One of my correspondents made a joke that could be read as implying that J S Bach (1685–1750) was a Protestant. Which got me to wondering: who was the earliest Protestant composer whose name I’d know? Henry Purcell (1659–95) comes to mind, but who was big in Elizabeth’s reign?
maybe it shoulda been called the Kallikak monkey trial
Inherit the Wind somehow never mentioned that the evilutionist textbook used by John Scopes was racist and eugenist. Jim Lindgren, Volokh Conspirator, has the story.
can you say it with a straight face?
Forensic theology. (Cited by Travis.) (Link updated 2006.)
Atheism and Unalienable Rights by Robert E. Meyer (also cited today on RRND):
Skeptics want to deny that rights come from God, but if they are correct, then there is no sound philosophical footings undergirding their perpetual claim to any rights. They are walking on a tenuous tightrope of conceptual fiat. Obviously they have not thought this issue through very carefully. . . .
In other words, atheists who speak of rights are guilty of what Ayn Rand (an atheist) called “the fallacy of the stolen concept”. Obviously Meyer has not taken the time to find a libertarian atheist (how hard can it be?) and ask a few questions. It would be amusing – for a few minutes – to hear him and an Objectivist debate the roots of rights. ( . . more . . )
if the shoe were on the other foot, it would be a glove
Worth a giggle: What if Scientists Behaved Like Fundamentlists?
the former future prime minister
I’ve often mocked The Media for saying “former Italian prime minister” (what kind of prime minister is he now?) and so it is mildly disappointing that I won’t get to apply the phrase to Mrs Gandhi. The Agonist (cited by Brad DeLong) says:
News reports said she [Mrs Gandhi] would support Dr. Manmohan Singh, a former finance minister, as prime minister. A Sikh, he would be India’s first minority prime minister.
Nu? India has a majority?