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Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker posted on Facebook, “Belief in an afterlife is a malignant delusion, since it devalues actual lives and discourages action that would make them longer, safer, and happier.” I can see why a secularist would think this if such belief would focus him on the future to the neglect of the present. However, for Christians, the opposite is actually the case. Jesus clearly believed in an afterlife (cf. Luke 23:46), but he clearly valued actual lives and encouraged action that “would make them longer, safer, and happier.” He launched his public ministry by “teaching in their synagogues...

We are all too familiar with the hackneyed charge that thoughts of heaven are delusional. But according to Steven Pinker, they're malignantly so. That’s a new twist. There should be an algebraic equation to calculate something we experience far too often in the public square today. It would determine the ratio between a person’s absolute brilliance in one arena – their uncontested expertise – and their regularly articulated ignorance in others. This would then be multiplied by the confidence with which they say such things. It would be applied to things like Stephen Hawking’s pontifications on subjects such as religion...

No, Prof. Pinker, Belief in an Afterlife is Not a ‘Malignant Delusion’ A May 20 Washington Post op-ed claimed that evangelical Christians are behind the Republican push to reopen the nation. In response, Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker tweeted on May 21, “Belief in an afterlife is a malignant delusion, since it devalues actual lives and discourages action that would make them longer, safer, and happier. Exhibit A: What’s really behind Republicans wanting a swift reopening? Evangelicals.” (The tweet has since been removed.)Prof. Pinker, a self-described atheist, is wrong on all points. (Practical lesson: You can be a brilliant Harvard scientist...

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is resetting its “Doomsday Clock,” which has stood still since 2018 at two minutes to midnight. I was a member of the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors for a dozen years and chaired it from 2009 through 2018, and I think it’s time to retire the clock.... Psychologist Steven Pinker argues—and the bulletin admits—that the clock is anything but a scientific instrument. In Mr. Pinker’s view, the annual announcement is a publicity stunt that demeans the scientific community and makes the world seem more dangerous than it actually is. The clock is a publicity stunt—and...

The Doomsday Clock moved to 100 seconds to midnight – the closest symbolic point from an “apocalypse” since 1953. The decision was made on Thursday by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which announced it from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. "We argued that the global situation was abnormal," Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, said during the press conference of the decision to keep last year's Clock the same, but noted that nuclear and climate situations are "worsening." Sharon Squassoni, Georgetown University professor and member of the Science and Security Board...

The famed Doomsday Clock has been set at 100 seconds to midnight this year, the closest it's ever been to the metaphorical point of the Earth's destruction.

California Gov. Jerry Brown to lead Doomsday Clock group By Associated Press Published: 12:17 EDT, 25 October 2018 | Updated: 12:27 EDT, 25 October 2018 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California Gov. Jerry Brown has been named executive chairman of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group that measures manmade threats to human existence. The group manages the Doomsday Clock. It's a visual representation of how close the Bulletin believes the world is to catastrophe brought on by nuclear weapons, climate change and new technologies. The group announced Thursday that the Democratic governor leaving office in January will take over...

“In 2017, the clock moved from three minutes to midnight to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight. The Bulletin cites the rise of nationalism, Donald Trump's comments over nuclear weapons and the threat of an arms race between the US and Russia. The year was also the first time a fraction was used in the time.” – Wired  By the same time in 2018, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists saw fit to nudge the clock even closer to the hour of the apocalypse: In moving the clock 30 seconds closer to the hour of the apocalypse, the Bulletin of the...

PHOENIX — Arizona State University professor Lawrence Krauss, internationally known as an outspoken atheist and for his work on the symbolic "Doomsday Clock," has been put on paid leave by university officials after allegations of sexual misconduct were published in a recent BuzzFeed article. The university, in a statement issued late Tuesday, said it began a review of the professor's conduct after it was contacted for the article. (please see link for full article)

... Lawrence Krauss, a foundation professor at the university's School of Earth and Space Exploration has been accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior by multiple women over the last decade....

The Post report disclosed that recent changes to the Doomsday Clock have been made in response to President Donald Trump. “The failure in 2017 to secure a temporary freeze on North Korea’s nuclear development was unsurprising to observers of the downward spiral of nuclear rhetoric between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un,” the report elaborated. BAS slipped in other stereotypically liberal language as well, claiming “avoiding catastrophic temperature increases in the long run requires urgent attention now.” Krauss and Rosner revealed the real purpose for the Doomsday Clock in their conclusion: to act as a tool of activism.

