The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.  

Kimberly Winston gets some atheists’ reactions to the pope’s suddenly not condemning we godless to the fires of Hell. 

However! A Vatican spokesman puts the whole “infallible pope” thing into question by saying, no, atheists are going to Hell. 

(But you know what the Church is okay with for real? Eating alligators.) 

Now you can help out Rebecca Vitsmun by buying up “Actually I’m an atheist” t-shirts.

Glenn Beck is a Blitzer-Vitsmun-Oklahoma-atheism truther!!! Thanks, Obama! 

Lawrence O’Donnell notes the good news and feelings for we nonbelievers in the places you’d totally expect: the Catholic Church and Arizona.  

Boy Scouts of America end the ban on gay scouts. Adult staff and volunteers are another matter. Oh, and atheists are still a no-go.  

Islamist students in Afghanistan think the government is being waaaay too liberal on women’s rights by, you know, acknowledging that they might have some. 

Hey, you cynical journalists, it’s not “stealing” $238,000 when the psychics are just trying to banish evil spirits!  

And come to think of it, so much money is psychically dirty. Stop picking on gifted psychics who simply want to cleanse clients of its evil. 

Daniel Dennett tells the Guardian that free will is “not the overwhelming supercalifragilisticexpialidocious phenomenon that you thought it was.” 

Parti Quebecois’ “Charter of Secularism” becomes a “charter of Quebec values” as some touchy religious accommodation topics get kicked down the road. 

Atheists are banging their heads against the wall over the imminent signing of Texas’s “Merry Christmas” bill. 

Three Londoners are convicted of attempting a terrorist plot. One of them, Richard Dart, said in the courtroom, “I don’t wish to stand up, I believe ruling and judging is only for Allah.” 

A faith-healing church in Philadelphia looks to be responsible for as many as 24 children’s deaths. 

Time to get your masters of science in things that aren’t science.

Quote of the Day 

Carrie Poppy tries to make sense of an oxygen bar. The attendant explains what will happen:

[The oxygen dispensers] will deliver us pure oxygen—double the amount we usually get in the air! It helps cure hangovers. (“Hangs-over,” I pretend to correct him, for no reason at all. He looks at me the way I should be looked at.) It ends fatigue. It helps with muscle pain and weakness. It curbs jet lag. It dissolves headaches. The headaches bit is pretty exciting for me. I have been getting chronic headaches for almost a year, and some of them become crippling migraines. I would suck on a garden hose for twenty minutes a day if it made those go away. 

Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is. 

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The Morning Heresy: “I actually read it.” - Hemant Mehta

To the extent anyone influenced this statement, it was my colleague and friend Debbie Goddard, with whom I had a productive conversation last night. However, I remain solely responsible both for the decision to issue this statement and for its contents.

In my blog post of May 18, I complained about Ms. Rebecca Watson’s characterization of my May 17 talk. In doing so, I expressed my points in intemperate language, e.g., the comparison of her blog post to a press communication from North Korea, and for that I unqualifiedly apologize. This apology has been conveyed to Ms. Watson.

To be clear, I still firmly believe Ms. Watson’s blog post mischaracterizes my talk, specifically by characterizing my abbreviated discussion of the phrase “shut up and listen” as the “crux” of my talk.

As to my May 17 talk, I have nothing to say. The CFI board will decide whether my talk was contemptuous of women, as some have alleged, misrepresented CFI’s commitment to women’s rights, or in some way committed CFI to a course of action inconsistent with CFI’s mission.

The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.  

Horror in London, as a man identified as a soldier is hacked to death by what seem to be Islamist militants, who film the attack in broad daylight. 

In a tweet, Reza Aslan seems to know what happens next:

Alright Muslims. You know the drill. Some Muslim somewhere did something crazy. Get out there and start apologizing for it.

