Via BoingBoing.net:

Charles Darwin, Linus Pauling, and Albert Einstein made great contributions to science. They also made large blunders. In this original essay Mario Livio, astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, and author of the new book Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein – Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe, describes three blunders, and why these great minds made them. — Mark

When James Joyce wrote in Ulysses: “A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery,” he meant the first part of the statement to be provocative. History has shown us that even some of the greatest scientific luminaries, towering figures such as the naturalist Charles Darwin, the twice-Nobel-Laureate chemist Linus Pauling, and the embodiment of genius — Albert Einstein — have made some serious blunders.

Read more here: http://boingboing.net/2013/06/14/blunders-of-genius-interestin.html

UN Population Division has uploaded the Revision of World Population data in interactive tool:

http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/unpp/panel_population.htm

I love the remark made by one Oxford don about another: ‘On the surface, he’s profound, but deep down, he’s superficial.’ That sentence has more than once come to mind when reading the new atheists.

Future intellectual historians will look back with wonder at the strange phenomenon of seemingly intelligent secularists in the 21st century believing that if they could show that the first chapters of Genesis are not literally true, that the universe is more than 6,000 years old and there might be other explanations for rainbows than as a sign of God’s covenant after the flood, the whole of humanity’s religious beliefs would come tumbling down like a house of cards and we would be left with a serene world of rational non-believers getting on famously with one another.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/8932301/atheism-has-failed-only-religion-can-fight-the-barbarians/

Meanwhile in Louisiana, the education board continues in its crusade to restrict the teaching of evolution. For the third time in a row, a loophole which enables the teaching of creationism in science lessons has been saved by the committee.  The Louisiana Science Education Act permits the teaching of  ‘intelligent design’- basically a refined theory of creationism- a theory increasingly favoured by US conservatives and evangelists as a means to overshadow the teaching of evolution. ‘Intelligent’ it most certainly isn’t. Ironically,  it was Louisianan Governor Bobby Jindal who called his own party ‘stupid’, yet he himself supports the teaching of creationism in Louisianan schools.  One Republican senator was opposed to the repealing of the law because of his opinion that faith healing is not ‘pseudo science’.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/06/louisiana_creationism_video_state_sen_elbert_guillory_defends_faith_healing.html

Some good news though. Biologists have been able to keep their books in a Louisianan school following a decision to ban the teaching of creationism there. The New Orleans Parish Education board ‘s decision is happy evidence that 21st century scientific attitudes are present in Louisiana today.

The Centre for Inquiry’s UN representative has condemned the practice of ‘honour killing’ and the abuse of human rights across the world.

http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/cfis_un_representative_condemns_honor_killings_and_human_rights_abuses/

Human Rights Council concludes general debate on the thematic reports and promotion and protection of all human rights (BHA and IHEU mentioned):
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13403&LangID=E

In Scotland, moves to enable pupils to opt out of religious education has gained traction. More than 600 people have now signed a petition for Holyrood to persuade  the Scottish government to pass a law to enable this.  It is a campaign which is backed by Scottish novelist Christopher Brookmyre, Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association and the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/education/600-sign-up-to-holyrood-petition-to-make-opting-out-of-religion-in-schools-easier.21263005

Let us pay: £10m bill to axe religion in schools:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/education/let-us-pay-10m-bill-to-axe-religion-in-schools-1-2953813

Scots head teachers urged not to let US Christian sex expert speak to their kids after shocked pupil required therapy:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/health/nhs-chiefs-urge-head-teachers-1932353

An attempt to kill a landmark parliamentary bill for equal marriage has been defeated in the House of Lords. Peers overwhelmingly foiled an attempt by parliamentarians to enable several clauses in the bill which would have effectively wrecked the motion. The bill was passed in the House of Commons in February with near unanimous Labour and Liberal Democrat support. On the other hand it is has caused ructions in the Conservative Party, with Baroness Warsi among the many Tories who refused to back the bill.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2336007/Warsi-refuses-gay-marriage-Minister-abstains-Government-wins-crunch-vote.html

The UK is now the latest country in Europe which has embraced marital equality and approved same sex marriage.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jun/04/peers-defeat-attempt-gay-marriage-bill

The debate in the Lords certainly heard some pretty staggering claims-

Archie Bland – Gay people are ‘artistic’ and other absurd things said in the House of Lords debate on gay marriage:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/gay-people-are-artistic-and-other-absurd-things-said-in-the-house-of-lords-debate-on-gay-marriage-8644000.html

Baroness Knight: Gays can’t have children, but are good at antiques:
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/06/05/baroness-knight-gays-cant-have-children-but-are-good-at-antiques/

18 arguments made against gay marriage in the House of Lords:
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/06/18-arguments-made-against-gay-marriage-house-lords

Christians divided as Lords back equal marriage Bill:
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/18482

Terry Sanderson – The Same-Sex Marriage Bill delivers a blow to the bishops in the House of Lords:
http://www.secularism.org.uk/blog/2013/06/the-same-sex-marriage-bill-delivers-a-blow-to-the-bishops-in-the-house-of-lords

Police investigate fire at north London Islamic community centre:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/05/fire-islamic-community-centre-muswell-hill

Herb Silverman writes an intriguing article on Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/06/04/do-atheists-go-to-heaven/

Northern Ireland may see waiting lists for organ transplants wiped out if a new law is passed. Under plans drawn up in Stormont organ donation could be done according to approved consent, whereby consent for organ removal will be judged automatic unless the person objects during their lifetime.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/bid-to-change-organ-donation-laws-29319698.html

The decision, if made, is to be first consulted with the people of Northern Ireland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22771857

See images here:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/24-photos-that-illustrate-how-istanbuls-occupygezi-protester

Read more here: http://rt.com/news/turkey-arrests-twitter-activists-258/

Turkish police have detained at least 25 Twitter users for allegedly spreading false reports, as anti-government demonstrations in Turkey continue for a sixth day.

