog about it. In keeping with this rule, ex-Mormon Tyler Young has posted his essay “Why I Left” as a public Google doc.

Introducing the new Scientific American blog network, home to dozens of science-oriented blogs.

How Google is changing your brain and impairing your memory.

If non-Mormons in Utah were their own state, polls show that it’d be the bluest state in the union. And given that Mormons are the most conservative religious group in the country, that makes Utah the most polarized state.

The New York Times covers the Hill Cumorah Pageant, the Mormon spectacle you won’t see on Broadway.

BYU law professor Frederick Gedicks gives a lecture on the LDS Church’s demographic trajectory, noting that the church’s growth in the last decade has been stagnant and that nearly as many people are leaving the church as converting to it.

You Are Not So Smart reminds us that we’re bad at assessing and understanding our own feelings.

LDS scholar Grant Hardy lists 10 things everyone should know about the Book of Mormon.

5 myths atheists believe about religion. And by way of rebuttal: 5 faulty arguments religious people use against atheists.

How gay marriage became thinkable for a generation of young Americans.

Dalai Lama: “I am a Marxist, but not a Leninist.”

A Fox News anchor declares on air that Romney is “not a Christian”—a claim that went totally unchallenged by her fellow co-hosts.

Do atheists belong in the interfaith movement? This is a question of particular interest to SHAFT, as we occasionally get invited to participate in interfaith discussion panels.

Business Week on why Mormon missions produce business and civic leaders.

A University of Chicago study found that a person’s morality changes with age in large part due to evolving brain circuity.

Mormons aren’t known for their sense of humor, but this clip from “Latter-Day Night Live” is a pretty funny parody of church talk cliches. This Mormon cover of Cee-Lo Green’s “Fuck You” (retitled “For the Strength of You”) is not so funny, however.

An unscientific online survey of ex-Mormons yields some interesting results.

164 years ago yesterday (Pioneer Day), Mormon pioneers settled what is now Utah in order to freely practice their religion and nontraditional marriage. How appropriate it is then that yesterday was also the first day that gay marriage is legal in New York, the birthplace of Mormonism.

Bill McKeever of Mormon Research Ministries explains his techniques for witnessing to Mormons.

ABC 4, a Utah news station, found it newsworthy that Jon Huntsman said “bullshit” in a casual interview with Esquire.

Dr. Richard Carrier debated Christian apologist JP Holding on the textual reliability of the New Testament.

A majority of medical students surveyed believe that doctors should be allowed to object to any procedure that conflicts with their personal, moral, or religious beliefs.

Ron Howard and Dustin Lance Black are working on a new project: a film adaptation of Krakauer’s “Under the Banner of Heaven.” And Ricky Gervais is coming out with a new show about an atheist that dies and goes to heaven.

Austrian man and “Pastafarian” wins the right to wear a pasta strainer in his license photo.

Apologist Josh McDowell tells Christian youth that the internet is the greatest threat to their faith.

Common Sense Atheism on why and how to debate charitably.

I apologize for not being my normal prolific self lately. Maybe I need a brief stint in prison; it seems to remedy writer’s block.

When news of the bombing and massacre in Norway broke, many people suspected the culprit to be a Muslim extremist. Yet it turns out that the killer Anders Breivik may instead be a Christian fundamentalist. Sam Harris argues that European nationalism and racism is more to blame, however.

Uganda made news last year with its consideration of a bill that’d make homosexuality a capital offense punishable by death. Africa’s LGBT community has new cause for concern, as Ghana moves to arrest all gays and lesbians in that country.

KSL investigates the case of the missing ‘t’ in Utah’s peculiar pronunciation. I never thought I had much of an accent myself, but when I went to New York for a secular leadership conference, my nickname was “country boy.”

Mormon.org is a site where Mormons can create profiles with which to share their faith. The LDS Church monitors the site closely, so I am surprised that this unorthodox/uncorrelated profile is still up.

There is a longstanding divide between Israel’s secular Jews and the right-wing rabbinical community. That divide has widened recently as hundreds of conservative rabbis endorse a book, the King’s Torah, that justifies the killing of non-Jews.

An atheist confronts President Obama at a townhall last week over his position on federal subsidies to religious organizations.

Prominent atheists share their reasons for nonbelief with the New Statesman.

The Catholic Church makes a $50 million dollar bid for a large crystal Cathedral, which I think looks like something out of “The Wizard of Oz.”

Bible scholar Bart Ehrman discusses his new book Forged and writes in the Huffington Post the top things that didn’t make it into the Bible.

Woody Allen interviews famed televangelist Billy Graham, and they actually seem to enjoy each other’s company.

“Nightline” does a special on exorcism in America.

