Evolution News - Another Beneficial Mutation

Cape honey bee workers laying parasitic eggs on a queen cell.

Photo credit: Benjamin Oldroyd

Virgin birth has scientists buzzing - The University of Sydney

I have often commented in this blog about how science without any effort or intent, casually refutes creationism by falsifying another of it's articles of faith, or sacred dogmas.

This paper on parthenogenic bees is yet another of these, as was the recent one on the transitional plant fossil. It illustrates how a mutation can be highly beneficial in the right environment. Creationist dogma says it can't be, of course, because all mutations are harmful and increase 'genetic entropy' - an argument made popular by Michael J Behe in his failed attempt to show that evolution is consistent with the Christian notion of 'the fall' because all evolution is really 'devolution' [sic].

Yet here we have a mutation in a subspecies of honeybee - the Cape honeybee (Apis mellifera capensis) which is highly advantageous, enabling this subspecies to parasitise other honeybee colonies, to the extent that they present a serious threat to other honeybee populations.

Covidiots - Alveda King - It's All About New York

Dr Alveda King

Alveda King: New York Has COVID Problems Because It’s “The Home of Abortion” | Beth Stoneburner | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

To be a dedicated American Covidiot it's essential to forget one thing - that unimportant place called "The Rest of the World".

Dr Alveda King, niece of the late Martin Luther King, has decided that the Covid-19 pandemic is all because abortions are legal in New York. Her god has decided to kill millions of people worldwide in places like China, India, Europe, Africa and South America to teach New Yorker a lesson - not Chinese, Indians, Brits, Italians or Spanish, but New Yorkers!

Covidiots - American Fundies Dying To Be Martyrs.

Sierra County Sheriff Glenn Hamilton

New Mexico Sheriff “Deputizes” 20 Christians, Exempting Them from Lockdown Order | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

Two more stories of wackadoodle Christians demanding the right to catch Covid-19 in church today.

The first is from New Mexico where Sierra County Sheriff Glenn Hamilton has sworn in 20 Christians as "deputies", so exempting them from the state-wide ban on gatherings. He was exploiting an exemption from the ban on gatherings for law-enforcement officers.

Catholic Abuse News - Pell Knew About Child Sex Abuse

Cardinal George Pell speaking to the media at the in Rome in 2016 after giving evidence via video-link to Australia’s royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images

George Pell: cardinal was aware of children being sexually abused, royal commission report finds | Australia news | The Guardian

According to this report in today's Guardian, The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, has released previously redacted sections of their report which show that Cardinal Pell knew of instances of child abuse.

Pell was recently acquitted by the Australian High Court following his conviction and imprisonment for the sexual abuse of two choir boys, despite his defence lawyer arguing for leniency in the original sentence, on the grounds that the sex was 'vanilla sex' where penetration was brief and didn't result in ejaculation.

Winning With Science

Towards antibodies against COVID-19

What is noticeable more than anything during the current Covid-19 pandemic is the contrast between science and religion in how they see their responsibilities to the world at large.

On the one hand, we have religious leaders treating the whole thing as a get-rich-quick opportunity, selling magic spells and quack snake-oil cures to those gullible enough to fall for the scams and others campaigning to end the social distancing measures so they can continue to fleece their congregations.

On the other hand, we have hundreds of scientific research programs like this one, aimed at producing treatments and, in the long run, cures in the form of vaccines, whilst creationists continue to decry science as 'scientism' in an attempt to reduce it to the status of creationism as though it's also an evidence-free superstition.

This research program for example, has produced what could be a valuable treatment for people who already have the virus. It is an antibody that binds to and neutralises the 'spike' proteins that enable the virus to bind to the surface of a cell before inserting it's contents into it. If this treatment proves effective, it will prevent the virus infecting new cells and so damaging the tissues and producing more copies of itself.

Antibodies like this supplement the body's own defences but are relatively short lived because they don't stimulate the body to produce its own antibodies, unlike a vaccine which does just that. Hence they are useful as treatments but not prophylactics.

This is just one example of the multi-pronged attack on the Covid-19 virus being launched by medical science.

Apart from scamming their credulous dupes, what have religions been doing? In particular, what has the creation industry, which tells anyone who'll listen that it's definitely a science, not religion is disguise, been doing? Where are the creation 'science' laboratories in all this and what results have they produced?

None at all, of course. Although they will undoubtedly rush in to claim the credit for their god when we, as we will, have the cure and tha pandemic recedes into history. Hopefully, history will remember how it was science that produced the goods, whilst religions just used the opportunity to fleece the gullible and stupid and was quite prepared to spread the virus in pursuit of greater profits.

