Weekend Religion Report 1/2/2015

Tags

2014, america, beheading, believers, bible, buddhism, christians, church, conservative, constitution, criticism, daniel dennett, doctrine, founders, genius, god, islam, islamic state, korea, lgbt, marriage, peace, philosophy, porn, religion, same-sex, science, sin, sodomy, song, stephen hawking

Our Flawed Understanding of our Founders and Our Constitution

Now, having read quite a bit about the origin of our Constitution, I knew, in broad outlines at least, a great deal of this information. [Read more]

Beheading Believers in the Name of Sodomy? A Look Back at the Craziest Christians of 2014

While Pope Francis  continued his progressive streak in 2014, other Christian leaders seemed determined to prove to the world just how regressive they could be. [Read more]

The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin

They are God’s frauds, cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Bible verses they heed with less care than they exercise in selecting side orders for lunch. [Read more]

Newsweek Cover Story Accuses Christians of Misinterpreting the Bible, Upsets Some Believers

As reported here in June, 75 percent of Americans believe the Bible is “somehow connected to God,” according to a Gallup poll, while 28 percent believe it is the “actual word of God.” [Read more]

America’s Religious Landscape Seeing a Major Shift

Among Americans ages 18 to 29, one in four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion. The report was conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. [Read more]

The Handbook: How to Know Who Owns the Burden of Proof

Today we’ll talk about how to tell who owns the burden, and how to prevent yourself from taking on more of that burden than you should. [Read more]

Transgender Teen Killed Self By Walking In Front Of Tractor Trailer, Blames Christian Parents

Joshua Alcorn, 17, of Kings Mills, was in the road near the South Lebanon exit just before 2:30 a.m. when a tractor-trailer operated by Abdullahi Ahmed, 39, of Florence, hit the boy, according to police reports. [Read more]

A Decade of Change in American Attitudes about Same-Sex Marriage and LGBT Issues

Support for same-sex marriage jumped 21 percentage points from 2003, when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, to 2013. [Read more]

Korean Churches See Major Goal for 2015 is Realizing First Steps of a Peace Treaty

A major goal of National Council of Churches in Korea is that 2015 will achieve the first step of establishing a peace treaty involving the four main parties in the conflict. [Read more]

The Dupe of Islam

If the likes of ISIS, Boko Haram, Al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, the Taliban, and Hamas are not following real Islam then what are they following? Unreal Islam? [Read more]

Buddhism’s Invulnerability Doctrine Is Cold, Inhuman

Religions and philosophies that propose invulnerability—such as Buddhism or Stoicism—as a solution to misfortune should not be taken wholesale, at least not if you want to remain recognizably human [Read more]

What is Buddhism’s Appeal for Contemporary Americans?

Due to the 1965 liberalization of U.S. immigration law, Asian-Americans dominate U.S. Buddhism. As with Islam, it’s hard to pin down the numbers. [Read more]

How to Criticize with Kindness: Philosopher Daniel Dennett on the Four Steps to Arguing Intelligently

Daniel Dennett poses an apt question that probes some of the basic tendencies and dynamics of today’s everyone-is-a-critic culture: “Just how charitable are you supposed to be when criticizing the views of an opponent?” [Read more]

Stephen Hawking, Hawking Incorporated, and the Myth of the Lone Genius

Comfortably sitting in the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas in Japantown in San Francisco, I was watching The Theory of Everything with an audience of hundreds. [Read more]

Unidentified Flying Objects – The Reality, the Cover-Up and the Truth

Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs as they are commonly known, have been witnessed by millions of people all over the world and have been recorded in history books, myths, legends and traditions for thousands of years. [Read more]

New Year Resolution? Do Away with God and Religion

A perfect New Year resolution would be to do away with God and all its attendant delusions. Most importantly, it would mean you no longer give a stamp of approval to all the ills, harms and atrocities perpetrated in the name of God. [Read more]

People in Religious and Conservative States Seek Out More Pornography Online

Strip club owners around the country are privy to a little secret: It’s better for business if your city hosts the Republican National Convention than if it hosts the Super Bowl. [Read more]

The Islamic State Produced the Most Influential Song of the Year

“My Ummah, Dawn Has Appeared,” to give it its English name, is perhaps the most beguiling, hypnotic, disturbing piece of music you might have heard all year. [Read more]

Can Science Prove the Existence of God?

Eric Metaxas lit up the world with his bold article in the Wall Street Journal, Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God. [Read more]