like-an-echo:

I deal mainly in unpopular facts. 

And it might be best for everyone if we stopped using it as a synonym for Humanism as well.

helvetebrann:

It’s not just the vitriol surrounding this year’s upcoming election: More conservatives than ever distrust science, according to a report released Thursday.

Just 35 percent of conservatives said they had a “great deal of trust in science” in 2010, a 28 percent decline since 1974, when 48 percent of conservatives—about the same percentage as liberals—trusted science. Liberal and moderate support for science has remained essentially flat since 1974, according to Gordon Gauchat, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He published his findings in the journal American Sociological Review.

Gauchat says conservatives’ rebellion against the “elite” and the shifting role of science in society is to blame for the decline. He argues that the conservative minority has rebelled against science in the same way it has against media and higher education.

“It kind of began with the loss of Barry Goldwater and the construction of Fox News and all these [conservative] think tanks. The perception among conservatives is that they’re at a disadvantage, a minority,” he says. “It’s not surprising that the conservative subculture would challenge what’s viewed as the dominant knowledge production groups in society—science and the media.”

Our progress as a nation - and our values as a nation - are rooted in free and open inquiry. To undermine scientific integrity is to undermine our democracy.” Meanwhile, Santorum has called human-caused climate change a “hoax,” and “patently absurd,” and has said that teaching evolution “promotes atheism.”

Gauchat says those two issues are where conservatives most readily reject science.

“…reality has a well-known liberal bias.” - Stephen Colbert

In order for conservatives to exist, and in order for them to still make some claim for sanity, they HAVE to reject science as a legitimate source of reality.  Otherwise their world couldn’t make sense, even to them.  ~ Steve

The drowning of a 1-year-old boy at an Indianapolis church’s daycare is rekindling debate over whether church-related daycares should be licensed by the state.

State law allows religious nonprofits to register their daycares with the state, but the facilities avoid much of the oversight that licensed daycares face. Only about 5 percent of church daycares are licensed through the Family and Social Services Administration.

But as the number of faith-based daycares grows — they now outnumber licensed daycares 730 to 601 — some are questioning whether more regulation is needed, The Indianapolis Star reported.

The differences in requirements for licensed and unlicensed faith-based ministries are vast.

Licensed centers must follow 192 rules; the unlicensed faith-based ministries, 21.

Licensed centers must have one adult for every four infants and every five toddlers. There is no ratio requirement for unlicensed centers.

Many religious organizations say faith-based daycares are regulated enough and contend that once a child care is licensed by the state, the government can control what goes on inside.

Many religious organizations say faith-based daycares are regulated enough and contend that once a child care is licensed by the state, the government can control what goes on inside.

Yeah, like making sure that there are enough people to watch the children, that the people are trained, and that drownings like this are not possible.  Why is the safety of children even up for debate?  -_-

helvetebrann:

Remember, the Westboro Baptist Church is attending the Reason Rally.

Nate Phelps, estranged son of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church Pastor Fred Phelps, plans to speak at an atheist rally.

“Nate Phelps brings a powerful voice and story to the rally,” Reason Rally organizer David Silverman said in the release. “He shows us all that if you can come out as an atheist in that family, it’s possible anywhere.”

The younger Phelps is described on his website as an LGBT advocate who, “speaks out against the dangers of religion and child abuse.”

The site says Phelps left his father’s home at midnight on his 18th birthday after enduring “extreme physical punishments and abuse, extreme dietary and health requirements, and other extreme expectations,” while growing up under his father, according to the site.

Many people believe that the Westboro Church is a fraud designed by trolls who do not believe what they preach, but rather, try to earn money from lawsuits.  Nate Phelps is proof that, unfortunately, the church and it’s members do believe what they preach.

To those attending the rally, I strongly recommend listening to Nate speak.  His testimony regarding his departure from his family home was riveting.