Andrew Sullivan, in reaction to the attack:

Two things are true here. The first is that this was a religious sacrificial murder, authorized by God in the eyes of the killers. The second is that this is clearly motivated by blowback from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The first is indefensible on any grounds. The second is a reminder that in the war against this religious barbarism, occupying Muslim countries is not an answer. 

For those at Women in Secularism last weekend, you know that Katha Pollitt had some fascinating stuff to say about sexism and religion. Now you can hear her expand on that very topic, as she’s the guest on the latest Point of Inquiry.

The most excellent Brian Engler has posted the first batch of photos from the conference, and you can see them here. Now, to look at these pics, you’d never even know I was there. My plan is working.

CFI-Indiana’s Reba Boyd Wooden is heard on Indiana public radio to talk about the upcoming Supreme Court case on prayer at government functions. 

The Economist‘s Erasmus columnist says that simply repealing blasphemy laws where they exist won’t solve the foundational problem:

For social harmony to exist, other preconditions have to be in place. A minimum number of people have to subscribe to the principle that living together peacefully and constructively (in a household, a village, a clan or any other sort of group) is a desirable end; and that in pursuit of that end, it may sometimes be a good idea to show a minimum of good manners or self-restraint. 

According to NYT, the Mormon animators at BYU “[have] become a farm team for the country’s top animation studios and effects companies.” Cartoons full of values “without being preachy.”

Quoting Sagan rather than Yahweh upsets Rep. Juan Mendez’s Arizona House colleague Steve Smith, who makes sure to squeeze in an extra prayer to “repent.” 

Arizona Republic reporters discuss Mendez’s non-prayer in this video, and they seem sympathetic generally.  

Chelsea Clinton is now co-director of a “multifaith” institute at NYU. I checked, and there are no variations on “no faith” that I could see.

I guess many Oregonians’ precious bodily fluids are safe, as the city votes down fluoridation. I predict less smiling over the coming years.

Have independent checks verified that E-Cat does cold fusion? What am I even talking about? Who can say? 

Want to do something for Oklahoma, but want it to be pointless and akin to throwing your money in a furnace? Go buy the victims more Bibles.

Sharon Hill and Consumerist remind us to be wary of even scammier Oklahoma fake-charities. 

60 cases have been filed by Catholic business owners trying to skirt the contraceptive coverage requirement in the Affordable Care Act.

Muslim Village: Bangladeshis begin to ask the government to give in to the radical Islamists’ demands for tougher blasphemy laws, if only to bring peace back to the country. 

Christian Science Monitor reports on a “surge” in blasphemy charges in Egypt against Christians, made “on the flimsiest of evidence.” 

Chris Burke at the On Campus blog is troubled by what he sees as the state of science in Canada. 

At Discovery News, CSI’s Ben Radford looks at the fraud committed by the now-convicted Christine Daniel for her quack cancer treatment.  

And lemme tell you, when I think “Ben Radford,” I think “love labyrinth.” Whoa, was that out loud? 

I’m all excited about NASA’s asteroid mission, even though their video has hints of cheese. 

Anteater Jesus! 

Quote of the Day 

Now I feel kind of bad for yesterday’s exorcism image I made about the pope. Okay, no I don’t. But still, I never thought I’d live to see a pope say anything like this:

The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can… “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!”.. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.    

Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is. 

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The Morning Heresy: “I actually read it.” - Hemant Mehta

A friend of mine is getting married next weekend and she wants to have the ceremony in a labyrinth. Knowing that I’ve researched and visited labyrinths around the world—as well as written about them in Skeptical Inquirer magazine and on this very blog—she asked me to write a short piece about “love labyrinths” to be read during the ceremony for her guests who are unfamiliar with them. (My mother was married in a labyrinth years ago, as well.)

