Thursday Religion and Non-Theist Report 11/6

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ACE, aliens, allen west, america, apologist, atheism, atheists, brain, britain, candidates, charles krauthammer, christian, christians, churchless, congressman, consciousness, cosmos, creationist, endorsements, europe, existence, faith, federal, film, george will, georgia, ghosts, god, GSU, irs, law, middle east, murder, muslim, nones, pastors, persecution, philosophy, politics, religion, religious, schools, science, secularism, SOCAS, violence, voting

More Britons Believe In Aliens and Ghosts Than God

God’s polling numbers are down in the UK, where a recent survey found adults were more than twice as likely to believe in extraterrestrials than the creator and ruler of the universe. [Read more]

The Varieties of “Atheism”; plus on Kindle Now, Here’s Our New Book The Unofficial Guide to Cosmos

For the “Atheist,” it’s clearly an alternative religion, an aggressive conversionary one, performing much the same worldview-forming function that others faiths do for their own believers. [Read more]

Secularism Grows As More U.S. Christians Turn ‘Churchless’

If you’re dismayed that one in five Americans (20 percent) are “nones” — people who claim no particular religious identity — brace yourself. [Read more]

Accelerated Christian Education’s Survivors Speak Out

Once more, this week we’re diving into Reddit’s Ask Me Anything about ACE schools. [Read more]

In OK, A “Christian” and a “Muslim” Decapitation Challenge “Religious” Violence Narrative

The day before Halloween, 21-year-old Isaiah Marin of Stillwater, Oklahoma, murdered his 19-year-old friend, Jacob Crockett—nearly decapitating him with a machete. [Read more]

School Bans Church Official After Atheist Student Accused Him Of Promoting Christianity

A church youth mentor is no longer welcome at an Oregon school after a student accused him of promoting Christianity and insulting her because she is an atheist. [Read more]

Political Pastors Openly Defying IRS Rules on Candidate Endorsements

The IRS has taken virtually no action against the pastors, whose churches risk losing their tax-exempt status over their election messages. [Read more]

Why Don’t “Nones” Vote?

Pew has analyzed the exit polling data and found that the religious composition of the electorate has remained pretty much the same over the past three midterm cycles (2006, 2010, and 2014). [Read more]

‘I See Despair. I See Despondency’: Former Congressman West Criticizes the Separation of Church and State

Former U.S. Congressman Allen West criticized the concept of separation of church and state during his 20-minute speech Sunday at Roswell Street Baptist Church. [Read more]

Election Night Was a Long One for Atheist Voters

Daniel Moran, a Democrat and an atheist running for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, lost his race, as did James Woods, an Arizona Democrat and atheist who was looking for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. [Read more]

Pastors Openly Defying IRS, Endorsing Candidates

Pastors at churches around the nation are openly defying the IRS’s rules against nonprofits endorsing political candidates, and they’re speaking from the pulpit about their preferred politicos. [Read more]

Religious Right’s Prodding Of Churches To Violate Federal Law Pays Off Politically

Church-State Watchdog Group Calls On IRS To Enforce ‘No-Politicking’ Rule. [Read more]

More Creationist Shenanigans at Georgia Southern University

The case of Emerson T. McMullen—an associate professor of history at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia—just gets weirder and weirder. [Read more]

Klinghoffer Attacks Tyson, Will, & Krauthammer

This is typical of creationists. The targets are two of the most respected conservatives in the US — George Will and Charles Krauthammer. [Read more]

Ken Ham Responds to Mike Lehmann (and Vice Versa)

Early last month, friend of the blog Mike Lehmann wrote a guest post about his take on the Ken Ham vs. Bill Nye debate, “4 things Bill Nye should have said to Ken Ham.” [Read more]

Science, Not Philosophy, Will Explain the Meaning of Existence

Biologist Edward O. Wilson, a two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient and the author of the new book The Meaning of Human Existence, knew that it was vital that he define “meaning” early on in his book. [Read more]

How the Brain Creates a Chronology of Consciousness

“Mind time” has to do with how we experience the passage of time and how we organize chronology. [Read more]

The Inner Workings of the Apologist Mindset

As Christopher Massie points out: “The conclusion that disproportionate numbers of intrinsically violent and misogynistic people reside in a certain region of the world could not be more bigoted or racist.” [Read more]

The Interstices of Science and Religion

What we think of as inherently scientific today may have carried theological overtones in times past; what we conceive of as religious may have likewise found support in scientific circles. [Read more]

Do American Christians Care At All About Christians Being Persecuted In The Middle East?

Terrible news is coming out of Pakistan today where a Christian couple was tortured to death by an angry mob before having their bodies burned in a brick kiln. [Read more]

Can an Atheist Make a Really Great Film about Faith?

Along with being one of the five best movies ever made about Texas, it is also considered one of the best movies ever made dealing with the fundamental questions about providence, the meaning of life, suffering, and faith. [Read more]

Georgia Pastor Has His Mind Blown by European Atheists: “If There’s No God, Why Should I Believe?’

During a trip to secular Nordic countries, Baptist pastor Marty McLain was asked by one man: “If there’s no god, why should I believe in him?”

[Read more]