End-of-the-Week Religion and Atheism News and Commentary 10/24

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books, catholics, christians, debate, DNA, ellen page, ethics, fox news, free will, genes, gods, government, heaven is for real, humanist, humans, iraq, japan, jordan, julianne moore, life after death, litif siddique, me and dog, mosque, movement, neanderthals, paradox, psychology, quiverfull, refugees, religion, religious, secular, spiritual, SSA, women

Fox News Host Makes Extremely Offensive Comments About Atheists

The separation of church and state is one of the most controversial issues in American politics, one that often crosses party lines. In public school district in the south, the fight over religious freedom has continued. [Read more]

The Paradoxes of Secularism in Contemporary Japan

In brief, according to some surveys the Japanese populace seems secular, while measures of religious identification and church/shrine attendance suggest a vibrantly religious country. [Read more]

What I Like About the Expansion of the Humanist Movement

My husband came upon a recent Pew study called “Nones on the Rise,” referring to those who answer “none” when asked their religious affiliation. [Read more]

No Gods Needed in U.S. Government

In a letter to the editor last week (Oct. 17), Mr. (Samuel) Richardson suggests that there should be no separation of church and state, as first described by Thomas Jefferson to his letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802. [Read more]

Atheist Club Goes National

Previously known as the Eastern Atheists, the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) at EWU transitioned from a private club to becoming a chapter of a national secular organization. [Read more]

The One Thing the New Atheists Get Right About Religion

In defending Islam against the Bill Mahers of this world, Reza Aslan has stripped religion of any power to explain the world. [Read more]

Debate Over Religion’s Role Goes Back to Our Founding

For several years now, the homeless in downtown Sacramento have turned to the Winter Sanctuary Program, a cluster of city and county churches providing shelter during the winter months. [Read more]

The Way This Atheist Author Is Taking Aim at a Popular Story About a Boy Who Claims He Nearly Died and Visited Heaven

A new children’s book is taking direct aim at “Heaven Is For Real,” the bestselling book and feature film about a young boy who claims he ascended to heaven, met Jesus and interacted with dead relatives during a near-death experience. [Read more]

Atheist Releases ‘Me & Dog’ to Counter Christian Book ‘Heaven Is For Real’

Author Gene Weingartena’s book was written to counter the best-selling “Heaven Is For Real” Christian book, which was adapted for all ages and became a New York Times bestseller. [Read more]

Catholics and Atheists Can Agree

An atheist can object to liberal society and their so called “woman’s right” to end a pregnancy. An atheist should be mad as hell. [Read more]

Does Being ‘Spiritual But Not Religious’ Really Mean Anything?

In 2012, a Pew Foundation survey on religion found that almost 20 percent of Americans placed themselves in the category of “unaffiliated.” [Read more]

Debating God: Notes on an Unanswered Question

The question of whether God exists is a controversial one: there have been, and still are, lots of smart, informed and sincere people on both sides. [Read more]

School Told to Remove Painting of Praying Children or Face Legal Action

In another attempt to remove any semblance of Christianity from America’s public schools, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter recently to a middle school in Oklahoma threatening it to remove a painting depicting two young children praying. [Read more]

Religious Sentiments

By now, everyone must already know exactly what the telecommunication and ICT minister, Latif Siddique, said in New York. He lost his ministry for saying what he said. [Read more]

Science, Religion and the Assumptions We Make

One of the great advantages of being a Jesuit astronomer at the Vatican Observatory is that, since we are supported by the Church, we don’t have to worry about writing proposals, sitting on committees or even teaching classes. [Read more]

Did a Recent Study Find Evidence of Life After Death?

The age-old question of whether there is life after death is one of the main selling points of religion and sparks countless philosophical debates around the globe. [Read more]

45,000-Year-Old Man Was Human-Neanderthal Mix

A bone found by chance on the banks of a Siberian river has yielded the oldest modern human genome yet recovered, according to a new study that sheds light on when people left Africa and first interbred with Neanderthals living in Europe and Asia. [Read more]

DNA Yields Secrets of Human Pioneer

The genome sequence from a thigh bone found in Siberia shows the first episode of mixing occurred between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. The male hunter is one of the earliest modern humans discovered in Eurasia. [Read more]

Does Your Average Scientist Need an Ethicist on Call?

Bioethicists are setting up consultancies for research — but some scientists question whether they are a necessity. [Read more]

Upgrade Your Operating System: Building A Better Understanding of Psychology

While there are models of human behavior, habit formation, and cognition that can give us insight into our nature, any model is by definition a simplification of the world as it actually exists. [Read more]

Genes Will Survive Even If Most Humans Do Not

In this seminal volume, Richard Dawkins makes the case for the survival of genes, not specific creatures, which of course include humans. [Read more]

Free Will and Psychological Determinism

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it comes from Zen Buddhism. There’s no precise translation in English, but a good approximation to the meaning is to “unask” a question or idea. [Read more]

Refugees Fleeing Iraq Christian Torment Enter Jordan in Droves

More than 3,000 Iraqi Christians have fled Mosul and the Nineveh Plain and sought refuge in Jordan, as extremists continue to persecute religious minorities in strife-torn Iraq. [Read more]

I Got 18 Mosque Problems and Being a Woman is One

Many of the other annoyances found at the mosque are probably universal: parking inconsiderately, not putting away one’s shoes neatly on the racks, coming late, reserving spots in the prayer area, and distracting or disturbing others. [Read more]

Julianne Moore, Ellen Page’s Lesbian Drama Freeheld Banned From Shooting at Catholic High School

For the movie, which is based off of the 2007 Oscar-winning documentary short by the same name, director Peter Sollett and the production staff had asked the Catholic high school’s permission to shoot a scene there in which the couple goes to City Hall to apply for a civil union. [Read more]

Escaping Quiverfull

Vyckie escaped from quiverfull and since then has dedicated huge amounts of her time to exposing abuses of power within this patriarchal movement.

[Read more]