Covidiots - Russian Orthodox Fruitloops

Patriarch Kirill, in the white headdress, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, at a procession in Moscow last month. Experts say his reluctance to enforce orders against church gatherings has led to an explosion of coronavirus cases in monasteries and convents.

Photo credit: Patriarchal Press Service, via Reuters

A ‘Breakdown of Trust’: Pandemic Corrodes Church-State Ties in Russia - The New York Times

It might be some comfort to Americans that they are not the only people whose lives are being put at risk by religious nutjobs and fauds more interested in keeping their income stream flowing than in ensuring the health and safety of their families and society at large. Russian Orthodox Christian nutjobs are at it too.

According to this report in the New York Times:

A physics student at Moscow State University, Dmitri Pelipenko turned away from science in 2018 to devote himself to God, enrolling as a novice monk at Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Malevolent Design - Covid-19 Mutating

A colorized scanning electron micrograph of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Photo credit: NIAID

Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 offer insights into virus evolution

As I've remarked before, if you've fallen for the intelligent [sic] design hoax, you need to be able to explain why evolution is the only explanation for the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) that doesn't leave your putative creator looking like a malevolent, anthropophobic, genocidal psychopath.

That problem just got worse with publication by the University College, London (UCL) Genetics Institute that they have discovered close to 200 recurrent genetic mutations in the virus. They found these by examining the genomes of the virus recovered from 7,500 patients. Covid-19 looks for all the world like it's evolving, or, in ID hoax believers terms, being intelligent redesigned.

Coviots - Christian Pastors and Their Dupes Are Dying of the 'Phantom Plague'

Services at Life Tabernacle Church in the suburb of Baton Rouge, La., are continuing despite the governor’s order banning large gatherings to fight the spread of the coronavirus. On Sunday, 1,265 congregants attended morning services at the church, the pastor said.

Photo credit: Woody Jenkins / Central City News

'A phantom plague': America's Bible Belt played down the pandemic and even cashed in. Now dozens of pastors are dead | The Independent.

It is tempting to talk about Darwin Awards and score points about these sad deaths, but I need to keep reminding myself of the basic Humanism in John Donne's "No Man Is An Island" - "Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee."

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each person's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

Let's not forget that, no matter how stupid they were; no matter how brainwashed they had been to believe superstitious nonsense and carefully cultivated paranoias, these were still people; fooled by frauds and lied to by cheats who took advantage of their credulity, certainly, but still people.

If any good is to come of this tragic pandemic, it is that their sad deaths should remind us of the danger religion poses to humanity when it induces stupidity on this scale, puts money above people, and exploits the stupid and gullible to serve the naked greed and avarice of the frauds who promulgate it.

Evolution News - Yet Another Transitional Species

In this image of one of the new ancient species’ reproductive structures, elliptical impressions of sporangia can be seen in one row, while on the right, another row displays preserved carbonized spore masses.

Image credit: Andrew Leslie

New ancient plant captures snapshot of evolution | Stanford University.

What with their problem explaining why evolution is the only explanation for Covid-19 that doesn't leave their putative designer god looking like a malevolent, genocidal psychopath, the last thing creationists needed was another one of those annoying transitional species that so bedevil their precious dogma.

But here we are, with another one, announced just yesterday. This time an extinct plant showing evidence of transition from spores to seeds - an essential step in the evolution of the flowering plants, or angiosperms.

And once again without any effort or intent, science has again refuted creationism with evidence.

One of the major advances in plant evolution was when the gymnosperms (cone-bearing) and angiosperms (flowering) plants broke free from the constraints of the reproductive methods used by the ferns and club mosses, which required moist conditions to allow their motile male gametes to reach the sedentary female gametes.

IDiot Designer Blunder - He Got The Wrong Species!

Scientists were inspired by antibodies produced by this llama, named Winter, to develop their antibody against SARS-CoV-2. Winter is four years old and still living on a farm in the Belgian countryside operated by Ghent University’s Vlaams Institute for Biotechnology.

Photo credit: Tim Coppens.

Antibodies from Llamas Could Help in Fight Against COVID-19 - UT News

You'd expect an intelligent designer to know what it's doing, wouldn't you?

Not so creationism's intelligent (sic) designer, it seems. It's only gone and given a species that doesn't even suffer from Covid-19 the ability to create immunity to it!

Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA and the National Institutes of Health and Ghent University in Belgium have discovered that a llama produces two natural antibodies when vaccinated with Covid-19 'spike' proteins, that, when linked together:

...binds tightly to a key protein on the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This protein, called the spike protein, allows the virus to break into host cells. Initial tests indicate that the antibody blocks viruses that display this spike protein from infecting cells in culture.

As the University of Austin press release explains:

When llamas’ immune systems detect foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses, these animals (and other camelids such as alpacas) produce two types of antibodies: one that is similar to human antibodies and another that’s only about a quarter of the size. These smaller ones, called single-domain antibodies or nanobodies, can be nebulized and used in an inhaler.

Covidiots - Covid-19 Problems for Theists.

The Covid-19 pandemic currently devastating economies and killing people by the tens of thousands is a major problem for religions, especially the Abrahamic religions who believe everything is created by a god who personally supervises and controls events, making things happen, or not happen, according to its will and plan.

For example:

1. The question of how the virus arose. All the Abrahamic religions hold that there is a single creator god who alone is responsible for its creation. The entire intelligent (sic) design industry, popular with both Christian and Islamic fundamentalists, and probably with the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects, depends on the belief that everything is intelligently designed by an omniscient, omnipotent creator - who just happens to be similar in all respects to 'the one true God'.
   
   This god, so it is assumed, knows exactly what its creations will do. They will do precisely what it designed them to do, nothing more and nothing less, hence it deigned the Covid-19 virus to behave in exactly the way it is behaving - killing indiscriminately the believers and non-believers alike, and differentially selecting the elderly and sick to kill.
   
   The problem for these fundamentalists is that by any measure, this portrays their supposedly loving creator as a malevolent, anthropophilic, genocidal psychopath, and leaves the detested scientific explanation - mindless, unplanned and amoral evolution - as the only explanation that doesn't present their god in such an appalling light.

Covidiots - Followers of Bishop Climate Irungu Wiseman

Coronavirus: London church selling ‘plague protection kits' for £90 consisting of oil and red yarn | The Independent

Perhaps Americans can feel a little less embarrassed by the antics of their religious fundamentalist when they learn that we in the UK are plagued with them too. This example is from Camberwell in London where 'Bishop' Climate Irungu Wiseman of the Kingdom Church is cashing in on the Covid-19 pandemic emergency by selling a quack 'cure' for £91 for a 'kit'.

The kit consists of a bottle of 'Divine Plague Protection Oil' and a length of red yarn. 'Bishop' Wideman, who runs Bishop Climate Ministries claims:

It is by faith that you can be saved from every pandemic by covering yourself with the Divine Cleansing Oil and wearing the Scarlet Yarn on your body. That is why I want to encourage you, if you haven’t done so already, to get your Divine Plague Protection Kit today! Available to order online and ship to you right away.... That is why the Lord has instructed me to prepare special oil that has been mixed with cedar wood, hyssop, and prayer. Yes this special oil has sat upon the altar for 7 days. It’s called Divine Cleansing protection Oil. As you use this oil, along with a special scarlet yarn, every plague and any other deadly thing will pass over you. Just like the children of Israel were spared from death, just like Rahab and her family were saved from destruction, the same will happen for you.

Malevolent Design - Does 'God' Hate Honey Bees More Than Humans?

Honey bees

Photo credit: Newcasle University

Emergence of deadly honey bee disease revealed - Press Office - Newcastle University

If you buy into the creationist hoax of intelligent (sic) design, you must wonder why the putative designer is being so hateful at the moment. Not only do you need to explain it's apparent malevolent, genocidal mendacity in designing the Covid-19 virus to indiscriminately kill people, but we now hear that it's apparently designed another nasty little virus.

This one is a virus that is spreading quickly in the UK and which kills honey bees, often wiping out the entire hive, as though the Varroa destructor mite wasn't doing it quickly enough. It's as though this putative intelligent (sic) designer hates honey bees almost as much as it hates humans.

More Evidence of Americans Losing Faith

This Chart Shows How Quickly Americans Are Abandoning Organized Religion | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

More evidence, if any were needed of the steep and accelerating decline in religiosity in the USA as more and more Americans turn their backs on organised religion.

This evidence comes in the form of a report released yesterday, by Adjunct Fellow Lyman Stone for the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, which should set alarm bells ringing in the ears of those whose livelihood depends on Americans continuing to go to church and support them with money. This chart, based on data from multiple sources and methodologies shows how all the measures of religiosity show the same thing - American religiosity has fallen off a cliff edge and is plummeting downwards at an accelerating rate.