Why is there anything, rather than nothing at all? Philosophers Leibniz and Heidegger find this to be the most fundamental question. But perhaps the question is ill-posed.

Atheist writer Austin Cline explains the principle of Occam’s Razor.

This one is lengthy, sorry! I had a month’s worth of links to cover.

After being teased at work for believing the Rapture would occur on May 21st, Dale O’Callaghan brought a gun to the office and shot a coworker (who thankfully is expected to recover).

Sam Harris makes a thoughtful case for the responsible use of drugs. He notes that everything we do, from eating our favorite foods to forming friendships, is about altering one’s consciousness. Drugs are another means to this end, and, when used responsible, can yield life insights.

John Dehlin, of Mormon Stories fame, is conducting a study with USU psychology professor Dr. Renee Galliher about the experiences of LGBT Mormons/ex-Mormons. If you’re the target demographic, please take this survey.

7 Scientology secrets you didn’t know. (I’m not too familiar with Scientology; anyone care to dispute these supposed secrets?) In a similar list: 7 ‘ancient’ forms of mysticism that are recent inventions.

Joseph Smith’s youngest son, David Hyrum Smith, is one of the most interesting (and neglected) figures in Mormon history. David was a leader in the RLDS church, but harbored serious religious doubts. He suffered from depression, and was institutionalized for 27 years at an insane asylum. His biographer Valeen Avery also suggests that he might have been gay.

Journalism fail: A local Memphis TV news reporter mocks Mitt Romney’s Mormonism. Totally inappropriate.

When Christians in North American cry persecution, I’m often inclined to roll my eyes. But there’s no denying that Christians endure bitter persecution in many parts of the world. Voice of the Martyrs is an organization that spotlights the most egregious violations of Christians’ religious freedoms.

Andrew S. (the brains behind Irrestible (Dis)Grace) has been fairly prolific as of late. I want to recommend two posts of his: one about his dull, prudish, naive atheist life, and the other on the irrelevance of Mormonism.

Last summer, I argued that the dearth of evidence for the destruction recorded in Third Nephi constitutes evidence against the Book of Mormon’s historicity. But at his Mormon apologetics blog, my friend Neal offers a possible piece of evidence: a recently discovered submerged Mayan city.

LDS scholar and apologist Daniel C. Petersen writes in the Deseret News that the faithful must unfailingly follow the prophet, even when you believe the prophet is wrong. Divine voluntarism is alive and well in Mormonism.

Contra Daniel C. Peterson, professor Bradley Borden argues that Mormons needn’t be of like mind in subservience to the prophet. “The rich diversity of Mormons illustrates that there is no such thing as an orthodox (or unorthodox) Mormon. Such labels merely serve to perpetuate a stereotype.”

There’s nothing like a video about the boundless expanse of the universe to make you feel very small.

Sam Harris takes an hour to answer questions submitted by users of Reddit.com—questions about atheism, morality, and other issues.

The Irreligiosophy podcast interviewed atheist and ‘Bible Geek’ Robert Price, whose latest book contends that the Book of Mormon is a work of pseudepigrapha.

California passes a bill requiring its public schools to teach gay history, accomplishments. (Contrast that with a bill that passed in Tennessee a couple of months ago prohibiting any discussing of homosexuality before secondary school.) Hopefully the California bill will foster tolerance among students so as to prevent school shootings like this one.

The LDS Church released a statement on political neutrality, mandating that church leaders abstain from certain political activities. This comes in the wake of learning that church leaders have donated to political candidates.

The Onion: “Mormon Teen Loses Inhibitions After Third Benadryl.”

Sex-advice columnist Dan Savage argues that fidelity in marriage is unreasonable and unrealistic. How ’bout that sanctity of marriage? I’m reminded of Senator Penrose’s quip during the Smoot hearings that it’s better to be “a polygamist who doesn’t polyg than a monogamist who doesn’t monag.^“

The internet comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal humorously illustrates why most theodicies for the problem of evil fail.

Common Sense Atheism has a thought-provoking post about the problems of heaven. Among them: If there is no evil in heaven, is there then no free will? And if you can have free will in heaven without evil, then why have evil in this life?

A leading neuroscientist writes in The Atlantic that free will is an illusion, and that we must reform our criminal justice system to accommodate this fact.

Philosopher Paul Snowden revisits Locke’s man/person distinction. The piece involves involves an advanced discussion about dualism and animalism.

The History Channel show “How the States Got Their Shapes” does an episode on how religion has influenced our geography. Of particular interest to this audience, the episode discusses Mormonism and the shape of Utah.

Matt McCormick, a professor of atheology (the study of atheism) at CSUS, published an essay on the unlikelihood of life after death.

This month, a BYU film professor Kendall Wilcox came out as gay. He is producing a film about his journey as a gay Mormon, and how he hopes to retain both his faith and sexual identity. This man’s experience as a homosexual in the LDS Church led him to leave the church, however.

