Week-Start Religion and Freethought Report

Tags

aggression, alaska, anger, archaeology, atheists, belief, burial, christians, churches, communities, congress, disabilities, drug rehab, ebola, gaza, ghosts, god, godless, gop, healing, invocation, ireland, islamic state, israel, jail, jody hice, john hagee, kansas city, ken ham, lawsuits, love, methods, michael savage, moshe ya'alon, obama, palestine, paranormal, politics, rabbi, religious, richard dawkins, same-sex, satanists, science, scientific, settlement, sexuality, synogogue, witch, women

Atheist Communities Need Religious Ambassadors

I realized that I wanted to spend my life advocating for atheists, working to remove the fear and prejudice that often surrounds them. And that achieving this goal would not come from a one-sided pursuit. [Read more]

Why and How Godless Science is Superior to Religion

The debate between science and religion goes on without resolve and without satisfaction for any involved. We might get somewhere if we narrowed the terms of debate a bit: on what grounds are we attempting to compare the two? [Read more]

Atheist Jailed 100 Days for Refusing Religious Drug Rehab Wins $2 Million Settlement

A drug addict devoted to overcoming his addiction is accountable to many people, but God shouldn’t be one of them. [Read more]

Alaska Town Affirms Right of Satanists and Atheists to Offer Invocations at Council Meetings

A small Alaska town has become the latest flashpoint in America’s ongoing debate over the definition of religious freedom, with a city assembly struggling to discern who gets to be included in efforts to expand “religious liberty.” [Read more]

GOP House Candidate Will Stop ‘Big Government Tyranny’ with Government Sponsored Religion

Jody Hice is running for Congress in Georgia. He also has an internet radio show, which he earnestly refers to as “one of the most important cultural programs anywhere around.” [Read more]

Richard Dawkins Doesn’t Deserve This Fellow Atheist’s Smears

It’s not a good time to be Richard Dawkins, for he alone, like the scapegoat of Leviticus, must bear the brunt of everyone’s hatred of atheism. [Read more]

Finding Healing and Acceptance After Same-Sex Love Collides with Religion

It’s hard to come out as gay. It is even harder when your parents are profoundly committed conservative Catholics, your brother is a prominent priest who represents traditional church views on Fox News. [Read more]

Temperance, Morality, and the American Right

Such religious and moral crusades have, however, also been tightly bound up with anti-immigrant, racist, nationalist, and anti-modernist fears. [Read more]

Meet the Actual Ghostbuster

A research fellow and paranormal investigator for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, based in Buffalo, NY, Benjamin Radford uses journalistic reporting, critical thinking skills, and what he describes as “the scientific process.” [Read more]

Ken Ham Spews the Usual Nonsense

Today we have a reaction from Ken Ham (ol’ Hambo) — the Australian entrepreneur who has become the ayatollah of Appalachia, famed for his creationist ministry, Answers in Genesis (AIG) and for the mind-boggling Creation Museum. [Read more]

Rabbi Accused of Secretly Recording Women Showering at Synagogue

A witness said Dr. Barry Freundel installed a hidden camera inside the women’s showers at the Kesher Israel Orthodox synagogue in Georgetown, according to a police report. [Read more]

Kansas City Diocese Agrees to Settle 30 Lawsuits for $10 Million

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Tuesday agreed to pay nearly $10 million to settle 30 lawsuits that alleged sexual abuse by priests. [Read more]

Churches Seek to Be More Inclusive of People with Disabilities

Members of EDAN, a program of the World Council of Churches, met in the Netherlands to develop a new statement with the working title “Gift of Being: Called to be a Church of All and for All.” [Read more]

Religion’s Role in Northern Ireland Politics

Tony Blair’s spin doctor Alastair Campbell once famously said: “We don’t do God.” But in Northern Ireland, it can feel like God is a political player. [Read more]

Joining Islamic State is About ‘Sex and Aggression,’ Not Religion

The appeal of Islamic State rests on individuals’ quest for what psychologists call “personal significance,” which the militant group’s extremist propaganda cleverly exploits. [Read more]

Hillsong’s Brian Houston Says Church Won’t Take Public Position on LGBT Issues

At a press conference for the Hillsong Conference in New York City today, Michael Paulson of The New York Times asked Houston to clarify their church’s position on same sex marriage. [Read more]

Should Christians Be Angry With God?

I get angry with God sometimes. Actually, that’s not true. If I’m being really honest, I get angry with God a lot. [Read more]

Defense Minister Ya’alon: I Am Not Looking for a Solution, I Am Looking for a Way to Manage the Conflict

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon gave a few holiday interviews to the Israeli media. Ya’alon, who has been Netanyahu’s closest partner in the coalition since the Gaza war, was fairly open when he spoke about the Palestinian issue, and a couple of his answers were especially telling. [Read more]

Archaeologists Think They Know Why Mysterious ‘Witch Girl’ Was Given Deviant Burial

The skeleton — believed to be that of a 13-year-old — was unearthed by a team from the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology near a church built on the site of a burial ground in the town of Albenga. [Read more]

Scientific Methodology and Its Religious Parallels

Paralleling the observations upon which scientific hypotheses are based, religious “observations” are mainly revelations believed to be conveyed from God through prophets such as Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. [Read more]

Why Must Seeing Be Believing?

Of course, we might not want to go overboard with our attempts to correct behavior. Humans’ unwillingness to believe that the worst could happen may also be a useful trait; it keeps us taking risks and doing extraordinary things. [Read more]

If You Don’t Believe in a God, Why Bother?

I see this question on Twitter all of the time and I find it, admittedly, a bit strange. To me, it should be obvious that since atheists don’t believe in gods, we can’t hate them. So why does this question get around so much? [Read more]

John Hagee Says Ebola Is God’s Judgment On America Because Obama Is Trying To Divide Israel

Christians United For Israel founder John Hagee issued a stark warning to America that the Ebola crisis is God’s judgment on America for President Obama’s failure to adequately support Israel.

[Read more]

Michael Savage: Ebola Could Be A ‘Blessing’ That Prompts Obama’s Removal From Office

In an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones last week, conservative radio host Michael Savage said President Obama plans to “use Ebola as a pretext” to exercise authoritarian control over the United States.

[Read more]