An Interesting Day for the First Amendment

Yesterday was an interesting day for religious liberties. First, news broke that teenage atheist and general badass Jessica Alqhuist won her lawsuit against her school, requiring them to within 10-days remove the prayer banner below.

Though we should all be happy about the inevitable success of the First Amendment in a case the school must have known they would lose, many atheists seem to be missing another seminal ruling on religious freedom that they may be less happy about: Hosanna-Tabor Church v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws. The New York Times reported the case in this morning’s paper, saying

Chief Justice Roberts devoted several pages of his opinion to a history of religious freedom in Britain and the United States, concluding that an animating principle behind the First Amendment’s religious liberty clauses was to prohibit government interference in the internal affairs of religious groups generally and in their selection of their leaders in particular.

“The Establishment Clause prevents the government from appointing ministers,” he wrote, “and the Free Exercise Clause prevents it from interfering with the freedom of religious groups to select their own.”

I’m not nearly knowledgeable enough in law or political science to formulate a really solid opinion on this case, because I have somewhat mixed feelings. On one hand, the government shouldn’t be telling churches what to believe or who to hire. On the other hand, the tax exempt status of these churches make me uneasy.

Others are raising concerns about future difficulties combating sexual abuse or harassment. The executive director for the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Rev. Barry W. Lynn, wrote in a statement:

Blatant discrimination is a social evil we have worked hard to eradicate in the United States. I’m afraid the court’s ruling today will make it harder to combat.

Chief Justice Roberts, however, ensured that protections would be in place.

The Cognitive Science of Ignorance

For two weeks at the start of every semester, Yale has what’s called a shopping period.  Something like a more bizarre and hectic add/drop period, our version is all about students sampling classes extensively before finalizing their schedules. Because it’s my last semester, I’m trying to get the most out of my shopping experience. I want to ensure that I get the highest “cool stuff learned” to “stressful work” ratio while avoiding classes that meet on Friday or before 11 a.m.

One of the classes I’m most excited for (and think I’ve settled on taking) is the Cognitive Science of Ignorance, a seminar about how we make sense of the world given how little we actually know. So much of our knowledge, especially about science and the natural world, is seriously misguided, and I think our beliefs about them are oftentimes unjustified. This great xkcd strip I think really clearly highlights the issue: none of us know at all how airplanes work. I was told as a kid in science classes (and on TV, and everywhere) that planes fly by creating lift from the shape of their wings. But if that’s true, how do planes fly upside down? The story is in fact much more complicated.

Frankly, it seems so often that we just hear something as “science” and accept it just as such. I’m almost certain that if you probed an average atheist or skeptic (someone who isn’t a specialist in biology or environmental studies) about evolution or climate change, they would frankly know way too little to justify the beliefs on their own. My professor suggested that what’s really the difference between us and evolution or climate change deniers is how much we trust the scientific method and the state of modern science (and I think on this point a lot of us are justified, though I’m skeptical even here that many of us know how the process works well enough to seriously justify confidence in it). I think that’s more or less exactly true.

So this class is addressing really interesting psychological and philosophical material, and I’m really excited to delve in. Hopefully, I’ll be sharing some of what I learn on here. After all, this is a blog more or less founded on realizing what you’ve failed to see, and how we make beliefs based on little information (and how they’re updated) seems to me pretty relevant.

Another Look at Atheists and Rapists

A little more than a month ago, a paper about atheists and distrust garnered some attention and outrage in nonreligious circles, not necessarily because of what the study said but how it was interpreted—bloggers and irresponsible reporters claimed this study demonstrated that atheists were less trusted than rapists. I suspected almost immediately that this claim would be echoed without any real understanding of it, like the nonsense notion that atheists are the most reviled, most hated, or least trusted minority in the United States. I don’t know what it is about statistical research in the social sciences that makes otherwise intelligent people repeat sensational claims again and again, but it’s extremely frustrating.

But on to the actual study. The Friendly Atheist writes:

Somehow, we’re less trusted than even rapists. That’s disheartening, but it really says more about how religious people think than anything about atheists.

And he’s partway right: if we were less trusted than rapists that would be really disheartening and controversial, but thankfully, as I wrote last month, it’s not at all true.

But since I’m still working my way through the finer nuances of blogging and writing more generally, I’ve learned that I can occasionally suck terribly at explaining things. Reading through some comments on the article, it looks like people aren’t quite following what I meant to say. There are also a lot of common objections I’ve read, particularly with how I addressed the issue of a ceiling effect. So I think with those in mind, the study deserves another pass.

Aside

I’ve expanded on my “Imagining No Religion” post on NonProphet Status. Maybe give it a read?

Jesus Fight

SMBC is by far one of my favorite webcomics. Make sure to click the link so you can check out the red button.