If there is any consistent enemy of science, it is not religion, but irrationalism.

The origin of Homo sapiens, as a tiny twig on an improbable branch of a contingent limb on a fortunate tree, lies well below the boundary.

I hardly recognize what I do well. I just do it.

Evolution is one of the two or three most primally fascinating subjects in all the sciences.

Creationist critics often charge that evolution cannot be tested, and therefore cannot be viewed as a properly scientific subject at all. This claim is rhetorical nonsense.

Skepticism's bad rap arises from the impression that, however necessary the activity, it can only be regarded as a negative removal of false claims. Not so... Proper debunking is done in the interest of an alternate model of explanation, not as a nihilistic exercise. The alternate model is rationality itself, tied to moral decency--the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known.

All science is intelligent inference; excessive literalism is delusion, not a humble bowing to evidence.