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BY HEMANT MEHTA MARCH 15, 2021 The pandemic hasn’t been great for theme parks in general, but it’s been especially bad for Christian theme parks. Those venues certainly attract some people, but when you mix COVID, the decreasing number of Christians in the U.S., and the fact that those venues (like much of Christian entertainment) are often […]
MARCH 15, 2021 BY JAMES A. HAUGHT By James A. Haught By now, it’s clear that religion is fading in America, as it has done in most advanced Western democracies. Dozens of surveys find identical evidence: fewer American adults, especially those under 30, attend church — or even belong to a church. They tell interviewers their […]
BY HEMANT MEHTA MARCH 15, 2021 Given the chance to do the right thing — the obvious thing — the Catholic Church has, once again, failed. The Vatican issued a formal response today to the question of whether Catholic priests can “bless” same-sex unions. The answer up to this point has always been no. After all, the Catechism […]
BY HEMANT MEHTA MARCH 15, 2021 When John* was only eight years old and in second grade, a staffer at Bishop Kelley Catholic School in Michigan “drugged and raped [him] in the teacher’s lounge.” Specifically, Aloysius “Father Al” Volskis gave the boy two blue pills which he thought were going to help his cold symptoms. Instead, in a […]
MARCH 19, 2021 BY KEITH GILES After reading and re-reading the New Testament, I’m now fully convinced that our view of salvation isn’t what the authors of the Gospels or the Epistles had in mind when they used this term. As I’ve mentioned in a previous article, the phrase “He saved others but he cannot save […]
MARCH 17, 2021 BY ADAM LEE We got very lucky in our quest for a coronavirus vaccine. The mRNA approach, untried in humans until now, worked spectacularly well. It yielded two vaccines with 95% efficacy on the first try – like hitting a home run in your first at-bat. Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines were soon joined by a […]
FEBRUARY 23, 2021 BY JONATHAN MS PEARCE Time to get back to some philosophy. Today we will be briefly looking at the position of idealism as developed by many German philosophers, but including the famous Bishop Berkeley and then taken on by Moravian philosopher Edmund Husserl and other Continental philosophers. Defining our terms Here are some […]
MARCH 1, 2021 BY FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION By Barbara AlvarezAnne Nicol Gaylor Reproductive Rights InternFreedom From Religion Foundation The Freedom From Religion Foundation applauds a recent move by the New Mexico Legislature to annul a 1969 state statute criminalizing abortion. On Friday, Feb. 26, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law Senate Bill 10, […]
BY HEMANT MEHTA MARCH 1, 2021 Here’s some free relationship advice for you: Never listen to Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark of First General Baptist Church in Malden, Missouri. During a sermon he delivered on February 21 — which has since been deleted from the church’s website and YouTube/Vimeo — Clark gave a sermon on how to keep your marriage strong. […]
MARCH 1, 2021 BY BOB SEIDENSTICKER See also: “A Defense of Abortion Rights: The Spectrum Argument”[Mother Teresa] preached that poverty was a gift from God.And she believed that womenshould not be given control over the reproductive cycle.Mother Teresa spent her whole life making sure thatthe one cure for poverty we know is sound was not implemented.— Christopher […]
BY HEMANT MEHTA FEBRUARY 13, 2021 There may be no group of people in the world more susceptible to the dangers of COVID than Brazil’s remote indigenous villages. Because of their isolation, their bodies have far fewer natural defenses against diseases and exposure to COVID could be a disaster for them. The good news is […]
BY HEMANT MEHTA FEBRUARY 16, 2021 A major new survey released today by the Pew Research Center finds that roughly 21% of Black Americans are not affiliated with any organized religion. And when you look to younger members of that demographic, the number only gets larger. Before you get excited though, the survey also finds that those […]
FEBRUARY 17, 2021 BY ADAM LEE I have to admit, it’s satisfying to see titans of the religious right exposed as corrupt frauds and hypocrites. In the past, I’ve taken particular pleasure at the downfall of Jerry Falwell Jr. and Roy Moore, to name two. But the latest clay-footed preacher may even top these. Way back in 2008, I […]
BY HEMANT MEHTA FEBRUARY 17, 2021 Over the weekend, in Washington County, Utah, Gabriel Newland Dutson was arrested on multiple charges that include rape and assault. His victim survived the attack and Dutson is currently behind bars. There’s no need to go into the details of the attack other than to say it’s all disturbing. What’s also troubling, […]
FEBRUARY 12, 2021 BY MICHAEL STONE GOP War On Women Continues: New proposed legislation in Tennessee would give a man claiming paternity the power to legally prohibit a woman from choosing an abortion. HuffPost reports: A bill introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly this week would allow a man who gets a woman pregnant to request an […]
FEBRUARY 17, 2021 BY MICHAEL STONE Good Riddance: Rush Limbaugh, the infamous conservative radio host known for his message of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and bigotry, is dead. He was 70 years old. Fox News reports: Rush Limbaugh, the monumentally influential media icon who transformed talk radio and politics in his decades behind the microphone, helping shape the […]
FEBRUARY 18, 2021 BY MICHAEL STONE Truth: President Joe Biden identifies white supremacists as “the most dangerous people” in America while appearing on a recent CNN town hall event. Haaretz reports: U.S. President Joe Biden, saying domestic terrorism was the “greatest threat” in America and white supremacists are the “most dangerous people,” pledged to focus his […]
BY HEMANT MEHTA FEBRUARY 10, 2021 Before the election, self-proclaimed Christian “prophet” Jeff Jansen said the race was a matter of “good versus evil.” (Okay. “Good” won.) But Jansen still hasn’t accepted the outcome of the election, insisting last week that Donald Trump is still president and will return to the White House by this summer. “He’s not our president,” Jansen declared about […]
BY HEMANT MEHTA JANUARY 30, 2021 There was a time when the dating website eHarmony, founded by a conservative Christian, wouldn’t allow gay people to find matches. After a lawsuit, a separate-but-equal website, and all kind of internal machinations, the site now permits searching for same-sex partners. That’s the focus of a recent ad featuring a lesbian […]
BY HEMANT MEHTA FEBRUARY 1, 2021 Steven Brandenburg is the notorious pharmacist from Wisconsin who was charged with ruining hundreds of COVID vaccines because he believed they were a giant hoax. But as is so often the case, it turns out he doesn’t just cling to a single conspiracy theory. He’s absolutely full of them. They involve the […]