John Shook, resident philosopher at the Center for Inquiry (of which SHAFT is an affiliate), asks, “What does healthy humanism look like?”

A USU buddy of mine, Justin Jerez, was cited last week with a misdemeanor of flag abuse. He and some friends protested the war in Afghanistan and the ballooning national debt by writing “Children of Debt, Inheritors of War” on an American flag and displayed it upside down as they walked in the Logan 4th of July parade. The (unconstitutional) charges were later dropped. I’ve invited Justin to publish his experiences here, and I hope he does soon.

6 pro-gay marriage arguments for fighting with crazy people.

Mitt Romney is seeming less and less like a stiff, stuffy suit. He said he has plans to see the “The Book of Mormon”,  the critically-acclaimed Broadway musical by the creators of “South Park.” He also made a joke about his temple garments.

I could tolerate a President Romney, but a President Bachmann would be intolerable. I like her all the less after reading this report connecting her to the ex-gay Christian ministry movement.

I cannot wait to see the documentary “Tabloid”, which will be playing in Salt Lake City later this month. The documentary tells the story of a young woman who kidnapped a Mormon missionary and kept him as her sex slave.

July 10th marked the 154th birthday of the late eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla.

British journalist Johann Hari gave an impassioned and stirring defense of free speech at this year’s Independent Voices event.

Earlier this year, I wrote a critical article about Wikileaks. Well, Wikileaks has captured my attention again with a coversation/debate between Julian Assange and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek. To watch just the highlights, go here.

Skepchick blogger Rebecca Watson ignited a flame war by suggesting it was inappropriate for a guy to ask her to his room in an empty elevator at 4:00 AM.  The entire atheist blogosphere has been consumed lately by a nasty debate, with critics claiming Watson is being hypersensitive, and supporters applauding her for raising awareness about sexism within the atheist community. Even Richard Dawkins has weighed in, and his dismissive response has caused many atheists to turn on him.

During the 4th of July weekend, Alan at Pure Mormonism urged his fellow Mormons not to pledge allegiance to the flag, calling it misguided patriotism and idol worship.

It’s a lie that there are no atheists in foxholes. And activists campaigning for greater acceptance for atheists within the military have found a surprising ally: Army chaplains.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery. My friend Joey has decided to do his own ‘link bomb’ posts at his LDS-themed blog.

A history of the LDS garment. Another interesting history is the evolution of the LDS prayer circle.

What a religious debate on Facebook would look like in the Mayan pre-Columbian America.

Sincere devoutness is sometimes indistinguishable from good satire. Case in point: this Stake President’s blog. I hope it’s a spoof, and I’m pretty sure it is. But wow, it’s a very convincing parody—and funny! My favorite post is his awkward and euphemistic discussion of oral sex. [Edit: I initially thought this was real, but some commenters convinced me otherwise.]

The Scientific American on why we’re suckers for stories of our own demise.

The Vatican released a strongly-worded report demanding decisive and dramatic action to curb the effects of global climate change. The Vatican also invited AIDS experts for a two-day symposium to discuss prevention methods, including condoms.

The Catholic Church has received incredibly negative press due to the priest abuse scandal (which is still developing). But I think the Catholic Church is due some credit for tackling substantive issues like global warming, poverty, etc. One of my long-standing complaints about the LDS Church is its focus on relatively petty concerns (double piercings and flip-flops come to mind).

It’s time to reconsider graduation prayer in public high schools, writes Bruce Ledewitz for Religion Dispatches.

Greta Christina argues that all religious are equally crazy. I maintain that some religions are demonstrably more implausible than others, but I agree that religious folks should be slow to find the crazy in other religions lest they forget the crazy in their own.

It’s easy to mock Harold Camping’s failed prediction that the rapture would occur on May 21st (Camping has rescheduled the rapture for October). But Jesus was also a failed doomsday prophet, and Joseph Smith believed that the Second Coming would happen in 1890 or 1891.

A survey of nearly 15,000 people suggests that atheists have the best sex lives. Perhaps were there more atheists in Utah, it wouldn’t be the most stressed state. Relatedly, the US reports far lower levels of happiness than similarly developed but more secular nations.

MRI tests reveal that Apple triggers a religious reaction in its fans’ brains. I wrote about a similar study last summer.

An Islamic theologian and scholar says the Prophet Muhammad probably never existed.

Santa Monica residents may vote on a ballot initiative in November 2012 that would ban circumcision.

I saw a Craiglist job ad for Java engineers that was restricted to LDS applicants only. It specified further that the applicant must be temple-worthy. Unless the job posting is with the church directly, isn’t this illegal?