Thank You For Being Humankind Again!

It's with great pleasure that I can report another donation to Oxfam from money I get for advertising Amazon products on this blog. This time a donation of £100.02. This sum has been slowly accumulating in my account with Amazon and finally triggered a payment by crossing the £100 threshold (just!).

This time I have donated the money to Oxfam's Coronavirus Emergency appeal. I produce all relevant receipts here because in previous years these donations have produced a near-hysterical response from fundamentalist Christians and online scammers which Oxfam GB needed to become involved with, to verify that all donations had been paid as reported.

It seems that professed Christianity is no barrier to bearing false witness nor trying to prevent charitable donations aimed at bringing famine relief to those less fortunate than ourselves, so I hereby give Oxfam GB permission to reveal all details of my contributions to Oxfam, other than details of my name and address, should anyone wish to verify this donation.

Should you wish to support me in this small fundraising effort, please buy products from Amazon through this blog. On a laptop, scroll down to the Oxfam search tool and search there. This will then record the search against my account. The other way is to click on the Amazon ads for books and other products. Basically, clicking any ad bearing the Amazon logo will be recorded against my account.

Regrettably, Amazon are unable or unwilling to make these commission payments directly to a nominated charity.

Of course, you can always make a donation directly to Oxfam, here.

From Oxfam's website:

Covidiots - Magi Spell

Covidiots ignore social distancing and put their children at risk in support of Pastor Tony Spell's bid for martyrdom and in defence of Christian privilege.

Phone lines at Central police are 'tied up' by calls from Tony Spell supporters, officials say | Coronavirus | theadvocate.com

As part of Pastor Tony Spell's campaign for martyrdom and the right to spread the Covid-19 virus as widely as possible in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, supporters have now blocked the local police departments phone system after his mother, Magi Spell, published their phone number on her Facebook page and asked people to ring it.

Supporters are also demonstrating outside the Louisiana governors house demanding a lifting of the house arrest order intended to prevent Spell from holding church services in defiance of the social distancing order forbidding gatherings of more than ten people.

How Christians Lie To US - False Prophets are Still Right!

Pastor Jeremiah Johnson "The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said..."

Self-Described “Prophet”: Even When My Predictions Are Wrong, They’re Still True | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

Q. When is a false prophet not a false prophet?

A. When he makes a false prophecy, obviously!

Pastor Jeremiah Johnson, of Behold the Man Ministries in Lakeland, Florida, is a Trump-supporting evangelical, preaching the 'prosperity gospel', and self-proclaimed prophet who recently declared that Dr Anthony Fauci had been sent by Satan to thwart Donald Trump.

He also prophesied that a businessman would become a millionaire based on what he said was a "sign from God".

The problem was, the man went bankrupt shortly afterwards.

Americans Losing Faith

Americans losing grip on most basic tenets of Christian faith: survey - The Christian Post

I wish could claim credit for it with my book, "Ten Reasons To Lose Faith: And Why You Are Better Off Without it" but Americans are rapidly losing faith in the Christian god, as the result of this recent survey shows. The survey was conducted by researcher George Barna for the recently-founded Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University.

The result must have come as a shock to them.

Covidiots - Pastor Tony Spell's Desire for Martyrdom

Pastor Tony Spell, "Wanna be a martyr!"

Despite House Arrest Order, the COVID-19-Defying Pastor Preached at Church Today | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

Covid-19 is a godsend for disingenuous Pastor Tony Spell, in his desperate search for martyrdom. The social distancing measures needed to slow down the spread of the lethal virus to prevent health services from being overwhelmed, has provided him with just the excuse he needs to get himself arrested and imprisoned so he can play the victim card for all it's worth.

As reported yesterday, he is subject to a court order forbidding him to leave his own home because he refused to comply with Louisiana state orders banning gatherings of more than 10 people - including in places of worship. He has been fitted with an ankle monitor device to ensure his compliance.

Covidiots - Kenneth Copeland Has Killed Covid-19 - Again

Kenneth Copeland, "Coronavirus is over"

Scamvangelist, Taking Credit for California Heat Wave, Declares COVID-19 “OVER!” | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

Earlier this month, while he was killing Covid-19 by blowing on it and casting magic spells at it, mega-rich Christian televangelist Kenneth Copeland also called on God to cause a heatwave at Easter to kill the Virus in New York (as though his magic wasn't going to be enough).

