Author: Adam Lee

The needless death of Savita Halappanavar last year, after a Catholic hospital refused to terminate her doomed pregnancy, drew a worldwide outpouring of fury against the religious dogmatism that killed her. But as I wrote at the time, Savita’s story was only the tip of the iceberg. What happened to her wasn’t a fluke or…

In January, I created a petition calling on atheists to show their support for feminism and diversity. That petition, with more than 2,000 signatures, was delivered to the leaders of the largest atheist and secular organizations at the end of January. The petition also attracted over 400 comments from people who wanted to further explain…

Since religious-right legislators continue to put insultingly ridiculous obstacles in the path of women seeking abortion – like the latest one, a proposed bill in South Dakota that would specify that the mandatory 72-hour waiting period wouldn’t include weekends or holidays – we pro-choice people have to do what we can to make it easier…

Pope Benedict’s surprise resignation has set off a frenzy of speculation as to who the next pope will be and what changes he might bring to Catholicism. Benedict was well-known as an enforcer of orthodoxy, cracking down harshly on nuns, supporters of same-sex marriage and other progressive factions within the church, and the beleaguered liberals…

Since new medical advances always catch my attention, I read with interest this article about “bloodless” lung transplants being pioneered at some hospitals – that is, salvaging and re-infusing the patient’s own blood, rather than relying on transfusions from donors. It’s being sold as a cost-saving technique and a way to lessen the risk of…

In honor of Darwin Day earlier this month, Slate ran a thorough article about the creationist movement in America and one of its leading evangelists, Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis. As the article points out, the science is at best a secondary concern for them: their certainty is founded on a literal reading of…

As science marches on, the miraculous cures that past ages dreamed of are slowly becoming reality. We’re gaining the ability to engineer new body parts, like windpipes and bladders, outside a person’s body and successfully transplant them to replace a damaged or cancerous organ. Bionic exoskeletons to let paralyzed people walk again are becoming commercially…

Over on One News Now, Peter Heck is very concerned, in a column entitled “As Atheism Rises, America Declines”. Like the Catholic apologists I wrote about earlier this week, Heck has noticed that atheists are making demographic gains – but his diagnosis of the cause leaves something to be desired: A prosperous society built upon…

While doing research for another post, I came across a slew of articles with a common theme: young people are leaving the Catholic church at a high rate, and the church’s apologists are trying to figure out how they can stem this tide. They’re not wrong about this, either. A 1999 survey found that only…

I just got back from Washington, D.C., where I was taking part in the Sierra Club’s Forward On Climate rally against the Keystone XL pipeline, which is intended to carry crude oil from Canadian tar sands to American refineries. I’m still a bit washed out and don’t have anything profound to say, but here are…