In December of 2009, Bishops Raymond Field and Eamonn Walsh resigned from their positions. They didn’t molest little children themselves, but they never pursued allegations of sexual abuse. So they were complicit in the Catholic Church sex scandal Anyway, they’re gone, so good riddance, right? “Following the presentation of their resignations to Pope Benedict, it has been decided that Bishop Eamonn Walsh and Bishop Raymond Field will remain as auxiliary bishops,” Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said in a letter to priests… Read more
Atheists know this already, but it might not be as clear cut for a lot of Christians. At least David Hayward understands the obvious: Beyond the grave, though, our ideas diverge. David’s a Christian and he adds: I know what happens after that is where the guns start firing. And, for the record, I don’t believe in the god that Christopher Hitchens doesn’t believe in either. I do wish him well. This isn’t surprisingly to anyone, but for me, the… Read more
Apparently, all it takes for a crack at privileging religion is 25,688 individual signatures. The North Dakota Family Alliance is working toward that magic number in order to get the Religious Liberty Restoration Amendment before North Dakota voters this November. If passed, this amendment to the state constitution raises the burden a governmental entity must meet before passing a law that strains individual religious beliefs. To understand what exactly the amendment does, here’s some legal review: Most laws, by their… Read more
Two months ago, I posted that Americans for Truth About Homosexuality was holding a “Truth Academy” in order to train the next generation of anti-gay-rights activists. Attendees needed to pay a registration fee and get a “recommendation” from a pastor. I wrote that I would gladly pay the fee for anyone who wanted to go. Ultimately, two people — Maria Pahl and “Perry D’Olia” (a pseudonym) — were accepted into the Academy. They did this using their real names and… Read more
On August 1st in Oklahoma City, Pastor Michael Dowd — the author of Thank God for Evolution — delivered a sermon thanking the New Atheists… and he wasn’t being sarcastic about it. Hell, check out the scripture readings for the day: You don’t see that everyday… You can read the full sermon here (PDF): The New Atheists, by speaking boldly on behalf of our best collective intelligence about the nature of reality, and in condemning superstitious, otherworldly religiosity, are, paradoxically,… Read more
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is going billboard-crazy in Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida this month, putting up 20 ads around the area (at a cost of $3,500): FFRF’s newest message, showing the face of a penny saying “In Reason We Trust,” is debuting in Tampa. The Foundation points out that “In God We Trust” is a johnny-come-lately, adopted as a motto by Congress during the McCarthy era in 1956. The original secular motto, “E Pluribus Unum” (From Many [come]… Read more
Two months ago, I posted that Americans for Truth About Homosexuality was holding a “Truth Academy” in order to train the next generation of anti-gay-rights activists. Attendees needed to pay a registration fee and get a “recommendation” from a pastor. I wrote that I would gladly pay the fee for anyone who wanted to go. Ultimately, two people — Maria Pahl and “Perry D’Olia” (a pseudonym) — were accepted into the Academy. They did this using their real names and… Read more
Atheist Robert W. Wilson made hundreds of millions of dollars in hedge funds. And he recently gave $5,600,000 to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. “Most of what the Catholic schools teach are the three Rs,” said Wilson, 83, in a phone interview, referring to reading, writing and arithmetic. “And they do it better than the union-controlled inner-city schools.” … Wilson began making donations to the New York archdiocese in 1997 with a gift of $10,000, and he continued… Read more
William Lobdell, the author of Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America — and Found Unexpected Peace, uses Anne Rice’s recent defection from “Christianity” (at least in name) as a starting point to discuss how American Christianity is in big trouble. Pollsters — most notably evangelical George Barna — have reported repeatedly that they can find little measurable difference between the moral behavior of churchgoers and the rest of American society. Barna has found… Read more
Two months ago, I posted that Americans for Truth About Homosexuality was holding a “Truth Academy” in order to train the next generation of anti-gay-rights activists. Attendees needed to pay a registration fee and get a “recommendation” from a pastor. I wrote that I would gladly pay the fee for anyone who wanted to go. Ultimately, two people — Maria Pahl and “Perry D’Olia” (a pseudonym) — were accepted into the Academy. They did this using their real names and… Read more
