Religion

By Dan Arel In the wake of the success of the “Cosmos” television series, which picked up four Emmy Awards earlier this week, Neil deGrasse Tyson discussed politics, religion and science in a recent interview with AlterNet. When I asked if the success of “Cosmos” had surprised him, Tyson said he had not anticipated the …

By JP O’Malley Between 1914 and 1915, the Jewish Czech writer, Franz Kafka, wrote the mesmerising novel, The Trial. Today, 100 years later, it illuminates the connection between bureaucracy and power. In The Trial, a young bank official, Joseph K, is arrested for a crime that doesn’t seem to exist. He is taken to a quarry …

By David Niose   The American Humanist Association sent a letter to a school district in Hall County, Georgia, this week, warning that the high school football program was unconstitutionally injecting religion into its activities. As church-state disputes go, this one was not exactly a close call: the coaches were praying with students, even sometimes leading the prayers, and constantly promoting …

By Freedom From Religion Foundation   Fox News is not known for its accurate reporting. One of their recurring segments, “The Fight for Faith,” is especially detrimental to their reputation for fairness. The segment often discusses what they call the “war on religion” or, more specifically, “the persecution of Christians.” There are instances of real …

By Herb Silverman   The 1969 protest song “War” asks “What is it good for?” and answers “Absolutely nothing!” If I substituted “Prayer” for “War,” I would qualify my answer with “Almost nothing.” Prayer can be good for its placebo effect when believers feel they are doing something constructive, which might “cure” a psychosomatic disorder. On …

By Sarah Jones Texas families do not have a religious freedom right to home-school absolutely free of any regulation, a state court of appeals ruled last week. The decision is a setback for Michael and Laura McIntyre, who removed their nine children from a private school in order to educate them at home. Relatives quickly discovered …

By The National Secular Society The National Secular Society has called on the Home Secretary to deny a controversial Pentecostal Nigerian ‘witch hunter’ pastor entry into the UK. David Oyedepo Jnr is due to address a Winners Chapel International convention in Dartford on 13-16 August. In a letter to the Home Secretary the National Secular …

By Bill Moeller Before I became a father, at the age of 36, I never suspected that adopting a young child, Nathan, would so powerfully dismantle my fortress-like evangelical beliefs. Nor did I anticipate the storm of turmoil, anger, and grief I would soon experience, as I relived my own childhood and confronted the dogmas …

By Avi Asher-Schapiro   For their beliefs, they have been the target of hatred for centuries. Considered heretical devil worshippers by many Muslims—including the advancing militants overrunning Iraq—the Yazidis have faced the possibility of genocide many times over. Now, with the capture of Sinjar and northward thrust of extremists calling themselves the Islamic State of …

By Tobin Grant Religiosity in the United States is in the midst of what might be called ‘The Great Decline.’ Previous declines in religion pale in comparison. Over the past fifteen years, the drop in religiosity has been twice as great as the decline of the 1960s and 1970s. Read more here.

By Herb Silverman   I can empathize with religious groups whose mission is to convert everyone in the world, since I think the world would be better if everyone “saw the light” of secular humanism. But whether religious or secular, I believe the best form of proselytizing is to lead by example. I think Matthew 7:16 had …

By Scott Neuman When Jordan Smith got her tab after breakfast at Mary’s Gourmet Diner in Winston-Salem, N.C., she was pleasantly surprised to find a 15 percent discount — for “praying in public.” Smith, on a business trip, tells HLN that she and her colleagues “prayed over our meal and the waitress came over at the end of the …