He declared:

All God needs to do to deliver us is a heatwave, a supernatural heatwave. You know, usually you get what they call the Easter spell. When you think everything is warming up and all of a sudden you get a cold front. Well now, this year it’s going to be a[n] Easter heatwave, It’s going to get so hot in New York City. It’s going to get so hot and muggy, glory to God! It’s going to hit that place and it’s going to burn that virus. It’s going to, you know what it’s like in New York City at 85 or 90 degrees. It’s going to get however hot it has to get there to kill that thing right now all over this nation and the rest of the world where it’s needed.

Covidiots - Pastor Tony Spell under House Arrest

Pastor Tony Spell
"Give me your stimulus checks!"

COVID-19-Defying Pastor Tony Spell Placed Under House Arrest | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

Readers may recall how pastor Tony Spell managed to exceed the normal abysmal standards of fundamentalist Christian evangelist greed by demanding that unemployed people should send him their stimulus checks. He has been placed under house arrest for refusing to assure a judge that he would not encourage people to gather together in his church by holding open services.

He had been arrested and charged “aggravated assault with a deadly weapon". He is now deemed to be too much of a threat to society to be allowed to leave his house.

Covidiots - Intelligent Design Creationists

Scientists Are Tired of Explaining Why The COVID-19 Virus Was Not Made in a Lab

News that scientists have established beyond reasonable doubt that the Covid-19 virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2 was the result of natural mutation in an animal host and not the result of a laboratory experiment that 'escaped' is terrible news for intelligent (sic) design creationists who now have to explain one simple thing:

Why is this evolutionary explanation the only explanation for Covod-19 that doesn't leave their putative creator god looking like a malevolent, genocidal, anthropophobic psychopath?

Covidiots - Kenneth Copeland's Credulous Dupes

Kenneth Copeland, Top televangelist scam artist

Scamvangelist Praises Donors for Buying Him the World’s “Finest” Private Jet | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

Kenneth Copeland is the sort of American Christian televangelist whom Europeans look at and ask themselves, "What is wrong with these people?"

He is also obscenely rich because people give him lots of money, believing this will buy them special favour with God who wants them to help make Kenneth Copeland obscenely rich - because Kenneth Copeland says God told him he does.

Multi-millionaire televangelist Kenneth Copeland tells his "partners" (i.e. donors) that they deserve all the credit for buying him one of the finest private jets in the world. pic.twitter.com/4mY4ndzFDQ

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) April 24, 2020

For example, after his recent 'success' at ridding America of the Covid-19 virus with some magic spells, his followers gave him enough money to buy himself 'the world's finest jet' - the Gulfstream V - so he can travel in safety and not have to travel in as 'long tube full of demons'.

True to form, and as though to distance himself from the obvious greed he displays, he blamed his 'partners', i.e., the dupes he scammed for donating enough money.

According to this report in the Independent:

American televangelist Kenneth Copeland, recently claimed that the coronavirus pandemic will be “over much sooner you think” because “Christian people all over this country praying have overwhelmed it,” has summoned the “wind of God” to destroy the novel coronavirus during a recent sermon.

Before blowing at the camera, he said: ”I blow the wind of God on you. You are destroyed forever, and you’ll never be back. Thank you, God. Let it happen. Cause it to happen.”

Leading a chant surrounded by members of his church and preaching to an empty room, he called out: “Wind, almighty, strong, south wind, Heat: Burn this thing, in the name of Jesus. I say, you bow your knees. You fall on your face.”

According to the same report, after he had "executed judgment" on the virus he declared the virus ”finished” and “over” and made the US ”healed and well again.” and told his audience that they would be cured by touching their TV screens!

He also told Americans that it was "vital" they keep paying their tithes, even when out of work.

At the time of writing (26 April, 2020), there have been 959,000 cases of Covid-19 in the USA with 54,161 deaths. The USA is accounting for almost 32% of the 2.9 million cases worldwide. American evangelist are campaigning to have restrictions of social gatherings to be lifted so Christians can again crowd together in church to sing and shout and spread virus particles, 'safe' in the knowledge that their collective magic spells have driven the virus away.

According to Celebrity Net Worth Copeland is worth at least $300 million and maybe as much as $750 million or even over $1 billion. He lives in a $6.3 million lakefront mansion and has now appealed to his 'partners' to donate $17-$20 million so he can upgrade his private runway and hanger for his brand new Gulfstream V private jet.

Kenneth Copeland purports to follow Jesus, who, according to the Bible, told his followers to sell their possessions and give to the poor.

