For a complete list of my published articles please click here. A few are included below:
Greenwashing God: The Danger of Religious Environmentalism
Free Inquiry, February 2022
'Whenever environmentalism has made positive contributions to the world—the ongoing recovery of the ozone layer, for instance, or the growing adoption of renewable energy—it has been led by scientific inquiry and rigor. Conversely, whenever environmentalism has allowed itself to be guided by spirituality, it has become lost in the inconsequential backwaters of New Age mysticism and back-to-the-land communes.'
Read the full article here.
Environmentalism and the Fringe
Skeptical Inquirer, June 2021
'Indeed, throughout its history, environmentalism has been shaped by a range of fringe beliefs that have nurtured a tradition of unscientific thinking about the natural world. As a result, many sincere and well-meaning environmentalists today are wary of pragmatic, science-based solutions to the climate crisis—the very solutions that can get us out of this mess. It’s time for environmentalism to acknowledge, and renounce, its long dalliance with the fringe.'
Read the full article here.
Are You Smarter Than an 800-year-old?
The Skeptic, March 2021
'By dismissing our ancestors as gormless fools we’re implicitly insisting that we, in the 21st century, are inherently smarter and more skeptical. It’s a complacent attitude that encourages us to overlook the many instances of irrational thinking and dubious practices that continue to flourish today.'
Read the full article here.
The Myth of Ancient Environmental Wisdom
Areo, July 2020
'We can’t return to an environmental golden age that never existed, and we’re not helping the planet by rejecting industrialisation in the false hope that we can.'
Read the full article here.
The Climate Crisis Can't Just Be Another Soapbox For the Left
Are We Europe, July 2020
'By framing climate action as an inherently progressive concern, the left is virtually guaranteeing its failure. The combination of environmental measures with anti-capitalist or pro-union rhetoric—valid though the rhetoric may be—creates a political package that will almost certainly flounder when it comes to achieving the widespread political support it needs to be enacted.'
Read the full article here.
The Women Behind the Remembrance Poppy
Nadja, November 2018
'On a cold November morning in New York, 1918, a professor of education named Moina Michael was browsing a copy of Ladies’ Home Journal. It was in these pages that she came across John McCrae’s famous poem, In Flanders Fields, which described poppies growing among soldiers’ graves in war-torn Europe. "This was for me a full spiritual experience," she later recalled. "I reached for a used yellow envelope, turned the blank side up and hastily scribbled my pledge to keep the faith with all who died."'
Read the full article here.
Are We Europe, January 2019
'We’re led to believe that migrants and migration are distinctly modern phenomena, unwanted consequences of rapid globalisation and EU migrant quotas ... The truth is that Europeans have never sat still for long. Whichever page of European history you turn to, you’ll find migration.'
Read the full article here.
In Defence of Treason
Latterly, June 2018
'Politics, like all human endeavours, is prone to fads and fashions. And amid the loud, clashing patterns of the 21st century, one trend is enjoying something of a comeback: treason. The crime of betraying one's country, once seen as a creaking anachronism in modern politics, is again at the forefront of political debate.'
The Humanist Case Against Patriotism
Free Inquiry, June 2018
'It only takes a cursory glance to see that there is something peculiarly religious about patriotism – if not in its metaphysical claims, then in its moral and political authority.'
