Scientology... Religion - Curators. To sort... The faithful must learn to respect those who question their beliefs. Outward displays of belief in God have become a proxy for trustworthiness in the US.
Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP Issues of personal faith can be a source of respectful debate and discussion. Since faith is often not based on evidence, however, it is hard to imagine how various deep philosophical or religious disagreements can be objectively laid to rest. As a result, skeptics like myself struggle to understand or anticipate the vehement anger that can be generated by the mere suggestion that perhaps there may be no God, or even that such a suggestion is not meant to offend.
Last week, police in Rhode Island had to be called to suppress an angry crowd at a school board meeting, and a 16-year-old atheist had to take time off school after being threatened and targeted by an online hate campaign. Archive. Tear Down That Wall by Christopher Hitchens February 12, 2013 Print: Slate Christopher Hitchens’ 2010 article calling for the prosecution of the Catholic priests who abused children, and the men who covered it up. (5) comments Losing our Spines to Save our Necks By Sam Harris September 15, 2012 Print: The Huffington Post Sam Harris’ 2008 article on why the controversy about an anti-Islam film should teach us that we need more criticism of Islam, not less. (5) comments Assassins of the Mind Christopher Hitchens September 15, 2012 Print: Vanity Fair.
UK: Happy Easter, aggressive secularists everywhere - Secular Europe Campaign - Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association.
It is astounding – as various churches and religious groups are feted as lynchpins of the ‘Big Society’ and handed our public services, as state-funded schools find themselves converted to religious status in increasing numbers, as Bishops look set to stay in the Lords while another opportunity for reform hurtles by, and as religious leaders of all stripes are invited to Downing Street (this Wednesday) for one of the most outrageously pious government “outreach” events in recent times – that despite all this, one Cardinal Keith O’Brien felt it necessary to use his Easter sermon to tell Christians to unite “in the face of aggressive secularism to maintain our Christian heritage and culture in our great country”.
Tim Minchin's Storm the Animated Movie. The Vatican. Religion in the US. The Catholic church's Lazarus complex over HIV-Aids. So here we are again, talking past one another on the subject of condoms, Aids and Africa.
Tanya Gold says the pope's got it all wrong. Giuseppe Caramazza defends the pontiff, under the headline "the condom is no cure for Aids in Africa". Let's get some facts straight. Condoms prevent HIV. And if we prevent HIV, then we prevent Aids, without having to put millions into the bank accounts of pharmaceutical companies.
He also holds up the example of Uganda as a country that has promoted abstinence and seen HIV infections fall. Halleluliah! (not). Faith healing could spread HIV. Christian fundamentalism and HIV seem both to be on the upswing in Uganda.
I’ve remarked before that enthusiastic support for abstinence-only programmes has undermined previously successful HIV prevention efforts in the country. But now it seems over-zealous preachers are threatening the success of treatment efforts, too. Robert Ochai, director of the trailblazing AIDS support organisation TASO, has noticed that some of group’s the 23,000 treatment clients are giving up their HIV drugs because they have been “cured” by faith healers, according to a report in The Monitor. Apparently, faith healing has become big business in Uganda. “Several Pentecostal churches in the country, more so in Kampala, invite the sick, including those with Aids, for spiritual healing.
Eating in to family finances is bad enough. Debate-Flow-Chart.jpg (JPEG Image, 720x1031 pixels) Godless. Life Without God : An Interview with Tim Prowse. Tim Prowse was a United Methodist pastor for almost 20 years, serving churches in Missouri and Indiana.
Tim earned a B.A. from East Texas Baptist University, a Master of Divinity (M.Div) from Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri, and a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min) from Chicago Theological Seminary. Acknowledging his unbelief, Tim left his faith and career in 2011. He currently lives in Indiana. He was kind enough to discuss his experience of leaving the ministry with me by email. Can you describe the process by which you lost your belief in the teachings of your Church? A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I’m An Atheist. Why don’t you believe in God?
Column: Science and religion aren't friends. By Jerry A.
Coyne Religion in America is on the defensive. Atheist books such as The God Delusion and The End of Faith have, by exposing the dangers of faith and the lack of evidence for the God of Abraham, become best-sellers. Science nibbles at religion from the other end, relentlessly consuming divine explanations and replacing them with material ones.