Sanity on climate change and energy issues: coming soon to the White House

Isn't this a breath of fresh air?  Watching Barack Obama talk about these important issues also makes me think of eight years of lost opportunities.   At least we're going to have an energy policy, rather than policy vacuum driven by a blind faith in the "free market." [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvG2XptIEJk&eurl=http://www.facebook.com/home.php[/youtube]

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The Onion publishes a letter from a Christian setting the record straight

The Onion has published a letter from a Christian who wants to set the record straight: "It's not like I'm one of those wacko 'love your neighbor as yourself' types."  It's classic Onion satire aimed squarely at the kind of Christian who has dominated the news for the past eight…

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Jonathan Haidt urges that we escape moral righteousness

In this lecture on TED, Jonathan Haidt discusses his approach, which involves "five foundations of morality." Haidt also explains that, in our attempts to better understand morality, too many of us are trapped in a non-ending cycle in which "everybody thinks they are right." We are in need of humility, and the best way to get moral humility is to escape moral righteousness by striving to step out of the struggle. We need to see that liberals and conservatives both have something to offer to the conversation of change versus stability. I've written repeatedly and glowingly about Haidt's approach to morality. You can find earlier DI posts regarding Haidt's approach to morality here and here.

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Pascal Boyer continues his search for natural sources of religious belief

I have previously posted on the work of psychologist and anthropologist Pascal Boyer. Throughout his writings, Boyer has repeatedly warned us that we shouldn't settle for simplistic explanations for religious belief. We shouldn't be looking, for sample, for a "gene for religious thinking." In the October 23, 2008 addition of…

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