Nearly two-thirds of Americans now support legalizing same-sex relations, a new record high.

The top 10 myths about the brain.

Some drama in the Reddit Exmormon community: A poster is threatened by another member with being publicly outed as ex-Mormon for not being pro-gay enough.

The Mormon Chronicle writes that the public education system is antithetical to LDS teachings, and that Mormons must only be taught by other Mormons.

The far right has lionized Ayn Rand for decades, and Republicans are again giving her a lot of lip-service. What a strange bedfellow Rand makes for the Religious Right though, given how virulently anti-Christian she was.

A Saudi woman is arrested after campaigning for the right to drive.

French postmodern philosopher Jacques Derrida becomes an internet meme.

Despite the church’s past with polygamy and its entrenched, traditional gender roles, there is a feminist strain within the Mormon tradition—one that may be enjoying a resurgence. The Salt Lake Tribune recently published a piece about Mormon women’s historical ability to administer priesthood blessings. And Mormon blogger Joanna Brooks suggests that the LDS concept of Heavenly Mother may be making a comeback.

Why people stick by scandal-plagued pastors.

Sam Harris sketches out a morality without free will and its implications.

Philosophy professor Andrew Fisher of the University of Nottingham contends that philosophy needs to be taught much earlier. He has started teaching at primary schools in disadvantaged areas, teaching kids the fundamentals of logic and critical thinking.

Seventy percent of science award finalists are the children of immigrants, showing that immigration is a boon to science and math.

I’ve written at length about BYU’s use of aversive therapies (including shock therapy) in its treatment of homosexuality. In the interest of fairness, I’d like to share a more sympathetic view of this part of BYU history.

A recent neurological study finds that powerful religious experiences may actually contribute to atrophy in the brain.

A radical new birth control injection for men promises to be 100% effective for 10 years. What’s more, it has no reported side effects and is completely and quickly reversible.

How to argue on the internet.

After his mom won the lottery, an atheist converts to Christianity. Fox carries the story as ‘news’.

CNN compiles a list of popular Bible misattributions—phrases and ideas people think are in the Bible, but are not.

Is atheism just a ‘sexed-up’ version of agnosticism, or are the two terms distinct? And if the latter, are they complimentary or incompatible? Talking Philosophy analyzes the competing definitions.

Newsweek calls 2011 ‘the Mormon Moment’. Two presidential candidates belong to the faith, the Senate leader Harry Reid is Mormon, and Mormonism is the subject of a critically-acclaimed Broadway musical.

The latest presidential election poll has Mitt Romney as the Republican frontrunner, with most not caring about his Mormonism.

BYU Studies identifies the many LDS themes in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga.

Richard Dawkins and 13 other academics launch a new private humanities college.

Skeptic Mormon shares some troubling facts about Mormon polygamy and debunks popular myths about the practice.

American filmmaker Vikram Gandhi made up a guru character and a phony religion, then filmed a documentary as he developed a following. The documentary illustrates just how credulous our species can be.

In a Psychology Today interview, sociologist Duncan Watts takes a critical look at common sense and shows how dangerously bad we are at predicting certain outcomes.

Common Sense Atheism is one of my favorite atheist blogs. Here, its author Luke Muehlhauser recounts the blog’s history and most important posts.

An oldie, but goodie: Pure Mormonism contends that the Word of Wisdom was neither intended as a commandment nor as a prohibition against beer.

Conspiracy theories about Obama’s birth and Osama’s death abound in today’s America. Why is the conspiracy meme so resilient in the human psyche? A new study finds that those who are prone to believing conspiracy theories are more willing to participate in a conspiracy.

The 5 unexpected downsides of being intelligent. High IQ scores are correlated with depression, dishonesty, gullibility, among other undesirable things.

In the last link bomb, I shared an article about Pastor Rob Bell’s controversial suggestion that Hell may not exist. Kevin Barney at the LDS blog By Common Consent reminds readers that Mormons don’t believe in Hell—at least not the classical conception.

The top 10 myths about evolution. And if you need yet more ammo to debate creationists, this picture is an effective illustration of how evolution works.

A recent study discovered no difference in the ethical behavior of believers and nonbelievers. (So why do Americans still dislike atheists?) The bigger finding, though, is that those who believe in a compassionate God are more likely to cheat than those who believe in an angry, punitive God.

Quote of the day: “How can you be a militant atheist? It’s like sleeping furiously.” — AC Grayling

The soundtrack for The Book of Mormon (the Broadway musical) will be released in June.  A preview of the opening song is already up at the musical’s site. I’m excited for the full CD release. The musical is critically acclaimed and leads with the 14 Tony nominations this year. (Update: The entire soundtrack is now available!)

Americans exaggerate their religiosity and church attendance, a University of Michigan study reports. Our church attendance is actually in line with some secular Western European countries.

