Stephen M. Barr

It is time to take stock: What has the intelligent design movement achieved? As science, nothing. The goal of science is to increase our understanding of the natural world, and there is not a single phenomenon that we understand better today or are likely to understand better in the future through . . . . Continue Reading »

I can’t speak for David Hart, Joe, but I don’t think he was expressing (to use your words) “opposition to considering [the] possibility” of “Intelligent Design.” I think he was saying that the ID arguments lack the kind of rigor that some ID people seem to . . . . Continue Reading »

Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion: Illusions, Delusions, and Realities About Human Nature By Malcolm Jeeves and Warren S. Brown Templeton, 168 Pages, $17.95 There was a time when people worried whether God existed. Now, strangely enough, they are beginning to worry whether they . . . . Continue Reading »

In the current wars over global warming we are seeing an example of scientists behaving badly. I am not referring just to the hacked e-mails that everyone is talking about. Far more disturbing to me is the recent tactic of labeling any scientist who expresses skepticism about the extent of . . . . Continue Reading »

Tom Bethel has been riding an anti-relativity-theory hobby horse for years. He has recently published an article questioning the theory of relativity in the American Spectator . I have never met Mr. Bethel. I am sure he is a fine fellow; but he should stick to subjects he knows something about. . . . . Continue Reading »

Have you heard the “ Breakfast Song ”? It is a big hit on Youtube, with about a million hits. It is both very funny and very serious. About six months after this performance, Minister Cleo Clariet was indeed “called home” by his Lord. In the introduction to his song, Minister . . . . Continue Reading »

In some commentary on Caritas in Veritate , the point has been made that there are tensions among different statements of Catholic social teaching. Most notably, Populorum Progressio is often mentioned as an outlier in leftward direction. Fr. Robert A. Gahl, Jr., an associate professor of ethics at . . . . Continue Reading »

Two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “God and Science Don’t Mix” written by a physicist named Lawrence M. Krauss. I wrote a reply, which the Journal decided not to run. The text of my reply is given below. Those who read the Krauss article should be warned that Krauss makes a false insinuation about the views on miracles and the Virgin Birth of Br. Guy Consolmagno, a Jesuit astrophysicist at the Vatican Observatory. I e-mailed Br. Guy and he assured me that Krauss completely misrepresented his views. Here is the reply to Krauss that the Wall Street Journal decided not to run… . Continue Reading »

Are social encyclicals binding? Not everything in an encyclical—social or otherwise—is equally binding. Catholic teaching itself distinguishes different levels of authoritativeness for different kinds of teaching and different kinds of Church pronouncements. Some teaching is de fide (of . . . . Continue Reading »

I recently came across the odd fact that one of the leading researchers on the brain in the twentieth century was—wait for it: Lord Brain. For real. His full name and title were Walter Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain. What is even better, he was the longtime editor of the research journal Brain . . . . Continue Reading »