Friday Religion and Atheism Report 12/19

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ACLU, agnostics, american, anti-god, atheists, AU, bryan fischer, christianity, christians, christmas, diplomacy, evidence, family, freedom, fundamentalists, ghana, government, history, islam, jesus, jewish, jihad, ken ham, libby lane, lying, minister, ohio, pope francis, prayer, rabbi, religion, school, sex, sikh, sponsorship, students, syria, torture, witches, work

Christmas for Atheists and Agnostics

Louai Bilal, psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente, believes that most religious people harbor doubts about the existence of such a deity. [Read more]

Students Speak: Celebrating Christmas as an Atheist

Bryant Powell, a junior at Murray State University in Murray, Ky. says that as an atheist, the season is not without its discomforts. [Read more]

Did Historical Jesus Really Exist? The Evidence Just Doesn’t Add Up

Discussions over whether the figure known as the “Historical Jesus” actually existed primarily reflect disagreements among atheists. [Read more]

ACLU of Ohio Says State Can’t “Inject Religious Criteria” into Gov. Kasich’s Student Mentoring Program

Christine Link, ACLU of Ohio executive director, said she is troubled that the new “Community Connectors” program requires that a “house of worship” or “faith-based” organization join with a business and a school before the school can qualify for grants from the program. [Read more]

Help Free the “Witches” of Ghana

Beginning in 2015, Humanist Service Corps volunteers will support Songtaba and other locally led human rights organizations in the effort to address the causes and consequences of witchcraft accusations in the Northern Region of Ghana. [Read more]

Apparently You Can Bring Your Religion to Work

Brent Lyons, assistant professor of management and organization studies at Simon Fraser University, in Canada, led a team of researchers who found that employees who discuss their religious beliefs at work are oftentimes happier. [Read more]

Is Opposing Ken Ham’s Tax Breaks Anti-God?

Hambo’s latest post is yet another that causes us concern. It’s titled Lexington Herald-Leader Versus God! He’s complaining about an editorial in the Lexington Herald-Leader of Lexington, Kentucky. [Read more]

Defining Moments: Lying for Jesus, Library Edition

What I’m saying is that when Christians sneak tracts into the the hands of someone they know wouldn’t welcome it, that is the Christian equivalent of catcalling and harassing women on street corners. [Read more]

First Female Bishop Named as the Reverend Libby Lane

Reverend Libby Lane has been announced as the first female bishop for the Church of England, just a month after a historic change to canon law. [Read more]

New Government Backed Council Prayers Bill Will ‘Undermine Religious Freedom’

The National Secular Society has accused the Government of seeking to undermine religious freedom by supporting a Private Members’ Bill to include “prayers or other religious observance” in the business of local authority meetings. [Read more]

Islamic State Promoting “Sexual Jihad”

Sexual Jihad is promoted, with some success, by websites and social networks as an opportunity for women to offer themselves as brides to temporary fighters in Syria and Iraq. [Read more]

Government Forces Local Authority to Hand Over £1 Million Site to ‘Sikh Ethos Free School’

Leeds City Council has been ordered to hand over a former primary school site worth almost £1 million to an enable an undersubscribed Sikh free school to relocate. [Read more]

Schools Minister Writes to Rabbi Over Advice to Avoid Science Questions at Jewish Faith School

David Laws MP writing to the NSS, said that “it is unacceptable for any school to redact exam papers, because this denies pupils the opportunity to demonstrate their full potential across the curriculum they have been taught.” [Read more]

Yes, Atheists Can Be Fundamentalists

Fundamentalism as an ideological category has historically been limited to religion. But as atheism grows and begins to double as a political identity for many, I propose expanding that category to include nonbelievers. [Read more]

How Pope Francis’ Diplomacy May Change Everything, Not Just US-Cuba Relations

“Pope Francis did what popes are supposed to do: Build bridges and promote peace,” Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski said after the announcement Wednesday (Dec. 17) about the U.S.-Cuba rapprochement. [Read more]

7 Things Not to Say to the Atheist in Your Family

I hope these tips help make family visits more pleasant for everyone. I also hope they won’t deter theists from talking about religion with atheists. [Read more]

Drop Sponsorship Of Evangelical Christian Rally, AU Tells Louisiana Gov. Jindal

Church-State Watchdog Group Reminds Governor He Was Elected To Represent All Constituents, Not Just Christians. [Read more]

Torture and American Christianity

Christianity and torture have, unfortunately, a long historical association. Indeed, the Spanish Inquisition perfected many of the most famous torture techniques, including waterboarding. [Read more]

Fischer: Jesus Would Support The Use Of Torture

The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer is continuing his defense of the CIA’s use of torture, writing today that liberals “would drag the Bible’s heroes before the courts at Nuremberg and charge them with crimes against humanity”.

[Read more]

Islam Deserves No Respect From Me

What do we expect from followers of the Abrahamic God who took pride in ordering the execution of children? Genocides were a thing Skydaddy was proud of, and some of his delusional adherents are still proud to follow his sadistic orders.

[Read more]

4 Teachings of Jesus That His Followers (Almost) Never Take Seriously

One of the most transformative periods in my faith was when I took time to re-read the Gospels of the New Testament and get reacquainted with Jesus’ himself, in his own words.

[Read more]