Confessions of a ward hopper: A Mormon male writes about his decades-long experience in countless singles wards.

Andrew S. of Irresistible (Dis)Grace discusses the anger among some atheists and ex-Mormons, arguing that much of this anger, while often unwieldy, is reasonable.

The LDS Church struck a moderately progressive tone on the issue of immigration when it threw its support behind HB116, which critics call ‘amnesty’. This puts many conservative Mormons at odds with church leaders for the first time in a long time.

The rate of autism has skyrocketed in the developed world. This, however, is not indicative of an epidemic, but instead better diagnosis.

Cosmologist Sean Carroll presents at TED on space time and evidence that hints at a multiverse.

How internet skeptics make a mockery of the skeptical tradition. We need to be especially vigilant against the credulity within our own ranks.

The latest Irreligiosophy podcast pokes fun at the craziest stories in the Book of Mormon. (A warning: The language may offend.)

A beautiful, albeit slightly disorienting, map of the most influential scientific minds of the last 500 years.

In an experiment that underscores the evolutionary genesis of basic morality, robots have learned self-sacrificing behaviors like sharing. Then again, a previous experiment reported that robots learned to lie for their own gain.

More than 1 in 5 atheist scientists identify as ‘spiritual’, according to an in-depth survey of 275 natural and social scientists from 21 of the nation’s top research universities.

The 12 worst (and most powerful) Christian Right groups.

Evangelical Christian and hobbyist historian David Barton was on The Daily Show a couple of nights ago to defend his view that Christianity’s role in America’s founding has been scrubbed from the history books. In response to Barton, author Chris Rodda has made her book Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right’s Alternate Version of American History available as a free download.

BYU professor William Hamblin reviews Christopher Hitchens’ Good is Not Great. Needless to say, his assessment isn’t favorable (and a number of the criticisms are fair).

The Guttmacher Institute has produced this informative video about abortion and the (surprising) demographics of the women who’ve had them.

British reporter Sanjiv Bhattacharya gained unprecedented access to fundamentalist Mormon communities for his book Secrets and Wives: The Hidden World of Mormon Polygamy. In an interview with Religion Dispatches, he discusses his experience living among and researching polygamist cults. Despite sharing reservations about incest and forced marriages, Bhattacharya nonetheless left this experience convinced that polygamy should be legalized.

Philosopher Peter Singer spoke to the 2010 Global Atheist Convention on whether you can have morality without God. Don’t miss his provocative talk.

Atheists and Christians alike believe in a lot of erroneous urban legends about the Bible. Here are but a few.

I had planned to write a review of this latest General Conference, but I couldn’t muster up the interest. This conference was particularly dull for me as a nonbeliever, and by that I mean it was controversy-free. Well, almost. Monson’s admonishment to young single men to get married received some attention, as did Packer’s statement that sexual sins are second only to murder and the denial of the Holy Ghost. Pretty unremarkable stuff, really.

Also during conference, the church reported having over 14 million members. The estimated number of active Mormons, however, is between 4 to 5 million, with 80% of them in the Western Hemisphere. The Deseret News reported recently that “[c]hurch growth has been falling for many years, and our current rate of missionary success is the lowest it’s been for decades.” At this rate, there will be more people leaving the church than converting to it by 2032. Richard Packham suggests that this may already be the case.

Speaking of exaggerated or inaccurate demographic statistics*: Kinsey’s oft-cited estimate that 10% of the population is gay is flawed. New research (with its own limitations) puts the number closer to 2%. (Correction: The research is new, but its findings aren’t; most studies have put the number between 2-5%.)

I appreciate dark humor more than most, but this BYU Bookstore treat is just tasteless. Our bookstore is also selling something provocative: poo paper.

In an address to the LDS International Society, University of Utah president Michael Young urged his fellow Mormons to join the ACLU.

A funny joke by Emo Phillips: “A Mormon told me that they don’t drink coffee. I said, ‘A cup of coffee every day gives you wonderful benefits.’ He said, ‘Like what?’ I said, ‘Well, it keeps you from being Mormon.”

The typical LDS chapel houses only a few wards, but a massive meetinghouse that is being constructed in Provo will be able to cater to an astounding 48 wards! Could this be the beginning of mega-church Mormonism?

Mormon sociologist and family friend Darron Smith writes that the BYU Honor Code adversely affects minority students and athletes.

If you’re interested in what’s new in the Mormon/ex-Mormon blogosphere, I’d recommend you read Main Street Plaza’s weekly “Sunday in Outer Blogness” posts. MSP has also created this phenomenal blog aggregator.

Does the universe need god? Physicist Sean Carroll thinks not.