I’ve also agreed to be one of her bridesmaids, for reasons I’ve forgotten but it sounded like a fun way to bash gender stereotypes. Anyway, here’s the piece:

The labyrinth is an ancient symbol, and though its origins are murky, early versions have been found in Crete, Italy, and Egypt. Labyrinths are designed in grass fields, inlaid in beautiful floors, carved in hedges, and painted on giant canvas sheets. While most people are content to simply walk the labyrinth, some dance or sing. The walking itself is simple, following the same path in and back out. Unlike a maze, which has different paths and choices, one cannot get lost in a labyrinth. The way forward is simple and clear, leading to the center, a place of happiness and contemplation, called the rosette.

There are many types of labyrinths, but perhaps the most special is a love labyrinth, which symbolizes the joining of two spirits in one journey. There are many paths in the world, but a marriage-like a labyrinth-provides one path forward together through life’s journeys, its joys and trials.

Some couples enter the love labyrinth together, one entering first and the second following a few steps behind. They follow their individual paths but soon meet at the center where they spend a few moments in contemplation and appreciation for the life partner they have found there. Then, after a kiss or the exchange of a token of their love, they leave the labyrinth returning to the outside world, walking closer together and with renewed purpose and comfort. On the way back out, the couple focus on any revelations, healings, experiences, or answers that may have come to them on their journey, knowing that their path forward together has already begun.

The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.  

The anti-blasphemy machine rolls on: Turkish writer Sevan Nişanyan is sentenced to 58 weeks in prison for “insulting the religious beliefs held by a section of the society.” 

GOP Lt. Governor nominee E.W. Jackson of Virginia (Democrats are a “coalition of the godless”) says that anyone who criticizes his hard-right positions “is attacking every church-going person, every family that’s living a traditional family life, everybody who believes that we all deserve the right to live.” Chaser: 

I would just say people should not paint me as one-dimensional.

You’re making that hard, dude. 

Indiana Public Media looks at the upcoming Supreme Court case on prayer at government functions, and gets insight from CFI-Indiana’s Reba Boyd Wooden. 

Stephen Prothero says that the Court isn’t really going to be taking up the question of whether any prayer is okay, but what sort: sectarian or inclusive? 

Arizona State Rep. Juan Mendez (a secular humanist! In Arizona!) opens a House session not with a prayer, but with Sagan:

For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love. 

Oh, this is going to be good: Carrie Poppy visits an oxygen bar.  

Ross Douthat: Suicide rates are up because religion and marriage are down. Nate Cohn: Nuh-uh.

NJ Priest who violated a court-mandated ban on his interacting with children gets his hearing. Says Bob Hoatson, a former priest, now head of Road to Recovery:

I’m here to see a 10-year attempt to hold [Rev.] Fugee and the archdiocese accountable after they have been coddling him and moving him from place to place, and then arrogantly proclaiming he’s an innocent man. The review board that returned him to ministry should be disbanded, and we need a broom to sweep the archdiocese clean. 

Did Pope Francis once perform an exorcism...by accident? 

Gwynn Guilford at Quartz: Rhino horns are fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars from rich Vietnamese who consider the horns to have magical “cancer-zapping” properties.  

Jamsheed K. Choksy on the U.S.‘s position toward countries with bad religious freedom records:

What needs to happen is that the government of the United States needs to take these reports and make them central aspects of American policy and foreign relations. 

Alasdair at Skepchick on being an atheist teacher at a time of horror or tragedy like that of the Sandy Hook massacre:

An atheist teacher is, I’d argue, even better placed to help young people to deal with events like these than someone with a deeply religious worldview. We see the world the way it is. We know that there’s nothing out there guiding us, that terrible event like these are not part of some grand “plan”. We know that the only comfort we have is each other and that it’s our responsibility alone to look after those more vulnerable than ourselves. The stark and unfeeling picture that some people paint of atheists could not be further from the truth. 

50,000 (!!) children are accused of sorcery in Congo. I don’t know what to say about that.

Tornado truthers. Yep. Thanks, Obama! 

Islamist leader held in Bangladesh allegedly cops to an extremist plot to oust the current government. 

At RNS, Tom Ehrich says Christianity is in the midst of a new “revolution,” in which it suffers a “collapse from the inside.” 

