Thread by @center4inquiry

Good morning, heretics, and welcome to a the Morning Heresy news roundup for a new week, and yes, a new month, because, no, this is not the same “March” as when all this started. It’s actually one whole year later from *that* March! I KNOW! Thread time. centerforinquiry.org/blog/some-of-m…

.@RichardDawkins has a new piece up at @PenguinUKBooks on how the tragedy of the pandemic may also yield immense progress for science, and a much greater appreciation for it. penguin.co.uk/articles/2021/…

“When the world breathes again, in 2022 if not before, the heroes of the hour will be the scientists: the men and – especially, as it happens – the women who rose to the occasion and developed at least three effective vaccines with astonishing speed.”

OK a little more: "Science tells us not only where and when we exist but why. We are evolved survival machines built by our inherited DNA for the purpose of bequeathing its digitally coded information to future generations." Go read it. penguin.co.uk/articles/2021/…

The Skeptic’s Toolbox is back, and the first new virtual workshop is now available online to watch anytime. Check out Ray Hall’s “Effective Teaching of Critical Thinking.”

centerforinquiry.org/video/effectiv…

BY THE WAY today’s Morning Heresy is brought to you by the letters R, F, and K, with a little help from the letters J and R, and a whole lot of W and T and F. Here's why....

In an interview with @NewsGuardRating (so heavily annotated with corrections of his nonsense that there are more footnotes than body content) RFK Jr. says that Dr. Fauci is “an absolute dictator … [the] J. Edgar Hoover of HHS.” I somehow doubt this. newsguardtech.com/newsguard-rfkj…

.@gorskon is unimpressed by folks who say they’re “not anti-vaccine” and then proceed to be entirely anti-vaccine. Now I’m just waiting for one of these folks to say, “Some of my best friends are vaccines!” sciencebasedmedicine.org/a-not-antivacc…

Or even better, “My daughter married a vaccine!”

Holy moly, I knew Gwyneth Paltrow was ripping people off with her Goop garbage, but thanks to @RobynElyse at @Wonkette, I know it’s on a galactic scale, with a small packet of vitamins for $90 and a “wholeness” necklace for $8,600.
wonkette.com/heal-your-body…

AP's @beckybohrerap and @jcarrsmyth: “Some GOP state lawmakers are using their platform to promote false information about the virus, the steps needed to limit its spread and the vaccines that will pull the nation out of the pandemic.”
apnews.com/article/legisl…

According to a new study, as reported at @PsyPost, “Individuals with a better grasp of scientific reasoning are less likely to fall prey to false conspiracy theories about the COVID–19 pandemic.” You don’t say.

psypost.org/2021/02/people…

.@crackedscience: “Having a chat with a conspiracy theorist can feel like sitting opposite them at a table and noticing just how nonsensical what they say is. … As surprising as it may sound, this person thinks the same of you.”
mcgill.ca/oss/article/cr…

The Secular Communities Survey goes live today, billed as “the largest-ever study of the community life of secular and nonreligious people in the United States.” Click here if you’d like to take part.

secularcommunities.com/secular21

.@gregolear has a fascinating profile of religious-right power broker Leonard Leo, who Olear credits(?) with installing 5 conservative justices on SCOTUS, among other bad things. "Leonard Leo is a demon who has taken possession of the body politic."
gregolear.substack.com/p/leo-the-canc…

.@daithaigilbert: Q-folk have doubts about Trump’s prophesied return to power on March 4, “calling it a false flag event created entirely by the mainstream media to ‘make the whole movement look dumb.’” Yes, it’s the mainstream media making you look dumb.
vice.com/en/article/m7a…

Rep. Greg Steube complained on the House floor about “gender confusion” being a “rejection of God’s good design.” Rep. Jerry Nadler said, “What any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress.” (continued...)

This got misquoted as “God has no authority in the House of Representatives,” which is true, but also not what Nadler said. Anyway, commence the performative moral outrage! friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2021/02/27/rep…

.@ryanburge looks at what different belief groups think about whether there are “only two genders,” and it’s atheists, agnostics, and Hindus who are by far the most open-minded on the question, though no group is overwhelmingly so.
religioninpublic.blog/2021/02/26/doe…

That Yahweh, he’d be an amazing character to play in a first-person shooter game. I mean, just look at all the people he killed in the Bible alone! Hemant Mehta made a huge video all about it.

friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2021/02/28/her…

Finally, a @ProjectLincoln video introduces Qdroxychloroquine: "If you’re suffering from uncontrollable thoughts of democricide, along with a persistent sense that cannibalistic Satanic pedophiles are after your phone records..."

There's actually quite a bit more at the blog-proper today, what with it being Monday and even more crazy than usual happening over the weekend, so go check it out. centerforinquiry.org/blog/some-of-m…

And subscribe! It's free! centerforinquiry.org/newsletter/?ut…