Tag: Faith

Do Mormons believe in Christianity?  Well, not really.

Earlier this year, Andrew Zak Williams asked public figures why they believe in God. Now it’s the turn of the atheists – from A C Grayling to P Z Myers – to explain why they don’t.

Religions do make factual and historical claims, and if these claims are false, then the religions fail. But this dependence on fact does not make religious claims anything like hypotheses in the scientific sense. Hypotheses are not central. Rather, what is central is the commitment to the meaningfulness (and therefore the mystery) of the world.

Opponents of a bid by Muslim states to “protect religion” claim a small success

In the theater of American public apologies, it’s common for celebrities to invoke their faith.

Disgraced golf superstar Tiger Woods did it Friday, in fact, with a twist. He cited the role of Buddhism in his life - and will look to it to help him recover from serial infidelity.

There has been a swathe of dubious reports recently about the supposed benefits of religion – how it makes you healthier, happier, less anti-social and ensures that you grow better tomatoes.  Now we are seeing the opposite claims beginning to emerge. A new study published in Trends in Cognitive Science finds that religion may have evolved as a by-product of non-religious, cognitive processes, dispelling a competing theory that religion served as an adaptation to help unrelated individuals cooperate.  The findings, published on Monday, suggests that people’s gut instinct for what is right and wrong operates independently of religious upbringing.

Sikhs should be allowed to carry ceremonial knives in schools and other public places, says Britain’s first Asian judge. But can religion ever justify loopholes in the law?

Every bit of Christian teaching can be summed up in three words: God is love. That is the simple truth that teaches tolerance of same-sex unions.

Troy Jollimore dismantles Karen Armstrong’s “The Case for God.”

Authoritarianism is a sin of religiosity: believers need to heed the Jewish experience about respecting the secular majority.

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

New study of the brain shows that facts and beliefs are processed in exactly the same way.

A remarkably clear video presentation of the logical fallacies underlying claims of faith.

A mother who used a steak knife to repeatedly stab, mutilate and decapitate her 4-week old baby says “the Devil” told her to do it.

Sam Harris discusses the appointment of Francis Collins as Director of the National Institutes of Health.

Actor Brad Pitt does not believe in God.

Both Bible-bashing fundamentalists and dogmatic atheists have a similar idea of what “God” means, she points out, and it is an absurdly crude one.

A new book by Robert Wright redefines the faith debate.

Sam Harris and Andrew Sullivan debate the rationality of religious faith.

Lewis Black, makes fun of the Universe being created in 7 days, the Devil created fossels, and other reality based humor.