I read a news report that former students in a Catholic girls school in Rhode Island had written to the Vatican urging that the school be closed because of the abuses it inflicted on the students. [Read more…]
There are further signs that atheism is on the rise. David Niose points to surveys that show that for the first time ever, a majority (54%) of Americans “would vote for a qualified, open atheist for president.” This is a substantial increase from the 45% of 2007 and a huge increase from the meager 18% of 1958. [Read more…]
Several of the commenters to yesterday’s post on Pentecostal fervor had grown up in that religious tradition and raised an issue that I had not thought about, and that was what the children in attendance at these sessions thought about their parents getting caught up in the action and speaking in tongues and generally carrying on. Those comments are well worth reading. [Read more…]
Those of us who have argued for a strict separation of church and state warned those who wanted the wall breached that if they were successful they should be prepared to live with Muslim and other minority religious encroachment in public life in those communities where those groups happened to be the majority or had significant influence. [Read more…]
Those who are unfamiliar with the kinds of things that happen at Pentecostal services might be shocked by the extreme nature of the things that the congregation can get whipped up into doing. Babbling incoherently (also known as ‘speaking in tongues’) and wildly gyrating as if they were having a fit are common. This video clip that I received from readers Lisa and Norm gives you some idea of how wild things can get. [Read more…]
I saw recently this news item where a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Colorado City, AZ found on his doorstep a tiny kitten that, while still alive, had been encased up to its head in cement. He took this as a warning sign from the members of the cult to leave town. [Read more…]
One sees the word ‘cult’ thrown around quite often and the word has deeply pejorative connotations. People who belong to mainstream religions are comfortable calling some minority religious groups cults but the distinction between a religion and a cult is elusive. Is Scientology and cult or a religion? How about Mormonism? How about the Moonies? How about the Branch Davidians or the Sai Babaists?
I too have tried to find a distinction but failed. The best that I could come up with is that a religion tends to have the properties of being old, having many members, and some political clout while those groups that are called cults tend to lack any or all of those qualities. But since there were no real differences in the nature of the beliefs involved, I concluded that there is no substantive difference between a cult and a religion.
But via Pharyngula I saw this graphic that I think captures the essential difference.
Being an atheist in America is, at least for now, to be a member of an unpopular minority. While atheism and conservatism are perfectly compatible philosophies, the combination can be poison for those who seek to be in good standing with the Republican party which currently is under the tight control of religious fanatics. An atheist Republican is an even greater endangered species than a gay Republican or Muslim Republican. [Read more…]
We know that Mary, the mother of Jesus, likes to show up in unlikely places such as toast, water stains, and the like. But it is not always a clear-cut identification, especially since we have no idea what Mary, or even Jesus for that matter, even looked like. So what should you do if you think Mary has appeared on some item of yours to make sure that it is the real deal before you start worshipping it, telling your friends about it, or flogging it on eBay? [Read more…]
On June 8, I blogged about news reports that said that under pressure from South Korean creationists, their ministry of education had eliminated evolution from their science textbooks. This was, of course, rather bad since it suggested that creationists had established a beachhead in another country. I expressed surprise that a country that was surging in terms of science and technology was taking such a retrograde step. [Read more…]