78-year-old anti-gay rights activist commits suicide at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.  

Sally Steenland at Center for American Progress makes the religious Americans’ case for keeping prayer out of public schools. 

PZ showers our own Michael De Dora with love. I’m glad that Michael is no longer seen as a witless wanker. He is NOT witless! 

Quote of the Day 

This one is easy. You’ve already seen it, probably. Wolf Blitzer asks tornado survivor Rebecca Vitsmun if she “thanks the lord,” to which she replies, smilingly:

I’m actually an atheist. 

* * *  

Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is. 

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The Morning Heresy: “I actually read it.” - Hemant Mehta

The film biography Renoir (directed by Gilles Bourdos) focuses on the artist in his old age (played by Michel Bouquet). Set in 1915, it tells about his earlier robust life—not with flashbacks, but by comments from himself and members of his household. The narrative opens just after the death of his wife with the arrival of a new model, Andrée Heuschling (Christa Théret), who charms “the boss” with her naked beauty and joie de vivre. She also charms his middle son Jean (Vincent Rottiers) who is convalescing from a war wound. A much younger son (Thomas Doret), lurks about the estate and skulks throughout the story.

The selection of this slice of Renoir’s life is a wise one—both for its focus on the painter’s late work and for its poignancy. Although horribly crippled by rheumatoid arthritis and trapped in a wheelchair, he not only retained his love of beautiful scenes rendered in luminous hues, but he showed in his work even greater vitality, freedom, and originality than before.

Several times we are treated to convincing closeups of his deformed hand—taped so he could hold his brush—painting with masterful dabs. (Impressionists forsook traditional painting with continuous brush strokes, instead breaking light into its component colors and using these, intermingled in separate dabs of paint, to create vibrancy.) “I refuse to paint the world black,” the old artist declares revealingly. “A painting should be something pleasant and cheerful. There are enough disagreeable things in life. I don’t need to paint more.”

We do not know whether Renoir would have been satisfied with the movie’s recreation of himself and his world, but he would have loved the cinematography. Beautifully done by Taiwanese photographer Mark Ping Bing Lee, it does with film what Impressionism did with canvas. Not entirely coincidentally, the movie has brief depictions of Jean’s early cinematic interests. (Jean Renoir [1894–1979] went on in life to become one of the world’s great filmmakers, and until they parted in 1931, Andrée—as “Catherine Hessling”—was his wife and frequent leading lady.)

As to Renoir’s working canvases in the film, they were rendered by a famous art forger named Guy Ribes—and are among the many brilliant efforts that went into the making of Renoir. Although a somewhat sedate film to modern taste, it will appeal to thoughtful people who care to understand and appreciate the work of masters like Renoir.

Rating: Three wooden nickels (out of four)

The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.  

Obviously, most Americans’ hearts and minds are concentrated on the victims of the tornadoes in Oklahoma and across the Midwest. We’ll have a formal statement soon, and in the mean time please consider donating to help those affected.

Wowie-wow-wow-WOW. The already-loathsome Daily Caller outdoes itself by harassing and insulting one of our own. Read about the saga of SCA’s Lauren Anderson Youngblood and the “Dick pic” email from Christopher Bedford. You rock on, Lauren. <communications directors’ secret high-five-handshake>

Ryan Koronowski dismantles the gee-that’s-really-wrong WaPo op-ed on climate change by House science chair Lamar Smith.  

Maggie Koerth-Baker at NYT looks at why the otherwise-sane buy into insane conspiracy theories:

“If you know the truth and others don’t, that’s one way you can reassert feelings of having agency,” [University of Westminster’s Viren] Swami says. It can be comforting to do your own research even if that research is flawed. It feels good to be the wise old goat in a flock of sheep. 

GOP Lieutenant Governor candidate in Virginia calls the Democratic Party the “coalition of the godless.” If only!i

National Geographic lists six woman scientists who have been dissed by history or their profession, with their crucial contributions largely ignored.

