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Michael Shermer on Reasonable Doubt at TEDxGhent

By |July 9th, 2015|Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Morality, Reason, Science, Violence, Women’s Rights|

Michael Shermer explains how a scientific way of thinking manages to improve the world in various kinds of ways. He describes how science and reason lead humanity toward truth, justice and freedom. “As democracy increases, violence decreases” is the theme of his talk. He discusses the death penalty, women and gay rights and so much more. He states that within these delicate issues, rationality and abstract thinking are the keys to increased awareness and democracy.

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From Stonewall to Indiana

By |April 29th, 2015|Gay Rights, Morality, Reason, Religion|

Historically, the arc of the moral universe has been bending toward justice because we have stopped treating people based on who they are by nature, such as gender, race, and most recently by sexual preference. The recent legal imbroglio over the right of businesses in Indiana and other states to refuse service to people based on their sexual preference (gay versus straight) illuminates how quickly this rights revolution is unfolding.

How Long? Not Long.

By |March 7th, 2015|Civil Rights, Justice, Morality, Reason, Religion, Slavery, Uncategorized, Violence|

March 7, 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the first attempt by civil rights activists to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. As a tribute to these champions of truth, justice, and freedom, I am posting the Prologue to my book The Moral Arc, whose title was inspired, in part, by that march and the stirring words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from one of his most famous speeches known as the “How Long, Not Long” speech.

Counter Refutation — Shermer responds to book reviews

By |March 4th, 2015|Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Justice, Morality, Reason, Religion, Science, Terrorism, Violence, War|

The initial reviews of The Moral Arc are in and the author has completed his U.S. book tour, and in this article Michael Shermer replies to the criticisms and commentaries thus far leveled against his thesis that we are living in the most moral time in our species history and that one of the primary drivers bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice is science and reason. You will be astounded to learn that not only religious people, but some scientists and secularists themselves object to using science and reason to determine human values. Shermer challenges them to explain what they use, if not their rational brains, to solve moral issues!

Why Islam? Of the three great monotheistic religions only one did not go through the Enlightenment

By |February 25th, 2015|Civil Rights, Morality, Reason, Religion, Science, Terrorism, Violence, War, Women’s Rights|

One of the central tenets of science is to define a problem to be studied with as much clarity as possible, and the key to clear communication is calling things what they really are. Unfortunately, both the American media and public intellectuals have failed to be honest in identifying what everyone in Europe knows is the primary source of terrorism in the world today: Islam.

Why the Founding Fathers Wouldn’t Have Been Anti-Vaxxers

By |February 17th, 2015|Civil Rights, Justice, Morality, Reason, Religion, Science|

Are you a vaccination skeptic? Or are you skeptical of the vaccination skeptics? Your answer will most likely depend less on science and more on political ideology. The science jury is in when it comes to vaccinations, as it is for climate change and evolution. Vaccinations work, climate change is real and evolution happened. But, though skepticism in all three cases tends to be the product of politics, to doubt science is to run up against the very heart of America’s political framework.