A Pew survey released today finds that the number of people who identify themselves as religiously unaffiliated is now 20%, the highest it has ever been and a sharp rise from 15% just five years earlier. [Read more…]
Those of us in the US who are atheists and other forms of skeptics and are surrounded by religious people tend to look enviously at countries in Europe that seem to have thrown off those shackles a long time ago. I have long argued that things are not nearly as bad as they seem and that there are increasing signs that disbelief in the US is growing and it will only accelerate with time. [Read more…]
Today is Pulpit Freedom Sunday, when about 1,4000 clergy around the country are going to tell people whom they should vote for in the coming election. [Read more…]
The city of San Francisco can easily claim the title as the most gay-friendly city in the US. So naturally the Vatican chose as its new archbishop one of the most hardline anti-gay clerics. [Read more…]
A reminder that there are a couple of interesting events coming up this weekend. [Read more…]
Some of you may have been following the controversy involving posters in the subways. Pamela Geller, who sees the threat of Sharia under every bed, wanted to place signs in the subway stations of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) of New York that said “In any war between civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” The odd wording derives from something that Ayn Rand once said. [Read more…]
There was considerable excitement in the Christian theological world when a Harvard scholar announced the discovery of a papyrus fragment that seemed to imply the possibility that Jesus had a wife because it ended with the phrase “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife . . .’ “. [Read more…]
Via Jerry Coyne, I learned about this interesting radio discussion with three philosophers on BBC4, hosted by Melvyn Bragg, on the Ontological Argument. [Read more…]
I managed to find online the controversial British documentary Islam: The Untold Story in two parts part 1 (40 minutes) and part 2 (32 minutes) and watched it yesterday. [Read more…]
The Catholic bishops seem to be going all in against president Obama in this election, with the issues of same-sex marriage and contraception services taking precedence even over that old standby, abortion. [Read more…]