Covidiot News - Christian Loon Feels Entitled to Infect Others

Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel

Mat Staver: Church Lockdowns Are “Targeting” Christians Like Nazis Targeted Jews | Beth Stoneburner | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

According to Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, an extreme right-wing Christian libertarian organization, requiring Christians not to gather together in church, where the Covid-19 virus can be more easily spread, is equivalent to the Holocaust!

Liberty Counsel is representing Tampa, Florida-based evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne, ​who was arrested for defying a local stay-at-home order, and others who have run into that kind of trouble. In a hysterical reaction to the social distancing measures aimed at slowing the spread of the virus so health services can cope with the demand, Staver claimed:

Covidiot News - Israeli Health Minister Gets Covid-19

Yaakov Litzman, Israeli Health Minister
"I am sure that the messiah will come by Passover and save us..."

Israeli health minister's cure for COVID-19? The Messiah - Israel News - Haaretz.com

It's sometime tempting to believe in the wackadoodle notion of Karma!

The ultra-orthodox Israeli Health Minister, Yaakov Litzman, who reportedly claimed God would protect Israel from Covid-19, and who flouted his own Health Department's advice on social distancing, announced earlier this month that he and his unfortunate wife Chava, had both tested positive for the virus. Thankfully, according to this report in The Times of Israel, they have both since made full recoveries.

Human Evolution News - Icelanders' Neanderthal Ancestors

Models of male and female Neanderthals in the Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, Germany.

Photo: UNiesert / Frank Vincentz (assembly: Abuk Sabuk) /
Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0 / GFDL

Icelandic DNA puzzle gives new knowledge about Neanderthals

A new study into the Neanderthal component in the genomes of modern Icelanders has raised a couple of interesting questions:

1. Did anatomically modern humans breed with Neanderthals and Denisovans when they first entered Eurasia from Africa?
2. Or had Neanderthals and Denisovans interbred before hand so denisovan DNA was widespread in the Neanderthal population moderns interbred with.

This question is raised by the finding from examining the genomes of 27,566 Icelanders whose genome is in the deCODE database.

Covid-19 Stupidity and Magical Thinking

The late Bishop Gerald O. Glenn
Told packed church "God is larger than this dreaded virus"!

A COVID-Denying Pastor Died of COVID-19. Now His Family Has the Virus, Too. | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

The sad death of Bishop Gerald O. Glenn of the New Deliverance Evangelistic Church of Richmond Virginia from the Covid-19 virus and news that his entire family have now caught the deadly virus is a reminder that these unfortunate people are victims as much of the religion virus as they are of the Covid-19 virus.

A week before he died, Bishop Gerald O. Glenn preached to a packed church and boasted that "God is larger than this dreaded virus", in defiance of public advice to limit the size of public gatherings and to cancel church services.

Covid-19 Scam - Not Just the Christians

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky

Charity Run by Ultra-Orthodox Leader Promises Coronavirus Cure to Large Donors | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos.

It's not just the American fundamentalist Christians who have spotted a good money-making opportunity in the Covid-19 pandemic. An ultra-orthodox Jewish group in Israel has dipped its bread in the gravy bowl too. In return for a monthly payment of NIS 100 for 30 months, donors will receive a silver amulet which, it is claimed, will give protection to the household from all illnesses.

It is not clear at this time whether the protection only comes into effect after all 30 payments have been made or whether it strats with the first payment and is withdrawn if the donor defaults.

Run by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a leading Haredi Rabbi, a charity called Kupat Ha’ir (City Fund), set up with the noble aim of bringing relief to families suffering from illness, and based in the Covid-19 hotspot of B’nei Brak, has promised:

Christian Scam Alert - Christians For Greed and Selfishness

Pastor Tony Spell "Give me your money!"

COVID-19-Defying Pastor Wants People to Send Him Their $1,200 Stimulus Checks | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

Pastor Tony Spell, the head of Louisiana’s Life Tabernacle Church, always has one eye open for the main chance, and Covid-19 is it! He has his eyes on the stimulus money his target dupes are getting to help the USA out of the virus-induced recession.

Not only did he refuse to close his church to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 on the basis that real Christians don't mind dying (and he doesn't mind helping them so long as they bring money along to his church before they do) but he is now telling them they should give him their $1200 stimulus money rather than spend it on food, rent and essential bills!

Another Cynical Christian Scam

con-artist Jim Humble, inventor of MMS

US halts sale of bleach product touted as 'miracle' virus cure | France24

Never slow to miss a get-rich-quick opportunity, a Christian church has been selling a phony 'cure' for multiple ills, including Covid-19 and claiming it as a 'sacrament'.