Social media activists have been accused of using Twitter to “instigate public hatred and animosity,”according to Turkish media. Police raided 38 addresses to locate the suspects.

A Christian iPhone and Android app has been criticised for claiming to help users ‘cure’ themselves of homosexuality.

The app called Setting Captives Free claims: “Despite what you may have heard elsewhere, you do not have a ‘homosexual gene,’ nor were you born this way with no hope of freedom. You can be set free from the bondage of homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ and the cross!”

Read more here: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/05/30/iphone-and-android-apps-offer-cure-to-homosexuality/

Debate: This House believes Islam is a religion of peace
http://oxfordstudent.com/2013/05/30/debate-this-house-believes-islam-is-a-religion-of-peace/

A healthy dose of criticism is not Islamophobia
http://www.jewishaz.com/opinion/commentary/a-healthy-dose-of-criticism-is-not-islamophobia/article_5cb04b8c-c8b9-11e2-bf77-0019bb30f31a.html

Islam and Britain
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3647/islam_and_britain

After Woolwich, what will change?
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/8922171/the-enemies-within/

Mosque responds to the EDL with tea and biscuits
http://hurryupharry.org/2013/05/30/york-mosque-responds-to-the-edl-with-tea-and-biscuits/

After Woolwich, don’t ban hate speech, counter it. Hate it, too
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/30/woolwich-hate-speech-censorship

Jailed preacher, Mohammed Hamid, who trained 21/7 bombers ‘linked’ to Woolwich attack suspect, Michael Adebolajo
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/jailed-preacher-mohammed-hamid-who-trained-217-bombers-linked-to-woolwich-attack-suspect-michael-adebolajo-8638590.html

Martin Robbins writes:

We had hiked for more than an hour across Nairobi’s hot and dusty Kibera slums to reach the clinic, and found ourselves sitting awkwardly while we waited for our friend Jobe to make the necessary arrangements. Through a contact at a local radio station, my American companion Jeff Sharlet and I had been able to gain access to an illegal abortion clinic, run by a Catholic doctor.

The pharmacy was no bigger than my bedroom. At the back of the tiny room a wooden door blended into the wall, beneath one of the portraits of the Kenyan President, Mwai Kibaki, that are ubiquitous in businesses across Kenya.

Peter, a doctor from Kisii, had opened the clinic several years earlier. Working in the slums could be tough, and occasionally dangerous – during the violence in Kenya after the 2007 Presidential Election, which killed a thousand people and forced a quarter of a million forced to flee their homes, he patched up fighters in return for protection. In spite of the risks though, the large population and lack of competing medical facilities in the slums meant he could run a lucrative business, generating more income than some of the doctors at the major hospitals.

Read more here: http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/kenya-slum-abortions-religion-illegal

He was courted by politicians, his likeness was carved in stone, and when he died in 1899, newspapers around the country carried his obituary. A Civil War veteran, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The new pope is already known for reaching out beyond the faithful. But did he go too far by seeming to indicate believers and nonbelievers would meet each other in the afterlife?

Read more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/shortcuts/2013/may/29/pope-francis-open-heaven-atheists

Continuing our week-long celebration of campaigners whose commitment merits comparison to that of the original suffragettes, Catrina Stewart talks to a young Egyptian whose heroism has inspired tens of thousands of supporters across the Middle East and beyond.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-new-suffragettes-courage-in-cairo–the-arab-womens-awakening-8636534.html

Nairobi, Kenya—The Condoms4Life Campaign today assured Kenyans that Catholics support the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV. A billboard in Nairobi and newspaper ads in the Standard (today) and the Daily Nation (on Sunday) show an authentically Catholic message supporting the use of condoms as an HIV prevention method.

Read more here: http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/news/pr/2013/Condoms4LifeNairobi.asp

Lillian Ladele, registrar who refused to carry out civil partnerships, is prevented from bringing new appeal against her demotion
http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/2013/may/lillian-ladele-registrar-who-refused-carry-out-civil-partnerships-prevented-bringing-n

Gay row counsellor Gary McFarlane sees final appeal rejected:
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Gay-row-counsellor-Gary-McFarlane-sees-final/story-19122631-detail/story.html#axzz2Ulh0OsUF

Pensioner has become first British dementia sufferer to die at suicide clinic:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10088152/Pensioner-has-become-first-British-dementia-sufferer-to-die-at-suicide-clinic.html

Dignitas suicide: British man ends his life at Swiss clinic as he could not face dementia:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dignitas-suicide-british-man-ends-1920713

Judith Kerr: ‘I am 100 per cent for assisted suicide’:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10086492/Judith-Kerr-I-am-100-per-cent-for-assisted-suicide.html