A Mormon friend of mine finds the argument from consciousness the most compelling evidence for god’s existence. He made the case on his blog, and I left my rebuttal in the comments.

Earlier this month, Sam Harris debated Christian philosopher/apologist William Lane Craig about morality and god at Notre Dame. The entire debate can be viewed here. If you don’t have 2 hours to spare to watch it, here are a few summaries and reviews. The consensus seems to be that Craig won the debate, but not necessarily the argument.

Harris is among the better atheist debaters; the debate would have been an unmitigated disaster had this man represented the atheist position.

If patriarchy had an anthem, it’d be this: “I Need a Man”, sung by three single Mormon women to the tune of a Disney song. Maybe they’d have more success with the guys if they could sing it in Klingon.

A Quran is burned, and a violent riot ensues in Afghanistan. The Book of Mormon is satirized on Broadway, and Mormons just give a dismissive (if rather sanctimonious) shrug.

In the U.S., the LDS Church doesn’t have to disclose its finances. The church’s financials are public information in Canada, however. In 2009, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Canada gave $40,000,000 to BYU Provo—57.9% of the money received from the wards that year.

The 10 things everyone should know about science. To some degree, our scientific illiteracy has been evolutionarily programmed into our psychology.

This is how the Exodus from Egypt might have played out had Moses used Google, Facebook, and YouTube.

Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the internet, in a riveting TED talk.

Pastor Rob Bell has published a book that contends that everyone may go to Heaven, and it’s raising Hell within the evangelical community.

There was a bizarre and violent encounter at an “Ask an Atheist” event at Virginia Tech last week. One Christian student drew a cross on their hand and asked the atheists to stab it to supposedly demonstrate god’s existence. The atheists refused, so the Christian student began to repeatedly stab is hand until the cops restrained him.

Vote for Christopher Hitchens in the 2011 TIME 100 poll, which recognizes this year’s most influential thinkers.

An exhaustive study involving 32,000 high school students confirms that suicide attempts by gay teens are more common in politically conservative areas where schools don’t have programs supporting gay rights. The finding is hardly surprising, but I know that rural areas have higher rates of suicide generally. I wonder if they controlled for that.

This is one brave Bar Mitzvah speech.

Some recently discovered codices, perhaps the earliest Christian writings in existence, are being hailed as the biggest find in Christian history since the Dead Sea Scrolls. One reading of the text suggests that Jesus and his disciples formed a homosexual coterie. (Correction: Ruse’s interpretation may be totally fictitious; refer to the subtitle in the article. Second, there’s a growing suspicion that the codices themselves are forgeries.)

Another interesting historical discovery is a 5,000 year-old painting of the first gay caveman. (I worry, though, about applying terms such as “gay” to ancient or prehistoric peoples. That application could be anachronistic given that our understanding of human sexuality has changed over time.)

Eighteen years after Waco, I’m surprised to learn that David Koresh still has devotees that revere him as a god.

The LDS Church in Arizona is at the center of a sex abuse scandal for failing to report its (alleged) prior knowledge to the local authorities.

Texas Republican Louie Gohmert has introduced a bill to the House that would designate the first weekend of May as “Ten Commandments Weekend” to recognize their importance in our nation’s founding.

*This originally read: “Just as the LDS Church exaggerates its numbers, so too does the LGBT community.” I deleted this sentence because it was unfair. I didn’t mean to suggest that either Mormons or gays were being intentionally dishonest in citing inflated statistics (though that may sometimes be the case), only that the statistics themselves are inaccurate.

Wikileaks is back in the news with revelations about the detention of Bradley Manning, the 23-year-old soldier accused of divulging classified information to the group. I’ve been critical of Wikileaks, but I nonetheless disapprove of Manning’s treatment.

In a Virginia military brig, he has been kept in intensive solitary confinement for many months, and has lately been forced to sleep naked. State Department P.J. Crowley called the treatment “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.” (Crowley has since resigned because of that remark.) And if convicted, Manning may face the death penalty. Such a punishment, argues the Harvard Law and Policy Review, would be “incredibly inappropriate.”

Prominent YouTuber DasAmericanAtheist on religion’s contributions to the humanities.

Writer and ex-Mormon Ted Cox was invited by a Cal Poly secular student group to present on the LDS “Plan of Salvation.” The talk was informative and, for the most part, respectful. You may remember him as the atheist who, for two years, went undercover to various Christian-run gay conversion therapy programs.

A majority of Americans support the Congressional probe into Muslim extremism, but also feel Congress should investigate religious extremism wherever it exists.

Jeff and Matt of the Atheist Experience, a live cable access show in Austin, Texas, respond to a caller’s accusation that they’re going to hell. This clip is rated PG for pwnage galore.