A new group of priests and nuns known as Catholic Whistleblowers forms to shine a light on the crisis of sexual abuse within the Church. 

Presbyterian Church of Scotland’s general assembly votes to allow gay ministers.

Yes, they’re giving acupuncture to turtles. 

Pope Francis calls for less worry over theology, and more concern for the poor. 

Saudi newspaper that slobbers praise on King Abdullah is accused of blasphemy for overdoing it. 

David Cameron faces revolt from fellow Tories over gay marriage. 

The Catholic World Magazine reports that “evolutionists” like PZ Myers and Jerry Coyne are up in arms over Ball State University’s teaching of intelligent design. 

I’m embarrassed to see that there is a “Paranormal Corner” section in a South Jersey paper, and this edition clears up the difference between “intelligent” and “residual” hauntings.  

Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, here’s $210,000 to make her love me. 

Forum 18 updates on the status of religious dissidents in Kazakhstan, including two jailed Christians and an atheist kept in a psychiatric facility. 

I’m kind of like this: The agnostic pessimist, by Toothpaste for Dinner. 

Bob Blaskiewicz is the guest on Strange Frequencies Radio, talkin’ Burzynski and conspiracies.

Quote of the Day 

The U.S. State Department releases its 2012 International Religious Freedom Report, and Secretary John Kerry has this to say about the “troubling trend . . . of laws governing blasphemy and apostasy”: 

These laws are frequently used to repress dissent, to harass political opponents, and to settle personal vendettas. Laws such as these violate fundamental freedoms of expression and religion, and we believe they ought to be repealed. And because we defend others’ rights of expression, we are also ensuring that we can express our own views and practice our own faith without fearing for our own safety or our own lives. That is why, as I travel the world, I do press leaders to do more to safeguard freedom of belief and to promote religious tolerance. And that is why I urge all countries, especially those identified in this report, to take action now to safeguard this fundamental freedom.

* * *  

Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is. 

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The Morning Heresy: “I actually read it.” - Hemant Mehta

The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.  

The conference was great. It had a high bar to meet with last year’s huge success, but it was easily cleared. Talk to talk, panel to panel, and the amazing freaking voice of Shelley Segal, it was a real and substantive pleasure to be at Women in Secularism 2. 

We, of course, had our controversies. CFI chief Ron Lindsay has posted the prepared text of his opening remarks that caused an enormous amount of debate and very strong feelings, reactions to which can be found all about the interwebs. 

I know, many, many folks are itching for video of the conference talks. While you wait for us to crank up the movie machine, sate your desire with videos from last year’s conference. 

Amanda Greene at RNS looks at the rise of humanist weddings, noting CFI’s own Secular Celebrant program. (And there’s another piece on the topic at Rochester, MN’s Post Bulletin.)

HuffPo: Persecuted Bangladeshi bloggers, even though two are out on bail, are under constant threat over their atheism. 

The Surpeme Court will hear a case about prayers at city council meetings. 

Gage Pulliam, the high school student whistleblower over a Ten Commandments display, scores an activist award from FFRF. 

Sharon Hill at HuffPo tries to unobfuscate some lexicographical bewilderment about skeptic terminology with some etymological pedantry. 

Right wing Christian groups cry foul, claiming they were inappropriately targeted by the IRS, because Obama. SCA says the IRS is not doing enough.

Pew looks at the religious makeup of U.S. immigrants, including results that show “nones” holding steady after an uptick in 2004. 

Michelle Boorstein at WaPo: Seminary graduates don’t always become priests, but use their education to spread the Good Word in all manner of professions. 

Ben Radford did a quick guest stint on Big Picture Science, talking about those folks who think they can nourish themselves merely by breathing.

At LiveScience, Ben looks at the practice of dowsing and notices— hey!—it’s not working! 

97% of climate scientists are on board with the truth of global warming! That should settle everything. 

Massachusetts psychic takes advantage of the vulnerable with free readings to parents who have lost a child. Classy way to get folks hooked.

