Thread by @center4inquiry

Welcome back to the work week, heretics, unless of course your workplace gives you President’s Day off, in which case you might be sleeping in, in which case good afternoon. Let’s see what’s up in the news. Thread ahoy.
centerforinquiry.org/blog/an-unusab…

More drama from our lawsuit on behalf of Secular Celebrants in Texas: an appeals court dismissed the case on some nitpicky, technical grounds about standing and redressability, so we’re just going to come right back.

centerforinquiry.org/press_releases…

“We remain determined and enthusiastic to continue the fight in Texas,” said our legal director Nick Little. “Nonreligious couples in Texas deserve the same rights as the religious—a principal so obvious is should hardly need stating, let alone litigated. centerforinquiry.org/press_releases…

On March 2, the Buros Center for Testing will host the first Lilienfeld Honorary Webinar in commemoration of the late Dr. Scott O. Lilienfeld, a Fellow of our Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. buros.org/lilienfeld-hon…

Yesterday President Biden officially re-established the White House Office of Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships, which is not thrilling to us, but he also reappointed Melissa Rogers to run it, which is pretty good. @jackmjenkins & @AMBankstw report:
religionnews.com/2021/02/14/bid…

Even better, as noted by @EJDionne: “...the new office is set to stress the role of non-religious components of civil society, including intentionally secular groups, in building community and solving problems.” washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

.@colindickey at @GENmag looks at how @snopes has adapted from the scam emails of the 90s to the QAnons of today. "Bill Gates is no longer offering free money; now he’s manufacturing Covid–19 so he can inject secret microchips in you via phony vaccines." gen.medium.com/snopes-debunke…

(@colindickey also writes: “My grad school friend crying over dead kids had become an Islamophobic birther by the time I blocked her ass on Facebook. Eventually, I quit Facebook altogether once it became an unusable morass of lies and fear.” Hell yes.)

.@JasonColavito at Slate ties together belief in UFO conspiracy theories with McCarthyism, QAnon, Tucker Carlson, and even the History Channel, and IT ALL MAKES SENSE. slate.com/technology/202…

One Sean Pidgeon writes into his paper to say all these conspiracists, from QAnon to election deniers, are “flat-earthers.”: “If you believe COVID–19 is a hoax, or NBD, you’re a flat-earther; 480,000 and counting Americans are not pretending to be dead.”
nny360.com/opinion/letter…

I dug this take on the “we're in a simulation” idea. @skdh calls it pseudoscience: “Those who believe it make...really big assumptions about what natural laws can be reproduced w/ computer simulations, and they don’t explain how this is supposed to work” backreaction.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-si…

The UK’s B.1.1.7. variant of the coronavirus is “likely” deadlier than COVID Classic. @benjmueller & @carlzimmer report: nytimes.com/2021/02/13/wor…

Remember how Instragram, owned by Facebook, banned RFK Jr. for his lies about vaccines? Well on Facebook, which is also owned by Facebook, he’s still doing just fine.
mediamatters.org/facebook/banne…

QAnon now says the COVID–19 vaccine will turn you gay. Really, if that’s the biggest problem with it, I say go for it.
advocate.com/health/2021/2/…

Actually, the COVID–19 vaccine will turn you into a servant of the Antichrist. I can’t keep up. local10.com/news/local/202…

Here’s hoping that on Valentine’s Day you were not the unknowing victim of a love spell.

religionnews.com/2021/02/12/thi…

That'll do. There's a lot more at the blog today, what with the weekend and all. Have a good whatever-your-day-is! Get all the news relevant to the secular, skeptic, and reality-based communities delivered to your inbox every weekday! Subscribe at centerforinquiry.org/newsletter/?ut…