The quack cure is the invention of con-artist Jim Humble, who set of the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing as a vehicle for selling industrial bleach for around $50 a bottle under the brand-name "Miracle Mineral Solution" (MMS) with the claim that it will:

Cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent coronavirus, which includes COVID-19, as well as other diseases including Alzheimer’s, autism, brain cancer, HIV/AIDS, and multiple sclerosis.

How Religion Damages Children.

It’s difficult for young children to differentiate between fact and fiction after they have been exposed to religion.

Study Shows Children Raised With Religion Find It Challenging To Judge Fact From Fiction.

A 2014 study published in Cognitive Science shows a marked difference in their ability to distinguish fact from fiction between children brought up in secular households and those brought up in a religious ones.

Children conditioned to accept the magical content of religious stories as factual, find it harder to understand that such stories are actually impossible, not true accounts of real events. For example, when asked to classify the story of Moses waving a magic wand and making a pathway open up through the sea, children subjected to a religious upbringing will be more likely to classify the story as factual rather than fictional, despite the express inclusion of a magical element in the story.

Catholic Child Abuse - Pell Faces 26 More Allegations

Cardinal George Pell "Facing 26 more allegations"

George Pell’s Andrew Bolt interview: Cardinal facing fresh investigation.

There are persistent rumours that Cardinal Pell, former number 3 in the Vatican, who was recently cleared by the Australian High Court, after being convicted of the sexual abuse of two boys in the 1990s, is facing a further 26 allegations and is under investigation by the police.

Four Officers from the Auburn Police Area Command arrived at about 2.30 pm at The Good Shepherd Seminary in Abbotsford Road, Homebush, Sydney, NSW, where Pell is staying, for what was describes as a pre-arranged meeting to 'discuss security protocols".

Catholic Child Abuse - Baptism With Violence

Father Jacques Lacroix - Baptism with violence

Imagine! You're a devout Catholic family and you take your baby to the local church to be baptised into the faith - supposedly a joyous and happy occasion - only to have the priest lose his temper and launch a brutal assault on your child during the ceremony.

This was the experience of a French family in the Collegiate Church in Champeaux, near Melun, in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris, in June, 2018.

As this video shows, Father Jacques Lacroix (89), struggled to calm the child down and repeatedly told him to 'calm down' before squeezing his face, then staring him in the eyes before losing his temper and slapping his face with his left hand. There then followed a brief struggle as the horrified parents attempted to prise the distressed child out of the clutches of the priest, who eventually angrily pushed the child into the arms of its father.

Father Jacques later told France Info radio that it was more of a caress than a slap because the child wouldn't hold his head still while he poured water over it. He also announced that he wouldn't be conducting any more baptisms.

Pope Francis Celebrates As Pell Acquitted

Pope Francis decries 'unjust sentences' after cardinal George Pell acquitted | Australia news | The Guardian

In an astonishing intervention in the internal affairs of Australia, Pope Francis, who professes to be determined to rid the Catholic Church of the routine, recreational abuse of children by his priests, has likened Cardinal Pell to Jesus. This followed Pell's acquittal by Australia's Supreme Court, for the child sex-abuse charges for which he had been convicted by lower courts.

Pell had been convicted of the sexual abuse of two choir boys and had further charges against him dropped because it was felt he would not receive a fair trial after his conviction had been leaked to the press, despite an injunction preventing any comment on his trial from appearing in the Australian press. He was the highest ranking Catholic cleric to be so convicted and sentenced to prison. His conviction had been upheld by the Court of Appeal but has now been reversed on a technicality by the Supreme Court - the highest court in the land. The court ruled that the jury in the original trial should have allowed for 'reasonable doubt'.

During the original court case, Pell's lawyer, Robert Richter, in attempting to minimise the offence, describe it as 'just vanilla sex' - penetration without ejaculation and without the boy's active participation!

Catholic Child Abuse - The Practice Continues

Father Matthew Jolly

Photo: Manchester Evening News

Catholic priest thought he was meeting paedophile from Grindr to arrange abuse of his 'two-year-old-son'... it was an undercover cop - Manchester Evening News

Given the enormity of the scandals involving predatory paedophile priests and given Pope Francis' profesed determination to put a stop to it and introduce reforms to prevent it, you would expect it to be a thing of the past by now.

Not a bit of it, it seems. Predatory paedophilia is alive and well inside the Catholic Church and abusers are still being recruited into its ranks, if this case from UK is anything to go by.