Harvard Humanists Greg Epstein and James Croft will co-author a book on atheist/humanist “churching,” The Godless Congregation. 

Governor of Georgia (the state) lets the Bibles in state park cabins stay because they were “donated,” and says anyone cam submit literature. Cue American Atheists.

In Georgia (the country) gay rights activists are set upon by a mob led by priests. 

At rates that are faster than previously thought, Christianity is on the way down in the UK, and Islam is on the way up. 

Religious members of Afghanistan’s parliament manage to defeat a law banning violence against women. 

Alexandria Lakes Area Tea Party aims to convert George Soros. 

China says: No sex for Buddha, please. 

Sikivu Hutchinson, a speaker at last year’s WiS, discusses her new book Godless Americana with Religion Dispatches:

[H]umanism can be culturally relevant to communities of color. Traditional mainstream white-dominated freethought/atheist/humanist models don’t offer an adequate basis for social justice. They don’t address the intersection of women’s rights, civil rights, anti-racism, heterosexism, the racial wealth gap, and educational apartheid. 

On polygamy, fundamentalist Mormon Claud Cawley looks to dispel what he says is the “misconception that men among the [fundamentalist] community look to plural marriage as a means to satisfy their lust and exploit and degrade women.” 

Leon Seltzer at Psychology Today distinguishes between what he sees as dogmatic and non-dogmatic atheists:

[I]f scientists in general—and physicists in particular—can’t ever be absolutely certain about Absolutes, how much more difficult must it be for metaphysicists to attain such certitude? To answer my own question: very difficult, indeed! 

Hawker of fake cancer cures Christine Daniel gets 14 years in prison. 

KCEN in Texas notes with surprise that atheism may not be all that scary. 

Former Microsoftian is scared of WiFi death beams. 

Apparently, famous people love them some Chopra. 

Okay, best for last: Slate compares the speeds of various sci-fi spacecraft! It’s so cool! But I have to say, I’m iffy on his Millennium Falcon boosterism. And where’s Enterprise-D???  

Quote of the Day 

Herb Silverman is troubled by the two tracks to Catholic sainthood:

No matter how good a life you led, even by Catholic standards, you would still have to perform two miracles after death if you didn’t die as a martyr. If you threw yourself in front a train to stop it from killing a hundred children, two miracles would still be needed. In other words, you would not be as worthy as one who led a morally corrupt life but died while refusing to convert. 

Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is. 

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The Morning Heresy: “I actually read it.” - Hemant Mehta

Her distortions begin with her second paragraph, when she states that “Lindsay spends a good deal of time arguing against the idea that feminism as a movement has no significant internal disagreements.”  I expended about 200 words out of a 2,420 word text posing the question about whether there are significant divisions within feminism.  In other words, I spent 90% of the time talking about other topics.  The next time Watson asks me for a “good deal” of my drink, I will leave her an ice cube.

Second, she says she has never heard anyone take the position that there are currently no significant divisions within feminism, which I assume is fairly translated as no divisions worth debating.  Yet Watson is aware that just a short time ago, the organization Secular Woman rejected the Open Letter that was endorsed by most leaders of secular organizations, in part because it implied that there was a legitimate ongoing debate about the meaning of feminism.  The Secular Woman response to the Open Letter states, in pertinent part:

“It is confusing, therefore, that this same letter suggests that a significant problem with online communication is centered on the ‘debate’ about the ‘appropriate way to interpret feminism.’ At Secular Woman, the principle that ‘feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression’ (Hooks, 2000, p. viii) is taken as a given, and not a topic for debate.”

Next, Watson claims the “crux” of my talk was the problem I have with feminists using the concept of privilege as a justification for telling men to “shut up and listen.”  This claim is false.  No reasonable person could possibly describe the crux of my talk as dealing with this issue.  Instead, the crux of my talk dealt with the millennia-long history of the subordination of women and how CFI was committed to working toward a society in which women would have “complete social and civil equality and equal economic and political opportunity.”

