This announcement should have been made with a great fanfare; it gives hope to the childless and only reactionary moralists could find reason to oppose it

The Woolwich killers were certain that faith supported their actions

Let us say what we think, and be frank about it: death does not confer privilege

Young minds are primed by nature to believe most of what adults tell them to believe. They should be treated with respect, not twisted into shapes that conform with dogma

A writer who won an award for the brutality of one of her reviews cited her obligation to be honest. Should we all live by such standards?

The Mayans are staking their credibility in forecasting the planet's last day. Why doesn't the near certainty of humiliation deter the doomsayers?

The fact is that nothing is truly unnatural, because everything that exists, including human intelligence, is a product of nature

Brief Answers To Big Questions

When botanists say that the rose is related to the thistle, are they reporting a discovery or making a decision? That is, are they telling us about the real nature of the world, or are they choosing to group certain things together because doing so is - to put it bluntly - useful?