Author: Adam Lee

There are some times when it gives me little pleasure to be right, and this is one of them: The Vatican has launched a crackdown on the umbrella group that represents most of America’s 55,000 Catholic nuns, saying that the group was not speaking out strongly enough against gay marriage, abortion and women’s ordination. This…

The weekend is a good time to get some culture, and since there are a lot of things lately that I’m enjoying, I figured I’d write one completely miscellaneous post to mention all of them. Music: As I mentioned in the last “random & interesting” thread, I’m always looking to expand my musical knowledge. As…

I read an article this week about a questionnaire whose creator, the “corporate philosopher” Roger Steare, calls the Moral DNA test. Over 50,000 people from 200 countries have taken this survey, which its creator says is designed to help humanity understand how we make moral decisions. He also says the results so far show that…

If you’re an American, you probably know that this week is income-tax time. (If you didn’t already know that, sorry to tell you, but you missed the deadline.) Most people anticipate tax season with dread, but for me, this isn’t an especially painful time. In fact, I almost look forward to it, because my withholding…

One of my favorite features of the old site was “Little-Known Bible Verses“, a regular series highlighting frequently overlooked passages from scripture that are immoral, bizarre, or contradict well-established parts of Christian belief. In the past, I’ve discussed verses saying, among other things, that true Christians should greet each other with a kiss (try that…

In my early days of blogging, I would have exhaustive debates, sometimes lasting for weeks, with believers who came across one of my websites and posed a challenge to me. But although it was fun in its time, I’ve wearied of it, and with occasional rare exceptions, I don’t argue with theists over e-mail anymore.…

At the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C. last month, my friend Greta Christina told me something that I, a lifelong New Yorker, never knew: Harry Houdini is buried in a cemetery in New York City. Houdini, of course, made his fame in the early 20th century as a magician who could escape from handcuffs, straitjackets,…

As anyone who knows me is aware, I’m generally a peaceful and diplomatic fellow. I’m not one to pick fights just for the hell of it. But that said, I’m afraid I have to raise some objections to a recent front-page post by Mark Cheney here at Big Think: Are You a Believer? Take The…

As I mentioned in my last link roundup, I wanted to discuss in more detail the Pope’s latest Easter homily, in which he directly addresses the “disobedience” of priests who are calling for the ordination of women and an end to mandatory celibacy. There are some interesting implications for how the elites of the Vatican…

I’ve often written (although never on Big Think, until today) about Kiva, a nonprofit organization that connects charitable donors with microfinance institutions that cater to entrepreneurs in the developing world. Kiva’s partner organizations make loans – typically just a few hundred dollars, small by American standards, but huge in many developing countries – to people…