Remarkably, there are still tribes who have never made contact with the wider world. In an effort to convince the Brazilian government against further deforestation of the Amazon, this extraordinary aerial footage was captured of a heretofore unknown Amazon tribe. It’s like peeking into a time portal.

The top 20 Bible passages to use against fundamentalists.

Brandon Davies’ dismissal from the BYU basketball team for premarital sex has brought the Honor Code under national spotlight. (It was also the inspiration for my favorite Onion headline.)Some applauded BYU for sticking to its principles, others charged that aspects of the Honor Code are draconian. Mormon blogger Joanna Brooks seems to be in the latter camp, writing that the Honor Code “has a dark side.”

Trey Parker and Matt Stone discuss their musical “The Book of Mormon” on The Daily Show and the Tribune.

A recent study published by the National Academy of Sciences found that musing about god’s beliefs activates those areas of the brain associated with self-referential thinking. In other words, religious people often project their own beliefs onto god.

The Oregon House unanimously voted to remove the legal protection for parents who choose faith healing over medical intervention when treating their children. Last summer, an Oregon couple lost custody of their child for deliberately withholding medical care for their baby’s eye problem.

I’m excited about a forthcoming book from Signature about the history and evolution of LDS temple ceremonies. A couple of interesting anecdotes I learned from this preview of the book: For years the endowment ceremony video included a short scene from Disney’s “Fantasia”, and in the late 1960s, it was suggested that the church construct a “floating temple” that could sail across the world and dock in countries where Mormons didn’t have a temple nearby.

Ornithologists must have a sense of humor.

In the battle over reproductive rights, pro-choice activists are losing. A pro-choice Catholic writes in the Washington Post that his fellow activists are stuck in a time warp and need less dated arguments. Among the most pro-life religious peoples are Mormons.

Controversial Utah Senator Chris Buttars has announced his retirement. The Salt Lake Tribune chronicles his greatest gaffes.

In the wake of Dr. Richard Sherlock’s conversion to Catholicism, there has been a lot of discussion about the nature of god at this blog. Sherlock was drawn to Catholicism in part because of its expansive view of god; he felt Mormonism wrongly reduced god to an “exalted man.” But Dr. James Faulconer, a philosopher professor at BYU, believes that the Mormon god still retains a kind of transcendence.

Philosophy Bro renders the essentials of Plato, Nietzsche, and Camus into frat boy speak. His summaries are actually quite good, and they make philosophy funny and accessible.

Here are some devastating satellite photographs of Japan before and after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. That’s what the disaster looks like from above, but even more disturbing is this eyewitness, ground-level view.

Scientific American addresses the popular myth of animals’ ‘sixth sense’ for predicting earthquakes.

A psychologist explains why humans are prone to seeing a cosmic or karmic force behind natural disasters and everyday events. A Christian YouTuber, for example, claimed her prayers were answered by the Japan earthquake, which she understood as god shaking Japan out of its atheism. (Thankfully, this girl was later exposed as a troll.) Unfortunately, the many Americans whose Facebook statuses claimed the disaster was payback for Pearl Harbor weren’t joking.

A question to my Christian/Mormon friends: If god was willing to flood the entire earth, as he did in Genesis, and sink dozens of large cities, as in Third Nephi, why is it now implausible or objectionable to suggest that god caused an earthquake in Japan?

Cracked.com lists 10 things Christians and atheists can (and must) agree on.

U.S. taxpayers subsidize the Westboro Baptist’s hateful ministry because their church is tax-exempt. The Phelps family, which makes up the majority of the church, is steeped in the legal profession, so they know how to navigate section 501 of the IRS tax code.

The Mormon Stories podcast last week interviewed a sex therapist about pornography, masturbation, and sex and marriage within Mormonism. Taking another approach to Mormon sexuality, Faith-Promoting Rumor contends that the LDS theology of sex wrongly devalues the virginal life.

How science can save souls.

Times columnist Jamie Whyte challenges the truism that one is entitled to his or her opinion. To the contrary, Whyte thinks we have the obligation to disabuse people of false beliefs.

Half of Brazil is estimated to be evangelical Christians by 2020. The LDS Church vaunts its progress in Brazil (and Latin America more generally), but other Christian sects have enjoyed greater growth, and all at the expense of Catholicism.

Taking the ‘defense’ out of the Defense of Marriage Act: ProfMTH explicates the Obama Justice Department’s decision to no longer defend DOMA in court.

During and after the Prop 8 debate, opponents of Prop 8 got a lot of mileage out of this Brigham Young quote: “If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man.” The quote’s utility is obvious, but I always feared it was too good to be true. Well, my suspicions proved correct—the quote is a total fabrication. You really have to endeavor to find reliable resources online.

