Scientology... Religion - Curators. To sort... The faithful must learn to respect those who question their beliefs | Lawrence Krauss | Science. 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. It is fascinating that lack of belief, or even mere skepticism, is met among the faithful with less respect and more distrust even than a fervent belief in a rival God. 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 Over two decades after the fatwa issued on Salman Rushdie, violence continues, and Muslim fundamentalists have gained a new advantage: media self-censorship.
Pale Blue Dot By Carl Sagan April 23, 2012 Print: Inspired Speeches Text and video of Carl Sagan’s famous ‘Pale Blue Dot’ speech. (18) comments Judas Saves By Christopher Hitchens April 6, 2012 Christopher Hitchens’ take on Easter from a 2006 Slate article. (1) comments Why I Do Not Believe in a God. 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”.
Once again, to ask for nothing more than a neutral civic space is to be branded “aggressive”; to contest religious privilege is to be branded “enemies”. Well, happy Easter to you too, Keith.
Tim Minchin's Storm the Animated Movie. The Vatican. Religion in the US. The Catholic church's Lazarus complex over HIV-Aids | Elizabeth Pisani. 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. Caramazza toes the papal line, implying that African countries with higher rates of condom use have higher rates of HIV, and that condoms therefore don't work in preventing HIV. He also holds up the example of Uganda as a country that has promoted abstinence and seen HIV infections fall. All of this in combination did, indeed, cut the number of new infections.
The Ugandan data has been so badly tortured by both promoters and opponents of condoms that it has confessed to just about anything asked of it, so it's not Caramazza's confused interpretation that upsets me. Halleluliah! (not). Faith healing could spread HIV | HIV / AIDS, science, sex, drugs. 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. Some churches promise miracles, sometimes in exchange for their patients’ valuables. Eating in to family finances is bad enough. Be Sociable, Share! 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? An interesting thing happened while I was studying at East Texas Baptist University: I was told not to read Rudolf Bultmann. Ironically, it was seminary that inaugurated my leap of unfaith. It sounds like you lost your faith in the process of becoming a minister—or did you go back and forth for some years?
After I read your book, The End of Faith, I could no longer suppress my unbelief. A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I’m An Atheist. Why don’t you believe in God? I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming and pointless. People who believe in God don’t need proof of his existence, and they certainly don’t want evidence to the contrary. They are happy with their belief.
Arrogance is another accusation. Why don’t I believe in God? This, is of course a spirituality issue, religion is a different matter. When confronted with anyone who holds my lack of religious faith in such contempt, I say, “It’s the way God made me.” But what are atheists really being accused of? The dictionary definition of God is “a supernatural creator and overseer of the universe”. So next time someone tells me they believe in God, I’ll say “Oh which one? I used to believe in God. I loved Jesus. One day when I was about 8 years old, I was drawing the crucifixion as part of my Bible-‐studies homework. I was sitting at the kitchen table when my brother came home. Wow. 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. Evolution took a huge bite a while back, and recent work on the brain has shown no evidence for souls, spirits, or any part of our personality or behavior distinct from the lump of jelly in our head. We now know that the universe did not require a creator. Science is even studying the origin of morality. But faith will not go gentle. As a scientist and a former believer, I see this as bunk. Irreconcilable "But surely," you might argue, "science and religion must be compatible. Science operates by using evidence and reason. Science can, of course, be wrong. Does religion work? 'Venerable superstition' Why does this matter?
Jerry A.