Father Matthew Jolly was ordained in 2015 and while in Belgium, made contact with a man on Grindr. Unbeknown to him, the man was an undercover police officer who had only set up a fake account 20 minutes earlier. He was posing as a 36 year-old bisexual with a 2 year-old son. During the conversation, Jolly told the man that he was interested in sex with children. He expressed an interest in young girls but said a 'cute boy' would also be of interest.

Moral Self-Licensing - Catholic Extremists Steal From the Vatican

Members of Amazon indigenous populations walk during a Via Crucis procession from St. Angelo Castle to the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. Pope Francis is holding a three-week meeting on preserving the rainforest and ministering to its native people as he fended off attacks from conservatives who are opposed to his ecological agenda.

Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

Thieves steal Amazon fertility statues as synod nears end

A neat illustration of the hypocrisy inherent in religious fanaticism, where 'faith' and piety are used to excuse moral self-licensed exemptions from the standards they would impose on the rest of us, was on display in Rome a few days ago.

Catholic vandals, attending the Vatican for a synod on preserving the Amazon Rainforest and ministering to the indigenous population there, called by Pope Francis, ignored the 8th Commandment, stole religious fertility symbols known as the Pachamama idols, and threw them in the River Tiber. The statues, symbolic representations of a pregnant women, had been paraded to the Vatican from St. Angelo Castle and presented to Pope Paul as symbols of fertility and life.

Basic Logic for Creationists - Lesson From Pompeii

As a service to creationists, I decided to provide a little explanation, by way of an example, of how deductive logic works.

No doubt, inspired by Ken Ham's stock method for dismissing historical evidence as an explanation for the present, by dismissing anything that hasn't been directly witnessed by the person advancing it with, "Were you there?", one creationist recently made the astonishing claim on Twitter in the tweet below.

"Timothy", known variously as "Dim Tim", "Dimmy" and "Tiny Tim" uses multiple accounts to try to advance creationism, usually making himself a laughing stock in the process. He appears to be a prime example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, being incapable of ever admitting that he could be wrong, no matter how blatantly he is so.

Triple Trouble for 'Intelligent' Design Creationists

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Resistance to last resort drug arose in patient over 3 weeks -- ScienceDaily

Any truly intelligent designer knows exactly what the results of his or her design will be. A designer who simply blunders along making random changes without any idea what these changes will mean, could not conceivably be called 'intelligent' within the commonly-understood meaning of the word. Stupid would be the more correct term.

A designer who designs something to do harm to people could not possibly be called loving.

So, what are we to make of the news that resistance to antibiotics of last resort has been observed to arise in the bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa?

Hurry For a Good Deal on My Books

Sadly, Amazon are ending the Kindle MatchBook program on 31st October this year.

Under this scheme, customers who have already bought a book through Amazon, could also buy a Kindle ebook version at a special low price, if the author had enrolled in the program.

So, if you want to take advantage of this program and get a reduced-price Kindle version of any of my books, you need to either already own it or order it before 31st October! You do not even need to own a Kindle device as free Kindle readers as available for PCs and Android smartphones.

A list of my books can be found here. The current best sellers are listed below.

Another announcement by Amazon that might affect readers of this blog is that Amazon are also discontinuing their support for blog subscriptions on Kindle. Under this scheme, Kindle owners could, for a small subscription (in the case of my blog, £0.99 per month) receive copies of a blog on their Kindle soon after publication.

If you're wondering why my blog has gone, sadly, that's the reason.

Meanwhile, of course, you can still get copies of my books for your Kindle, and, if you already own a paperback version, you can do so at a very low price!

Silly Bible - History The Authors Got Wrong

The Bible is not only full of bad science - which is at least understandable given that the earliest parts of it were based on myths and legends from, as Christopher Hitchens put it, the fearful infancy of our species - but it is full of very bad history too.

Much of the 'history' is a retrospective attempt to give legitimacy to land claims or to give credence to the claim to power and authority of dubious regimes, or supremacy over neighbours, of course. Giving this spurious credence to despots and insecure rulers of one form or another has frequently been the role of 'historians' and 'genealogists' throughout history, no less in Canaan and the Levant, than in more recent times and places.

The problem is, much of this 'history' was written by people who knew little or nothing of actual history, so they made what can only be described as wonderfully anachronistic schoolboy howlers. Not that they expected their readers (or mostly listeners) to realise this of course. They would have been equally ignorant of real history.