http://www.religionnewsblog.com Religion news about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:59:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25599/supreme-court-again-is-asked-to-drop-in-god-we-trust http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25599/supreme-court-again-is-asked-to-drop-in-god-we-trust#comments Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:28:09 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=25599 atheist Michael Newdow is making another run at “In God We Trust,” with a new Supreme Court petition challenging the national motto, says the Kansas City Star]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25599/supreme-court-again-is-asked-to-drop-in-god-we-trust/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25212/hitchens-brothers-agree-to-disagree-over-god http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25212/hitchens-brothers-agree-to-disagree-over-god#comments Thu, 14 Oct 2010 07:04:27 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=25212 Christopher Hitchens was diagnosed with cancer in June, he has received thousands of letters and e-mails, some from believers asserting that he's getting what he deserves, more from people saying they're praying for his recovery. Hitchens says he has been overwhelmed by the outpouring. But he is annoyed that some writers hope he'll have a last-minute conversion to Christianity.

"Under no persuasion could I be made to believe that a human sacrifice several thousand years ago vicariously redeems me from sin," he says. "Nothing could persuade me that that was true — or moral, by the way. It's white noise to me."

His brother, Peter, is equally blunt: "There is actually no absolute right or wrong if there is no God," he says.

Peter once shared his older brother's views; he burned his Bible when he was a teenager in boarding school. But as he chronicled in his book, The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me To Faith — which he wrote as a response to his brother's anti-religious book — he felt drawn back to his Anglican faith starting in his late 20s.

He says his work as a journalist in Somalia and the former Soviet Union convinced him that civilization without religious morality devolves into brutality. Moral behavior requires more than higher reasoning, he says; it requires God.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25212/hitchens-brothers-agree-to-disagree-over-god/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25088/atheist-burns-koran-and-bible http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25088/atheist-burns-koran-and-bible#comments Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:54:11 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=25088 joints made with pages from the Bible and the Koran expects to lose his job at a Queensland university.

In the video, posted on YouTube, Queensland University of Technology staffer Alex Stewart compares cigarettes made with pages from the two holy texts.

In the clip, titled "Bible or Koran - which burns best?", the professed atheist says burning religious books is no big deal and people need to get over it.

But the Queensland University of Technology, which employs Mr Stewart, is not impressed and has demanded he explain himself.

"QUT is tolerant of all religions and does not condone damage to any religious artefacts," QUT registrar Dr Carol Dickenson said in a statement.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25088/atheist-burns-koran-and-bible/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24093/atheists-just-as-ethical-as-churchgoers-research-shows http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24093/atheists-just-as-ethical-as-churchgoers-research-shows#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:14:12 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=24093 Atheists are just as ethical and have as strong a moral compass as churchgoers, new research shows.

People who have no religion know right from wrong just as well as regular worshippers, according to the study.

The team behind the research found that most religions were similar and had a moral code which helped to organise society.

But people who did not have a religious background still appeared to have intuitive judgments of right and wrong in common with believers, according to the findings, published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24093/atheists-just-as-ethical-as-churchgoers-research-shows/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24083/dutch-protestant-church-retains-atheist-preacher-klaas-hendrikse http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24083/dutch-protestant-church-retains-atheist-preacher-klaas-hendrikse#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:31:15 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=24083 An atheist preacher has been allowed to stay in office by the Protestant Church of the Netherlands.

The regional church assembly in the southwestern town of Zierikzee decided that preacher Klaas Hendrikse's views do not fundamentally differ from those of other liberal theologians in the Protestant Church. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24083/dutch-protestant-church-retains-atheist-preacher-klaas-hendrikse/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23991/atheists-sue-catholic-church http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23991/atheists-sue-catholic-church#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:10:49 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23991 Charging that the Catholic Church should lose its tax-exempt status, a consortium of atheists and Catholic activists filed two lawsuits against Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, Assemblymember Vito Lopez (D-Williamsburg) and the Catholic Diocese over their role in producing a recorded message sent to Williamsburg’s registered voters less than a week before they went to the polls.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23991/atheists-sue-catholic-church/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23973/north-carolina-councilman-may-face-lawsuit-over-his-atheism http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23973/north-carolina-councilman-may-face-lawsuit-over-his-atheism#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:11:35 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23973 Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell believes in ending the death penalty, conserving water and reforming government — but he doesn't believe in God.

His political opponents say that's a sin that makes him unworthy of serving in office, and they've got the North Carolina Constitution on their side.

Bothwell's detractors are threatening to take the city to court for swearing him in, even though the state's antiquated requirement that officeholders believe in God is unenforceable because it violates the U.S. Consititution.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23973/north-carolina-councilman-may-face-lawsuit-over-his-atheism/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23959/humanists-launch-a-godless-holiday-campaign http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23959/humanists-launch-a-godless-holiday-campaign#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:46:40 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23959 The American Humanist Association, consisting of atheists and others who say they embrace reason over religion, has launched a national godless holiday campaign, with ads appearing inside or on 250 buses in five U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The placards depict smiling people wearing red Santa hats with the slogan: "No God? . . . No problem!"]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23959/humanists-launch-a-godless-holiday-campaign/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23812/cyber-attacks-smite-atheist-websites http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23812/cyber-attacks-smite-atheist-websites#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:21:00 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23812 Australian atheists are under attack, with the websites of both the Atheist Foundation of Australia and the Global Atheist Convention knocked offline in a major cyber attack yesterday afternoon.

The attacks may be related to the Global Atheist Convention, which is being held in Melbourne in March next year.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23812/cyber-attacks-smite-atheist-websites/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23712/imagine-no-religion http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23712/imagine-no-religion#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:13:32 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23712 A series of controversial billboards recently displayed throughout Metro Detroit is drawing curious stares and criticism from the local faith community.

The seven billboards read "Imagine No Religion" and "Praise Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief" with a stained-glass window motif. They are sponsored by the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, a nonprofit group that touts itself as the largest free thought association in the nation.

The billboards, at various Detroit locations, are part of a monthlong campaign aimed at provoking debate about the role religion plays in daily life and public policy, said Annie Laurie Gaylord, co-president of the foundation.

But many in the local religious community consider the billboards offensive.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23712/imagine-no-religion/feed 0