Religion and Irreligion Commentary and News Bits – Weekend Edition

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Apostasy IS Punishable by Death in Islam

The world is shocked that a pregnant Christian woman, Meriam Ibrahim, was sentenced to death in Sudan one of the most “corrupt” countries in the world. Abandoned by her Muslim husband we all cry for her justice, secular justice. [Read more]

Losing My Religion and Going Public on Facebook

Lots of people lose their religious faith and just keep quiet about it. They have great reasons for doing so. Entire communities and family relationships are built on agreement that God is real. [Read more]

Women in Secularism: Got a Problem with That?

Does organized unbelief have a sexism problem? That’s the question that launched the first “Women in Secularism” conference three years ago and one that will be closely re-examined at the third annual iteration of the event, being held this weekend (May 16-18) in Alexandria, Va. [Read more]

Dangers Of Supreme Court Prayer Ruling Quickly Become Clear

Sometimes the damage from a bad court decision takes a while to make itself clear. Not so with last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a town’s practice of beginning council meetings with prayers that are overwhelmingly Christian. [Read more]

Leading GOP Senate Candidate: Creationism Should Be Taught in Public Schools

In a little-noticed 2012 interview, Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), the front-runner in Montana’s open 2014 Senate race, expressed support for teaching creationism in public schools. [Read more]

A Majority of Christians Say No to Recreational Pot, US Survey Finds

A new survey by the Barna Group finds that the tide may be turning toward legalization of recreational marijuana use, but not among Christians. A majority of Americans (58 percent) now favor legalizing marijuana for recreational or other use. [Read more]

My Christian Education Curriculum Taught Me Not to Befriend Atheists

ACE’s chief weapon is its English lessons. Almost all English instruction in ACE is in the form of traditional grammar exercises — diagramming sentences, identifying subjects and objects, and learning parts of speech. Never mind that study after study have failed to find any evidence that this improves students’ writing, and never mind that we have known since at least the 1950s that ACE’s understanding of grammar is unscientific and not how language works in practice. [Read more]

Chinese Christians Fear New Crackdown After Church Demolished

A local Chinese government’s demolition of the largest Christian church in the coastal city of Wenzhou late April is fueling fears the central government might be on the verge of further suppressing Christianity in China. [Read more]

Coalition Of Black Pastors Speaks Out Against Gay Marriage

A coalition of black pastors have condemned gay marriage, saying it’s incorrect to compare the fight for equal marriage rights to the civil rights movement. The Christian, conservative Thomas More Law Center filed an amicus brief in Michigan’s gay marriage trial Wednesday on behalf of 110 black pastors from Detroit, elsewhere in Michigan, and Ohio. [Read more]

Dan Fincke Pwns Sophisticated Theology

Dan Fincke, philosopher, atheist, and ex-Christian, writes the websiteCamels with Hammers for Patheos.  A link to his latest post, “Dear fellow atheists, STOP saying Christians believe God is a bearded man in the sky. They don’t,” is an awesome parody of arguments by Sophisticated Theologians™ like David Bentley Hart and Karen Armstrong. [Read more]

Isn’t Atheism Too Much of a Risk? Isn’t it Safer to Bet on God & Christianity?

Question: Why are you taking such a risk on being an atheist? If you’re wrong, you’ll go to hell. You’ve got nothing to lose by converting and everything to gain. Answer: This question, which is really just a simplified version of Pascal’s Wager, is one of the most popular questions which religious theists — particularly Christians — pose to atheists. [Read more]

Honey, I Shrunk the Church: The Vatican Manages Sexual Abuse, Canonization and the Nuns

Whatever happened to that great big Roman Catholic Church? It seems to be shrinking before our eyes despite unprecedented media attention. No amount of hype can disguise the Vatican’s disappearing act at the United Nations on sexual abuse, the sleight of hand in Rome at the papal canonizations, and the failed attempt to usurp women’s power through the hostile takeover of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) that may still turn the nuns out on their ears. [Read more]

Anti-Atheist Bigotry: Atheists are Totalitarian for Opposing Majority Votes

Atheists are not just closely associated with church/state cases generally, but specifically with those which deny the government authority in religious matters. Because government efforts to assume such authority are frequently driven by popular demand, especially in local matters, atheists are thus also associated with opposing democratically expressed wishes of the voters. [Read more]

Due To New Supreme Court Ruling, Town Must Allow Satanic Prayer

Chaz Stevens, a Satanist in Florida has written a letter requesting the Deerfield Beach council meet to open with a satanic prayer. Stevens’ request follows a recent ruling by the Supreme Court that said conducting sectarian prayer before a government meeting does not necessarily violate the Establishment Clause in the Constitution. [Read more]

Jesus Disrupts Operation American Spring

Tens of millions of American patriots advanced on the nation’s capital today with the goal of overthrowing the current regime and installing an overtly Christian conservative government, by force if necessary. [Read more]

A Long Way to Go for Atheist Equality: An Analysis of the Doe v. Acton Pledge Case

To call it a disappointment would be an understatement. Last week’s ruling from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) in the case of Doe v. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District, where the court upheld the “under God” wording of the Pledge of Allegiance, sent a clear message to American seculars: You have a long way to go to achieve equality. [Read more]

Creationist Wisdom #430: Profound Questions

We don’t like to embarrass people (unless they’re politicians, preachers, or other public figures), so we’ll just use the letter-writer’s first name, which is James. All we can find out about him is that he writes a lot of letters. [Read more]