1. Keeping the faith at school

Comment #73212 by nowoo on September 24, 2007 at 1:10 pm

I went to exactly this kind of private Christian school in Ontario for 12 years, and spent four more years at a Christian college in Michigan. I got a good education in most subjects, but I never learned about evolution and I wasted way too much time praying, singing hymns and learning Bible stories.

It took me decades to realize that all those intelligent, educated, respected authority figures from my childhood had been teaching me to believe fairy tales. If I'd been exposed to non-Christian teachers and professors, and material like Sagan's Cosmos or Dawkins' Growing Up in the Universe, I probably would have snapped out of my religious upbringing much sooner.

2. Good News: Both our Foundations are now Officially Recognized as Charities

Comment #71046 by nowoo on September 17, 2007 at 4:28 pm

I'm one more Canadian who would be happy to donate to an RDF charity in Canada.

3. New Planet Could Be Earthlike, Scientists Say

Comment #35242 by nowoo on April 26, 2007 at 5:05 pm

Nah, they'd probably dodge the problem by assuming that humans are the only ones with souls. Everything else is just more of creation for us to subdue.

4. Stalking Strangers' DNA to Fill in the Family Tree

Comment #29328 by nowoo on April 2, 2007 at 3:02 pm

I wonder how many of these people fully accept DNA evidence for their recent human family tree, but deny the exact same evidence when it clearly demonstrates evolution and the common descent of all life on earth.

5. If only gay sex caused global warming

Comment #27208 by nowoo on March 23, 2007 at 2:29 pm

Actually, it could be argued that straight sex causes global warming. Population that grows at only 2% per year seems harmless enough, but that means it's doubling every 35 years. Yes, 300 million Americans in 2007, 600 million in 2044, 1.2 billion in 2079, and so on...

The fact is that even if we somehow managed to cut the per capita contribution to global warming in half every 35 years, we'd still only be running to stand still unless we also addressed population growth.

6. Does God answer prayer? ASU research says 'yes'

Comment #25896 by nowoo on March 15, 2007 at 2:54 pm

Steven Novella wrote a good analysis of this "research" on his NeuroLogica blog:

http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/default.asp?Display=60

7. Massachusetts Atheists?

Comment #20342 by nowoo on February 1, 2007 at 11:32 pm

Is there any way to force a test case, take it to the Supreme Court, and get this kind of unconstitutional law off the books nationwide? Or could that actually backfire in today's US?

8. Sextuplet parents take B.C. to court over baby seizures

Comment #20340 by nowoo on February 1, 2007 at 11:24 pm

Ironically, the sextuplets were actually born Presbyterian, Sikh, Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, and Mormon but are too young to be able to tell their parents that they have no religious objections to blood transfusions. (Just kidding.)

Actually, those babies were born in the hospital right next to the blood centre where I donate blood every eight weeks. Who knows? It might have been my O- blood that they received against their parents' wishes.