Atheism

Graphic courtesy of Barna Group By Cathy Lynn Grossman If you’re dismayed that one in five Americans (20 percent) are “nones” — people who claim no particular religious identity — brace yourself. How does 38 percent sound? That’s what religion researcher David Kinnaman calculates when he adds “the unchurched, the never-churched and the skeptics” to the …

By Michael Sherlock Religious apologists, particularly those of the Christian variety, are big fans of what I have dubbed, the atheist atrocities fallacy. Christians commonly employ this fallacy to shield their egos from the harsh reality of the brutality of their own religion, by utilizing a most absurd form of the tu quoque (“you too”) fallacy, mingled with numerous other …

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle By Bob Egelko Barry Hazle was paroled after a one-year prison term for methamphetamine possession in 2007 and was ordered to spend the next 90 days in a residential drug treatment program. When he arrived, officials told him it was a 12-step program, modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous, that required participants to confess their …

Photo: Mopic / Alamy By Donald A Collins In our July 23, 2014 lunch at our home with the Darwinist/atheist, Richard Dawkins, and his colleague, Robyn Blumner, Executive Director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, my wife, Sally and I of course discussed many subjects, but perhaps the most illuminating for me …

By Adam Barnett Freethinkers from around the world gathered in Tower Hill for a secularism conference supported by famous atheist Richard Dawkins. The two day conference on the weekend hosted speakers from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and America at the Tower Hotel in the shadow of Tower Bridge. A spokesman for the …

CREDIT: AP By Jack Jenkins A small Alaska town has become the latest flashpoint in America’s ongoing debate over the definition of religious freedom, with a city assembly struggling to discern who gets to be included in efforts to expand “religious liberty.” On Monday, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly of Ketchikan, Alaska, voted to approve an ordinance that allows their …

By The Herald Scotland The nephew of a former Iranian deputy defence minister who has become a prominent and outspoken atheist in Scotland has made a desperate appeal not to be returned to his homeland, claiming his life is now at risk as he will be seen as a “traitor of Islam”. Ramin Forghani, the …

Photo courtesy of Lu Chen By Kimberly Winston What does a map of the U.S. religious landscape look like in 140 characters? A new study of Twitter finds that self-identified religious users are more likely to tweet to members of their own faith than to members of a different one. The study examined people whose Twitter profiles …

By National Secular Society Secularists have criticised new draft NHS England chaplaincy guidelines for failing to adequately recognise the needs of patients who do not identify with a religious faith. NHS England is consulting on new chaplaincy guidelines intended to update and improve the provision of chaplaincy and spiritual care across the NHS. The guidance …

Photo credit: Matt York, AP By Tom Krattenmaker Guess how many of the major-party candidates in next month’s congressional elections are openly atheist. Hint: You can count them on one finger. It tells you something that in a time when “no religion” is the category of roughly 20% of Americans, virtually none of the hundreds of …

By Sarah Jones Four days a week in Warren, Mich., volunteers pray with local residents. But the prayers aren’t happening at a church. Instead, they’re taking place in city hall, at a “prayer station” established for exactly this purpose. Originally created by members of the Tabernacle Church, a local Pentecostal denomination, Warren’s “prayer station” endured …

International Freethought Film Festival, presented by the Freethought Film Festival Foundation (FFFF), announced its official selections for its fourth annual event. The 10 scheduled screenings include nine feature-length and 13 short independent films. The films reflect any or all of the mission statement of FFFF of promoting reason, critical thinking, and freedom of inquiry. The …