Atheism

By Ryan Burge The media have paid a lot of attention to the rise of the religiously unaffiliated in recent years, and for good reason. In 1990, just 1 in 20 adult Americans were not connected to a religious faith. Today, it’s closer to 1 in 4. The ripples of such a shift are still …

By Paul Rosenberg Last Thursday, Jan. 16, was Religious Freedom Day. As befits his mendacious nature, Donald Trump “honored” it by promoting two policies profoundly at odds with the original meaning of what religious freedom is all about: a license to discriminate with federal funds, both in employment and in provision of services, and new pressure on public schools to …

By Joseph Laycock This week, on the 22nd and 23rd of January, The Satanic Temple (TST) and the city of Scottsdale will meet in court to determine whether TST’s lawsuit over a retracted prayer invitation will proceed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The lawsuit began in 2016 when Scottsdale—which recently voted to spend another $130,000 to fight …

By Hemant Mehta Which states and the best and worst for atheists? Or at least people who support church/state separation? American Atheists just put out a scorecard ranking states based on four groups of issues. There are the legal ones, like if they have an establishment clause in the state constitution, whether they allow tax …

By Meg Hefferon and Cary Funk Public attitudes about the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine remain broadly positive in the United States, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. An overwhelming majority of U.S. adults (88%) say the benefits of the MMR vaccine outweigh the risks – the same share as in 2016, …

By Hemant Mehta I’m not a Harvard law student, much less a Harvard law professor, but Adrian Vermeule is. Which is why it’s all the more disturbing that he seems to believe atheists are incapable of holding public office. Responding to a Washington Post article about how white evangelicals falsely fear that atheists would strip away their rights given the …

By Emily McFarlan Miller The war on Christmas is over — if you want it, according to Anne Klaeysen, leader emerita of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Even the idea that there’s a war on Christmas is “antithetical to the holiday spirit, whether it’s Hanukkah or Christmas or Kwanzaa,” Klaeysen said. “(The holiday spirit) …

By Paul A. Djupe As the House has moved through the impeachment of President Trump, voices on the extreme right have been arguing that it’s the first shot in a coming “civil war.” According to conservative evangelical conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles, “The Democrats are forcing me to stockpile ammunition, food, water, and medical supplies to defend …

By Fares Sabawi and RJ Marquez A wall of the Somerset Early Childhood Elementary’s library is bare after district officials took down a religious display on Monday due to a complaint from the American Humanist Association. Maury Vasquez, the district’s public information officer, said the decision to take down the display came after officials consulted …

By Stuart Vyse Recently, a friend and colleague posted a Live Science article on Facebook that suggested atheists are more intelligent than religious believers, and soon I was drawn into one of those sticky internet conversations that rarely work out well. The article was based on a 2013 meta-analysis of sixty-three studies of the relationship of religious …

By Daniel Cox and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux Millennials have earned a reputation for reshaping industries and institutions — shaking up the workplace, transforming dating culture, and rethinking parenthood. They’ve also had a dramatic impact on American religious life. Four in ten millennials now say they are religiously unaffiliated, according to the Pew Research Center. In fact, millennials (those between the …

By Hemant Mehta On a recent Monday night in Iowa City, Sen. Elizabeth Warren was asked at a town hall if she had a plan “for protecting the rights of atheists and other non-believers.” The Democratic presidential candidate who frequently boasts about having “a plan for that” sidestepped the question entirely. While briefly acknowledging laws protecting freedom …