Growing concerns about a possible nuclear war and other global threats have pushed forward the symbolic Doomsday Clock by 30 seconds - to just two minutes before midnight. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) said it had acted because the world was becoming "more dangerous". The clock, created by the journal in 1947, is a metaphor for how close the mankind is to destroying the Earth. It is now the closest to the apocalypse it has been since 1953. That was the year when the US and the Soviet Union tested hydrogen bombs. Last year, the clock was also...

THE world will be just one minute from a global apocalypse this week when a new “Doomsday Clock” warning is issued, an expert has predicted. With tensions spiking over a nuclear-capable North Korea, Donald Trump in the White House, India and Pakistan at odds and Vladimir Putin set to remain in power in Russia, the world continues to teeter on the brink of Armageddon. The Doomsday Clock is a design that warns the public about how close we are to destroying our world, and is set by a board consisting of scientists and other experts.

Whirling Hands of Doom Shortly after the clock struck 12 noon one week ago today, Barack Hussein Obama’s deplorable presidency was mercifully replaced by the one of Donald J. Trump. Anxiety ridden for eight long years of watching their country slipping further into decline, little people sent up rousing cheers;the mainstream media began searching for more cunning ways to undermine the new presidency;ganging up together, feminists, jihadists and celebrities were at home posing with pink p**sy caps in front of the mirror, readying for a screaming, 2 million strong worldwide Women’s March, scheduled for the following day.

"Closer to 'Doomsday' Than Any Year Since '59" screams the headline in the Huffington Post. The story, and many others like it, point to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' famous "Doomsday Clock," which is supposed to be a reliable indicator of the risk the world faces of a nuclear war. The clock shows how many minutes there are until midnight, which was supposed to mean nuclear annihilation. This year, the group moved it to 2.5 minutes to midnight, 30 seconds closer than it was last year. When the Doomsday Clock launched in 1947, the initial setting was seven minutes...

Scientists say the world has edged closer to apocalypse in the past year amid a darkening security landscape and comments by Donald Trump. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BPA) moved the minute hand of the symbolic Doomsday Clock from three minutes to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight. It is the second closest it has been. BPA chief Rachel Bronson urged world leaders to "calm rather than stoke tensions that could lead to war". In a report, the BPA said President Trump's statements on climate change, expanding the US nuclear arsenal and the questioning of intelligence agencies had contributed to the...

The planet moved significantly closer to a catastrophic event this week as Donald Trump assumed the U.S. presidency, according to a new report. The planet's Doomsday Clock is now two-and-a-half minutes to midnight, which represents a global catastrophe. It's the closest the measure has been to midnight since the successful testing of hydrogen bombs in 1953. The new position represents a 30-second lurch forward from the previous position. A group of nuclear scientists affiliated with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists determine when to move the clock in response to a number of threats from nuclear security to climate change.

Comments by US President Donald Trump and a "darkening global security landscape" have made the world less safe, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists warned Thursday, moving its symbolic "Doomsday Clock" 30 seconds closer to midnight. The clock -- which serves as a metaphor for how close humanity is to destroying the planet -- was last changed in 2015, from five to three minutes to midnight. It is now set at two and a half minutes to midnight.

The rapture was supposed to happen on September 13, 1988. A few fringe pastors were screaming that the end was nigh, that the righteous would soon disappear into the air while the rest of humanity was doomed to suffer a quite literal hell on earth. Forget the biblical admonition that no man knows the day nor hour of Christ's return, these men had figured it out. It was time to prepare yourself. I was a sophomore at a Christian college in Nashville, and it was the talk of the campus. No one likes to make fun of crazy Christian...

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Rising tension between Russia and the U.S., North Korea's recent nuclear test and a lack of aggressive steps to address climate change are putting the world under grave threat, scientists behind a "Doomsday Clock" that measures the likelihood of a global cataclysm said Tuesday. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the minute hand on the metaphorical clock remained at three minutes-to-midnight. The clock reflects how vulnerable the world is to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change and new technologies, with midnight symbolizing apocalypse. "Unless we change the way we think, humanity remains in serious...