The Indian gods are everywhere!

New York Times obituary for Oral Roberts, the Pentecostal evangelist whose televised faith-healing ministry attracted millions of followers worldwide. He was the patriarch of the “prosperity gospel,” a theology that promotes the idea that Christians who pray and donate with sufficient fervency will be rewarded with health, wealth and happiness.

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A new Pew survey finds that large numbers of Americans engage in multiple religious practices, for example blending Christianity with Eastern or New Age beliefs such as reincarnation, astrology and the presence of spiritual energy in physical objects. And sizeable minorities of all major U.S. religious groups say they have experienced supernatural phenomena, such as being in touch with the dead or with ghosts.

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In a succinct essay, Pinker argues that science is making religion obsolete because it answers questions once thought to be the sole domain of God, such as the origins of life and the universe, the nature of consciousness, and the nature of morality.

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This month marks the 150th anniversary of the most influential piece of popular science writing ever published. Geneticist and author Steve Jones has summarized and updated the book for the 21st century

Penn Jillete discusses the lack of evidence for God and the richness of life based on reality rather than the supernatural.

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In science we may start with experimental results, data, observations, measurements, “facts.” We invent, if we can, a rich array of possible explanations and systematically confront each explanation with the facts. In the course of their training, scientists are equipped with a baloney detection kit. The kit is brought out as a matter of course whenever new ideas are offered for consideration. If the new idea survives examination by the tools in our kit, we grant it warm, although tentative, acceptance. If you’re so inclined, if you don’t want to buy baloney even when it’s reassuring to do so, there are precautions that can be taken; there’s a tried-and-true, consumer-tested method.

What’s in the kit? Tools for skeptical thinking.

What skeptical thinking boils down to is the means to construct, and to understand, a reasoned argument and—especially important—to recognize a fallacious or fraudulent argument. The question is not whether we like the conclusion that emerges out of a train of reasoning, but whether the conclusion follows from the premise or starting point and whether that premise is true.

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Many people in the secular community are troubled by Bill Maher’s opinions about medicine. Michael Shermer has written him an open letter.

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There are lessons that the secular Left can learn from religion, for all its atrocities and absurdities; and the Left is not so flush with ideas that it can afford to look such a gift horse in the mouth. But will either side listen to the other at present? Will Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins read this and experience an epiphany that puts the road to Damascus in the shade?

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Sam Harris, Jonas Kaplan, and colleagues publish the first study to compare religious faith to ordinary belief at the level of the brain.

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“A band of intellectual brothers is mounting a crusade against belief in God. Are they winning converts, or merely preaching to the choir?”

Wired reporter Gary Wolf describes the New Atheist movement and his own personal move towards atheism… but away from “New Atheism”.

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Teenage birth rates are higher in states with greater levels of religious belief, possibly due to strong disapproval of contraception, a new U.S. study suggests.

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The author discusses misconceptions about Atheism, including that “Atheism is a Denial of God That Requires Faith,” “Atheists Lead Meaningless Lives of Despair Without Love or Beauty,” “Atheists Worship Satan, Themselves, Money, or Some Other God,” and more.

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A School marching band T-shirt design includes the image of primate evolution to man, each stage holding a trumpet. Teacher Sherry Melby says she’s disappointed and that she doesn’t “think evolution should be associated with our school.”

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PZ Myers joins the Secular Student Alliance Trip to the Creation Museum.

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A personal account of the “evidence” that the religous argue is proof of a personal God.

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A short and personal comment about the common question “What made you an athiest?” by Truth-Saves.com contributor David Stockin.

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My recent op-ed in the New York Times, in which I questioned the appointment of Francis Collins as head of the NIH, inspired a fair amount of discussion in the media and on the Internet. As many of Collins’ defenders do not seem to be fully acquainted with his beliefs, or take it for granted that others won’t be, I have written a longer essay on the subject.

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This story is about Eric Norwood’s personal experiences at a place called The Utah Boys Ranch, which models itself as a “tough-love” prep-school, but while Eric was there, he witnessed some unbelievable atrocities. It is a Mormon-funded and staffed facility, and religious indoctrination is a fundamental aspect of the school. There was sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, suicide, staff corruption, and escape. A major Utah political figure, Senator Chris Buttars, was the executive director while Eric was there.

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An obituary of God published in The Economist’s millennium issue.

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