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A Christian Overture to Muslims Has Its Critics
By MARK OPPENHEIMER
March 12, 2010
Print: New York Times
A debate among Christians about whether it’s ok to quote the Koran in trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
High Court: Does religion still matter?
Robert Barnes
March 11, 2010
Print: The Washington Post
Here’s the kind of question that might violate the rules you learned about proper dinner conversation: Does President Obama’s next Supreme Court nominee need to be a Protestant?
If Justice John Paul Stevens decides to call it a career after he turns 90 next month, the Supreme Court would for the first time in its history be without a justice belonging to America’s largest religious affiliations.
Decoded Genome Gives New Hope in Confronting Diseases
By NICHOLAS WADE
March 10, 2010
Print: New York Times
The falling cost of genome sequencing is allowing scientists to begin studying the complete genomes of sufferers of genetic diseases.
Militant Views Online Were Unknown to Neighbors
By IAN URBINA
March 10, 2010
Print: New York Times
Seemingly normal Pennsylvania woman turns into a radical jihadist after turning to Islam.
Yamani or Your Life: A nasty attempt to coerce Danish newspapers into apologizing for the cartoons o
By Christopher Hitchens
March 9, 2010
Print: Slate
Christopher Hitchens detects extortion in an attempt to sue Danish newspapers on behalf of 95,000 descendants of Muhammad.
Scores dead in religious clashes in Nigeria
The Telegraph
March 7, 2010
Print: The Telegraph
More than one hundred people were feared dead in Nigeria following violent clashes between Christian villagers and Muslim herders near the central city of Jos. Ethno-religious violence claimed 326 lives in January in Jos, according to police although other observers put the overall toll at more than 550 in Jos.
Breaking With Scientology
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
March 6, 2010
Print: New York Times
Fifty-six years after its founding, the church is fighting off calls by former members for a reformation.
‘We don’t know what 96% of the universe is made of’
Caspar Llewellyn Smith
March 6, 2010
Print: The Guardian
I honestly think the wheels are coming off our picture of the way the universe works at the moment. We don’t know what 96% of the universe is made of – that tells us that we don’t understand something fundamental. It reminds me of the start of the 20th century when quantum mechanics and relativity were about to appear.
Vlatko Vedral: I’d like to explain the origin of God
by Aleks Krotoski
March 6, 2010
Print: The Guardian
Professor Vlatko Vedral is a quantum physicist at the universities of Oxford and Singapore who grapples with the behaviour of energy and matter at subatomic scales, and this has led him to ask some bigger questions including why are we here? And what does it all mean? The 39-year-old, originally from Belgrade, passionately believes units of information – not particles – are the building blocks of humanity and everything that surrounds us. Information, he maintains, is what came before everything else. It is akin to God.
Darwin Foes Add Warming to Targets
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
March 3, 2010
Print: New York Time
Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation’s classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in public schools.
Where do atheists come from?
Lois Lee and Stephen Bullivant
March 3, 2010
Print: NewScientist
HERE’s a fact to flatter the unbelievers among you: the bright young things at the University of Oxford are among the most godless groups ever studied in the UK. Of 728 students surveyed in 2007, 48.9 per cent claimed not to believe in any god, with 49.6 per cent claiming no religious affiliation. And while a very small number of Britons typically label themselves as “atheist” or “agnostic” (most surveys put it at about 5 per cent), an astonishing 57.3 per cent of the Oxford sample did.
Mass Media: Can a family court prevent a parent from taking his daughter to church?
By Dahlia Lithwick
March 1, 2010
Print: Slate
She’s Jewish. He’s Catholic. They divorced. He baptized their kid. What’s a judge to do?
Learning From the Sin of Sodom
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
March 1, 2010
Print: New York Times
Nicholas Kristof argues that evangelical aid organizations are increasingly doing the hard work overseas and do not proselytize as much as is commonly thought. He says that the secular are overly “snooty” towards evangelicals.
Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ
By Elizabeth Landau
February 28, 2010
Print: CNN
A large cross-sectional study discovers that atheism is correlated with higher IQ.
Frustrated Strivers in Pakistan Turn to Jihad
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and WAQAR GILLANI
February 28, 2010
Print: New York Times
A profile of a medical student who turned into an Islamic militant. “Frustrated strivers” with strong educational backgrounds are making Islamic militant groups even more potent enemies of the West.
Obama aides to meet with atheists on White House grounds
Margaret Talev
February 27, 2010
Print: McClatchy Newspapers
For the first time, the White House will meet with representatives from a non-theist organization.
Atheism book found in home linked to fire suspect
By DANNY ROBBINS
February 25, 2010
Print: The Associated Press
Article highlights atheist books found in the home of a person suspected of arson attacks on churches.
Baby who failed to say ‘Amen’ starved by cult: court
AP
February 23, 2010
Print: The Associated Press
The leader of a US religious cult was “outraged” when a one-year-old boy did not say “Amen” before a meal and ordered her followers to deprive him of food and water until he died, a prosecutor told jurors on Monday.
Brain surgery boosts spirituality
by Janelle Weaver
February 22, 2010
Print: Nature
Lose a tumour, gain self-transcendence.
Removing part of the brain can induce inner peace, according to researchers from Italy. Their study provides the strongest evidence to date that spiritual thinking arises in, or is limited by, specific brain areas.
Morals don’t come from God
By Philip Ball
February 22, 2010
Print: Nature
The finding that religion scarcely influences moral intuition undermines the idea that a godless society will be immoral, says Philip Ball. Whether it ‘explains’ religion is another matter.








