Mid-Week Religion and Atheism Digest 12/30

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ACLU, anti-islam, astronomy, atheism, BBC, belief, benefits, bethlehem, bible, blasphemy, cartoons, censorship, chicago, child abuse, church, creationists, death threats, discovery institute, egypt, evolution, exodus, film, florida, free speech, freedom, god, guns, homeless, homeschooling, law, military, nativity, pakistan, pastor, phil zuckerman, privilege, religion, religious, same-sex, satanic, secular, seventh-day

‘Living the Secular Life,’ by Phil Zuckerman

Many years ago, when I was an innocent lamb making my first appearance on a right-wing radio talk show, the host asked, “If you don’t believe in God, what’s to stop you from committing murder?” [Read more]

Will Religion Ever Disappear?

Atheism is on the rise around the world, so does that mean spirituality will soon be a thing of the past? Rachel Nuwer discovers that the answer is far from simple. [Read more]

Seventh-Day Adventist Pastor Abandons Belief in God, Embraces Reality

A pastor losing his faith and leaving the church is not a new story, but publicizing it in a major, as National Public Radio (NPR) did yesterday with a lapsed Seventh-Day Adventist pastor, is. [Read more]

Creativity for Creationists

An evolutionary creationist evangelizes to Christians about science. [Read more]

While Atheism Gains Popularity, Religion Holds Fast to Its Majority

As greater numbers of people from all lifestyles have begun to believe that gods and the afterlife do not exist, atheism is being acknowledged more openly. [Read more]

Pakistan ‘Blasphemy’ Victims’ Children Get Christmas Reprieve; Law Unchallenged

A U.S. couple working with a Pakistan Dominican priest have brought Christmas relief in getting a home for the three children whose mother and father were brutally killed, accused of burning Qur’an pages. [Read more]

ACLU Supports Free-Speech Rights of Anti-Islam Group

A civil rights organization is defending the free-speech rights of a Christian group that hates Islam, saying its members were unfairly removed from the Arab International Festival in Dearborn in 2012. [Read more]

Rivals In Military Religious Freedom Dispute Say Rule Is Unclear

Faith in Jesus might not be your solution, an Army Ranger chaplain told members of the 5th Ranger Training Battalion in a mandatory suicide prevention briefing last month, but that’s what helped him through his struggle with depression. [Read more]

Despite Death Threats, Cartoonists Challenge Religious Hatred and Censorship Online

“Just relax! It’s called a turban. Inside is my long unshorn waist length hair. Now let’s kick some intolerant ass.” That’s the caption floating above Vishavjit Singh’s drawing of a turbaned, bearded Captain America on his website. [Read more]

Church-Based Institutions Ponder Same-Sex Benefits

Many religious-based institutions are making no changes or sitting on the sideline, perhaps waiting to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will settle whether gay couples should be able to marry in every state. [Read more]

Can Astronomy Explain the Biblical Star of Bethlehem?

To understand the Star of Bethlehem, we need to think like the three wise men. Motivated by this “star in the east,” they first traveled to Jerusalem. [Read more]

Should Everyone Be Forced To Learn Evolution?

I admit it. I love evolutionary theory. I think evolutionarily. Like my colleague David Sloan Wilson at Binghamton University, I want to encourage Evolution for Everyone. [Read more]

Wisdom Homeschooling and Child Abuse: Mahlah’s Story

It should have been clear that we did not have appropriate school books, and that on any given year myself or my siblings were not doing sufficient work that children in public education would be completing. [Read more]

The Discoveroids’ #4 Accomplishment in 2014

You can read about those paradigm-shattering events if you like, but they amount to either: (a) quote-mining; (b) shabby public relations efforts; or (c) what we regard as mining for isolated facts. [Read more]

After Year Of Atheism, Former Pastor: ‘I Don’t Think God Exists’

At the start of 2014, former Seventh-Day Adventist pastor Ryan Bell made an unusual New Year’s resolution: to live for one year without God — this reflecting his own loss of faith. [Download MP3 Story]

Egypt Axes ‘Exodus’ Film, Citing Historical Mistakes

Egypt has banned the Hollywood biblical epic movie “Exodus: Gods and Kings” citing historical inaccuracies, the culture minister said Friday, a day after a similar move by Morocco. [Read more]

Nonprofit’s Leader Helps St. Boniface Give Sanctuary to Homeless

Laura Slattery, who oversees the nation’s only nonprofit program that allows the homeless to sleep during the day in a church sanctuary. [Read more]

People Keep Stealing Baby Jesus from Nativity Scenes

It’s the ultimate crime against Christmas: stealing baby Jesus from his manger. And this sort of thing happens more often than you may think. [Read more]

Religion and Guns in Chicago: Good Lord, Don’t Shoot

Mass on Christmas evening at St Sabina, a Catholic church in Auburn Gresham, a largely African-American neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, is a three-hour extravaganza. [Read more]

Satanic Temple Display at Florida Capitol Damaged

Susan Hemeryck, 54, tried removing the display last week, and when the Capitol Police told her she couldn’t, she began ripping it apart. She was arrested and charged with criminal mischief. [Read more]

The Nature of Religious Privilege…

On BBC local radio here in the UK after the Sydney cafe siege, the presenter had a conversation with a local Imam on the subject of religious extremism.

[Read more]