Monday Religion and Atheism Report 11/24

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abuse, AHA, amish, anti-theism, atheism, bible, blasphemy, britain, BYU, christians, church, commandments, creationist, david mcconaghie, indonesia, islamists, law, lawsuit, mcdonalds, minorities, mormonism, ohio, politics, pope, saudi arabia, texas, textbooks, the good wife, unbelief, values, vatican, voters, voyeurism

10 Commandments For Atheists Who Want To Explore Their Values

“There are lots of books out there about why you should not believe in God,” [Lex] Bayer said. “But there aren’t any about what do secular people believe in.” [Read more]

The Poetics of Unbelief

We are accustomed to poems about neurotic seizures, personal crisis, lost love and suicidal consequences, but the big questions of belief and religion have more commonly been objects for satire. [Read more]

Is the Pope Trying to Teach Christians How to be Christian?

A Pope personally doing some good deeds would catch the attention of anyone who was raised within a religious culture based on guilt. [Read more]

British Creationism as a Problem in 2002 (Michael Roberts); Still All Too Relevant

In the last four decades Creationism has caused controversy in American churches, schools and colleges and has hit the headlines when education boards question the teaching of evolution as happened in Ohio in 2002. [Read more]

McConaghie’s Bathroom Voyeurism Trial Delayed

David McConaghie, the creationist preacher and Northern Ireland political operative who was arrested in connection with the discovery of a hidden camera found in the loo of Democratic Unionist Party member David Simpson. [Read more]

Would You Guess There Are Fewer Amish Today? You’d Be So Wrong

Though the Amish make up only a tiny percentage of Americans (less than 0.001 percent), the Amish population has grown enormously since the early 1960s. [Read more]

The Good Wife’s Religion Politics: Voters Have No Faith in Alicia’s Atheism

The Good Wife is a show about political campaigns, the law, and love. It is also, by extension, a show about the cultural impact of religion. [Read more]

Top Vatican Prosecutor Failed to Report Abuser

The Rev. Robert J. Geisinger was the second-highest-ranking official among the Chicago Jesuits in the 1990s when leaders were facing multiple abuse complaints. [Read more]

Rights Groups Blame Indonesia’s Blasphemy Law for Failing State of Minorities

Human rights groups have criticized the Indonesian government for the worsening state of minorities in the country. [Read more]

Bible Verses Where The Word “Philistines” Has Been Replaced With “Haters”

Genesis 26:14 – “He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the haters envied him.” [Read more]

New Crowd-Funding Campaign Hopes to Bring McDonald’s to Church

The McMass Project, launched on the crowd-funding website this week, hopes to inspire church innovation with its plan to open a McDonald’s franchise within a house of worship. [Read more]

If You Leave Mormonism, You Have to Leave BYU. Now Some Alumni Want to Change That

Activists have formed a group called FreeBYU and sent a certified letter to church President Thomas S. Monson urging LDS leaders to update the university’s honor code “to promote freedom of thought and freedom of religion.” [Read more]

American Humanist Assoc. Threatening Lawsuit Against Oakbrook Elementary

According to the letter, the school’s student council, run by a teacher, is organizing and promoting a fundraiser to help Old Fort Baptist Church’s food drive. [Read more]

Texas Approves Social Studies Textbooks Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased

Critics said that some of the government and world history textbooks, for example, exaggerate the influence of biblical figures on the nation’s founding and Western political tradition. [Read more]

British Fear of Islamists and Saudi Fears About Atheists Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

Young people want to know about jihadism – and it’s better that they inquire about it openly, in schools, than elsewhere. [Read more]

Let’s Stop Calling New Atheism, “Atheism,” and Start Calling it What it is: Anti-Theism

To be sure, there is plenty to criticize in any religion and no ideology – religious or otherwise – should be immune from criticism. [Read more]