But in her defense, perhaps Watson was too busy tweeting about how “strange” it was to have a “white man” open the conference to pay attention to what I was actually saying.  (I’m just glad Watson didn’t notify security: “white man loose on stage, white man loose on stage!”)

But let’s leave Watson’s distortions behind and move to the central issue presented by her criticism, and that is what model of communication we should adopt when we are conversing with someone who has had different life experiences, e.g., a conversation between a woman and a man.  As I stated quite clearly in my talk, we should listen respectfully and attentively to someone with different life experiences, especially if that person is from a group that historically has had its voice suppressed.  However, although we should listen attentively, we should not fail to engage and, where appropriate, question. This is exactly what I said:

“By the way, with respect to the ‘Shut up and listen’ meme, I hope it’s clear that it’s the ‘shut up’ part that troubles me, not the ‘listen’ part. Listening is good. People do have different life experiences, and many women have had experiences and perspectives from which men can and should learn.  But having had certain experiences does not automatically turn one into an authority to whom others must defer. Listen, listen carefully, but where appropriate, question and engage.”

By contrast, the position against which I was arguing, as articulated by PZ Myers, is as follows:

“When a member of a marginalized group tells a member of a privileged group that their efforts, no matter how well-meaning, are wrong, there is one reasonable response: Shut up and listen. You might learn something.

There is also a terrible response: arguing back. It always makes it worse.

It’s not that they are infallible and we are totally stupid. It’s that THEY are the experts and the subject of the discussion.”

Myers-Watson assume you should never question, you should never argue back, because the person from the marginalized group must have the expertise.

I do not share that assumption, and I doubt its wisdom.  Indeed, I think it is a horribly misguided, logically infirm understanding of communication.   This model of communication asks us to put our critical thinking on hold merely because the person speaking comes from a marginalized group.

No extended argument or analysis of this issue is needed, and I do not think the choice could be starker.  Either you believe reason and evidence should ultimately guide our discussions, or you think they should be held hostage to identity politics. 

But that is not what people wanted to discuss; instead, a number of people took strong exception when I expressed concern during my talk that the concept of privilege sometimes was being invoked to tell people to “shut up and listen.”  Tweets during and after my talk complained I offered no specific examples. 

Two quick responses.  First, my talk was over its allotted time limit as it was, and my concern about the misuse of privilege was not the primary focus of my talk, as already indicated.

Second, there are examples you can find on the internet through a few minutes search.  For myself, when I drafted this portion of the talk, the two examples I had in mind were a presentation on privilege that was given at the Heads meeting in January and a statement by PZ Myers.  I am not going to identify the speakers at the Heads meeting, as the meetings are supposed to be confidential, but if you ask around, other people will confirm that there was a lengthy discussion of privilege, and within that discussion there were examples of how members of  “privileged” groups should be quiet and just listen to those in the non-privileged group when the latter were discussing their experiences. 

The Myers quote is below:

“When a member of a marginalized group tells a member of a privileged group that their efforts, no matter how well-meaning, are wrong, there is one reasonable response: Shut up and listen. You might learn something.
There is also a terrible response: arguing back. It always makes it worse.
It’s not that they are infallible and we are totally stupid. It’s that THEY are the experts and the subject of the discussion.”

It can be found here.

Other examples of the “shut up and listen” trope are here and here. 

By the way, I am well aware that our communications director in his personal capacity quoted Myers approvingly.  Obviously, I disagree with him on this point.  The fact of that disagreement does not affect our working relationship.  Paul is a great communications director.  Are there limits to what CFI employees can say?  Sure, but the restrictions are fairly loose.  At CFI, we do not follow the rule “shut up and listen.”  Generally, employees can express their opinions.  There is one requirement, however.  They need to supply reasons and evidence. Invoking their racial/sexual/ethnic/class identity, whatever it might be, is not considered a substitute for argument.