"One of the main harms inflicted against science is to limit it to experimental and physical sciences; this harm occurs even though it extends far beyond this scope."
"Realities of the world are not limited to physical realities. And the material is just a shadow of supreme realities, and physical creation is just one of the stories of the creation of the world. Human being is just an example of the creation that is a combination of the material and the spirit."
No, it's not a Discovery Institute press release - it's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad giving a science lesson at Columbia University (via Jeffrey Shallit).
There is some good news on the religion front though. Ed Brayton has covered the story of how the courts in Rhode Island have decided that the Catholic Church does not have the right under the free exercise clause to shield it's population of child rapists in robes from criminal prosecution. Of course, without the guiding power of the Catholic Church, how will we stop people from raping children?!
I've said it before and I'll say it again. If a multi-national company, trade union or government department acted in the way that the Catholic Church has done over allegations of child rape, there would be significantly more outrage. Religion has been a deciding factor in letting the Church of the hook for covering up the misdeeds of it's priests. The fact that the Church's lawyers are arguing that co-operating with the investigation of child rapists in their midst is an infringement to their freedom of religious expression should be a nail in the coffin of this ridiculous, immoral institution.
The fact that the State of Rhode Island has decided that covering up child rape is not a valid part of religious free expression means that there is at least some sanity remaining on the benches of the judiciary.
As Diderot put it: "Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." Ain't it the truth?
