Sunday Religion, Superstition, Ritual and Blasphemy Report

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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. How does 38 percent sound? [Read more]

Reason vs. Faith, Knowledge vs. Religion

Religious believers will tend to think that it is possible to acquire knowledge of reality and human nature through non-rational sources, obviously, but do they have a good basis for this premise? [Read more]

Yes, Atheists Need Closed Spaces Too

As imperfect as it is, there is a separation of church and state that protects my right to not be a Christian. Prejudice is alive and well here, but there are also many contexts here where atheism is a complete nonissue. [Read more]

Reza Aslan, Religion, and Moral Influence

It is good to be a polarizing figure. It’s also good to be right with what you say, and, unfortunately, Aslan makes a number of claims about religion that are highly unlikely. [Read more]

Will This Shocking Atheist Pamphlet Be Handed Out in Some Florida Schools?

An atheist group’s plan to distribute a sexually explicit pamphlet, invoking the Bible, at some Florida high schools is at the center of a dispute pitting school officials against the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which uses the First Amendment to defend its actions. [Read more]

So You Think You’re an Atheist . . .

Do the people who practice atheism actually know what they are putting their faith into? I hope that more atheists take an interest in learning more about what they think they believe. [Read more]

NSS Welcomes New Measures to Tackle FGM

Under an amendment to the Serious Crime Bill, children at risk of FGM could be made to surrender their passports to prevent the practise known as “vacation cutting.” [Read more]

Objectification and Evangelization

Proselytization is central to the religious faith of many evangelical Christians – they will “share” their beliefs with anyone they come across if they are given half a chance. [Read more]

30 of the Most Violent Exhortations from the Bible, Torah and Quran

How well do you know your Torah, Bible or Quran and Hadith? Can you tell which is which? Give it a try and then check the key at the bottom. [Read more]

Pope Francis Blasts Supermax Prisons As ‘Torture’

Pope Francis said Thursday (Oct. 23) that keeping inmates isolated in maximum security prisons is “a form of torture,” and called life sentences “a hidden death penalty” that should be abolished along with capital punishment. [Read more]

House Democrats “Finding Religion” on Money in Politics

“It’s kind of interesting that a couple weeks before the election, after having done nothing for years, they’re finally finding religion on property tax reform,” Rep. Kurt Wright (R-Burlington) said at the time. [Read more]

God Hates LGBT People So God Made Ebola

As if life weren’t already a living hell for Liberia’s LGBT population, Reuters reports that LGBT people are being blamed for the country’s Ebola outbreak that has killed around 5,000 people so far. [Read more]

Drugs and Religion Key Themes in Ottawa Shooter’s Troubled Life

For years, Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, tried and failed to use prayer as a shield against the drug addiction and mental instability stalking him through adulthood. [Read more]

Piedmont High Suspends Public Prayer at Football Games After Letter

Piedmont City school officials say they have suspended public prayers at home football games in response to a letter from a Wisconsin-based organization. [Read more]

Saudi Arabia’s Religious Police Outlaw ‘Tempting Eyes’

In the latest affront to women’s rights, the U.S. ally has announced that it has the right to cover women’s eyes—’especially the tempting ones.’ David Keyes on how they’re defending the outrage. [Read more]

Jailed Bangladesh Ex-Islamist Leader Dies

A former Bangladeshi Islamist party leader, whose imprisonment on war crimes charges triggered violent protests last year, has died of a heart attack in a prison cell of a government hospital. [Read more]

Chaldean Catholic Clerics Stripped of Duties for Fleeing Baghdad Without Consent

The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch has barred at least 12 of its clerics living in the United States, Sweden, Australia and Canada from carrying out their ministry, for failing to seek permission to flee Iraq. [Read more]

“Nones” Rise Again in the U.S.

Professor Ceiling Cat long ago predicted that America was becoming more secular, and eventually, long after we’re worm food, I believe that the U.S. will be as godless as France or Scandinavia. [Read more]

Free Church of Scotland Attacks Secularism and “Sexual Equality”; Calls for Biblical Principles in Scottish Government

In a submission to the Smith Commission on increased powers for Holyrood, the Free Church of Scotland has claimed that secular humanism is “harmful to society” and argued for an increased role for religion in public life. [Read more]

More On Why Smart People Are Not Always Rational

If rationality is not a product of intelligence, then what is it a product of? To find out, researchers such as Keith Stanovich, Richard West, and others have studied individual differences in rationality. [Read more]