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the King James translation of the Bible. Despite its shortcomings, it remains the most influential version—especially among Mormons. Mormons Stories recently discussed the importance of the KJV within Mormonism, and the podcast featured USU’s own Dr. Philip Barlow.

A team of scientists claim they might have stumbled upon the lost city of Atlantis near Spain. I’m intrigued, but not impressed, by their evidence.

Ohio State’s Introduction to Philosophy of Religion will be co-taught Spring Quarter—by an atheist and a Christian. Their lectures will be supplemented by a weekly debate. Awesome. I think they should swap sides occasionally, like USU professors Kleiner and Huenemann did in the atheist-theist debate SHAFT hosted in 2008.

Warren Jeffs, the imprisoned leader of an FLDS cult, issued a letter (“A Warning to the Nation”) to the U.S. government, demanding that he be released on threat of terrible divine judgment for America. The letter is signed by thousands of Jeffs’ devotees and weighs three pounds.

In Cache Valley news, a group of Hyrum students seek to form a ‘no cussing’ club. If you don’t want to use certain language, fine—don’t use it. But what will creating a group accomplish to that end? To me, this just smacks of self-righteousness, and that’s a greater social ill than cussing.

Slate Magazine reviews The Book of Mormon musical. “What Parker and Stone do isn’t religion-bashing. It’s religion-teasing. And it’s born more from fascination than disdain.” Indeed, Slate suggests the musical’s creators are rather fond of Mormonism.

This guy bribes a homeless man to remove “God” from his sign for $20 bucks. It’s exploitative, sure, but the debate and negotiations are fascinating.

Gay-rights activist Eric Ethington had his car tires slashed at BYU while meeting with students there about Utah county non-discrimination ordinances. His car boasted a couple of LGBT bumper stickers, making it an easy target at the conservative campus.

Mormon blogger Joanna Brooks challenges Elder Oaks assertion that religious freedom is under attack by gay rights.

Greta Christina digs up Pascal Wager’s coffin only to put yet another nail in it.

One of my favorite documentarians, BBC’s Louis Theroux, meets with Israeli zionists. His documentary serves as an important reminder that Islamists are not the region’s only religious fanatics.

The Christian Delusion is being called the best atheist book of 2010 and among the most exhaustive and accessible critiques of Christianity. Here are three essays that didn’t make into the book, but are still good reads: ‘God and Animals’, ‘Modern Democracy’, ‘The Will of God‘.

Common Sense Atheism asks, “Can theists and atheists reasonably disagree?” And a related question: Can you love religious people if you hate their religion?

Despite the majority of Americans believing that the Bible is the word of God, most are ignorant as to what the Bible says—especially where it concerns sex. Newsweek spells out what the Bible really says about sex.

If you care to read a 50-page journal article on the history of Mormon attitudes toward masturbation, then enjoy.

Are intuitions good evidence? When I think ‘intuition’, I think of the anti-intellectualism of Stephen Colbert following his gut. But this article notes that, for good or ill, intuition informs our philosophical and religious beliefs.

Whenever I want to read something that’s guaranteed to annoy me, I read the letters to the editor in the BYU’s Daily Universe. It’s a perpetual parade of petty complaints, like men fretting about the length of ladies’ skirts and shorts. The latest letter to irk me was published Monday. The student wrote to demand that the school take action against her Democratic classmates for wearing “Choose the Left” shirts, which she felt was tantamount to sacrilege.

Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis discusses his disillusionment with Scientology in a lengthy article in The New Yorker.

The Afghan government has arrested two men for converting to Christianity, a crime that carries the death penalty in Afghanistan and several other Muslim countries. And a 14-year-old Bangladeshi girl dies after receiving 100 lashes for alleged sexual indiscretions.

Scientists aim to resurrect the woolly mammoth in five years. My mouth is already watering for the inevitable mammoth burger.

South Dakota, a state that has unsuccessfully attempted to ban abortion twice, recently considered a law that might legalize killing abortion providers. Thankfully, as February 16th, South Dakota has indefinitely shelved the bill due to public outrage.

A faithful Mormon again uploads the anti-Prop 8 video that, two years ago, she removed on threat of having her temple recommend and church callings revoked.

Futurist author Ray Kurzweil predicts that, by 2045, the human brain will be able to adopt a machine body as its host, effectively making man immortal. P.Z. Myers is skeptical. At his popular blog Pharyngula, he called Kurzweil a “huckster” and the founder of a new religion: Singularitarianism.

Pure Mormonism’s advice to unmarried LDS couples: Go ahead and skip that temple wedding.

Okay, here come the lists: the top 8 Bill O’Reilly science fails; the top 10 transhumanist technologies; the 30 most offensive church signs of all time.

This defense of Fawn Brodie makes a compelling argument that Mormons owe the critical Joseph Smith biographer a “huge debt of gratitude.”