Child Deaths Bring Urgency to Debate Over Faith Healers
Source: Magic Valley BOISE • A bill challenging Idaho’s exemptions for faith healers whose children are injured or die could have a better shot at a hearing this year. “If […]
Americans’ faith in God may be eroding
Source: Pew Research Center God is frequently invoked in American public life. Indeed, there is no shortage of instances of official acknowledgement of the divine, from the appearance of “In God We Trust” on our currency to the phrase “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. To be sure, […]
‘Believe whatever you want,’ Rubio tells atheist
Source: USA Today WAVERLY, Iowa — Confronted by an “activist atheist,” Marco Rubio said he’ll champion a country where “no one is forced to violate their conscience.” “No one is going […]
Atheist seeks removal of ‘God’ from US currency — again
Source: RNS (RNS) A California atheist who once argued against the Pledge of Allegiance before the Supreme Court has launched a federal legal challenge to the phrase “In God We […]
Finding God in one of science’s biggest debates — genetic editing
Source: Deseret News For Nikki Williams, having a second child was a high-stakes gamble. Eliza, her first, was born with metachromatic leukodystrophy, a genetic disorder that deteriorated her ability to […]
Q&A: Why Millennials are less religious than older Americans
Source: Pew Research Center While the U.S. public in general is becoming less religious, the nation’s youngest adults are by many measures much less religious than everyone else. Indeed, one […]
Charlie Hebdo anniversary cover disrespects all faiths, Vatican newspaper says
theguardian — Osservatore Romano says cartoon shows sad paradox of world that is increasingly careful to be politically correct yet does not respect believers’ faith The anniversary edition of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo at a printing house near Paris. Photograph: Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images The Vatican’s newspaper on Tuesday […]
Czarist echo? Russian Orthodox Church drives to restore its political clout
The Muslim Times’ collection, promoting secularism in every country of the world Source: The Christian Science MOSCOW — Baikonur Cosmodrome may lie in Kazakhstan, but it is an iconic symbol […]
A Muslim’s Christmas Message
Huff Post: by Kashif N. Chaudhry — Christmas is one of the most important days in the Christian calendar. Granted it has largely been turned into a commercial holiday, but many Christians still celebrate the religious significance of this day. Houses are decorated, gifts are exchanged, masses are held and […]
Aggressive secularisation” not the answer
BBC World Service: A blurred division between religion and state in some parts of the Middle East and North Africa is often alluded to. Terrorist attacks on western targets in the name of Islam have amplified calls for a ‘Muslim enlightenment’ and movement towards secularisation. But Karen Armstrong, author of […]
Confronting religious persecution of anyone should be a global human rights priority
NY Times: For Many, Faith Comes at a High Price AS we celebrate the holidays, let’s remember that this is one of those savage epochs when some families must choose between their faith and their lives. It is an echo of when Nero burned Christians alive, or when self-described Christians […]
15 Religious Moments In 2015 That Give Us Hope For The New Year
Huff Post: by Antonia Blumberg & Carol Kuruvilla — The world is a difficult and scary place to be, but we are continually floored by the way human beings to […]
Top judge leads calls to scrap mandatory daily Christian worship in UK schools
theguardian: by Harriet Sherwood — Influential report urges end to religious assemblies and raises concern over segregation Schools should no longer face a legal requirement to provide daily acts of worship of a Christian character, under radical reforms being proposed by a top-level inquiry into the place of faith in […]
Was the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty a Muslim woman?
Was the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty a Muslim woman? Researchers say French sculptor turned ‘veiled peasant’ designed for the Suez canal into Lady Liberty Before he worked on […]
A Catholic dilemma: Should IVF embryos be adopted?
Source: Crux As more Americans than ever before turn to in vitro fertilization to create families, a surprising ethical question — what to do with thousands of embryos stuck in […]
Every faith spawns its fables and myths. The trick is to puncture them
theguardian: by Simon Jenkins — A tale of 12th-century monks peddling sanctity for cash holds a lesson for today’s fearful Christians The truth is out and in the headlines. Back in 1184 the monks of Glastonbury fabricated an edifice of myth about their monastery’s past for pecuniary gain. No, Christ […]
ISIS vs. Islam
Huff Post: by Jessica Marglin — It is hard to know what to say in the wake of the terrible violence that recently engulfed Paris and Beirut. What follows is by no means an attempt to explain the attacks — nor to justify them — but rather to tease out […]
Spirituality May Improve Cancer Patients’ Health: Study
Huff Post: by Antonia Blumberg — But spiritual “distress” tends to have the opposite effect. Religious and spiritual belief is linked to a positive effect on cancer patients’ physical, mental and social well-being, according to a study published in health journal Cancer. A meta-analysis of published studies, which included data on more than 44,000 […]
When we give up a faith, we grieve for the community we leave behind
theguardian: by Brandon G Withrow — Stepping away from a faith isn’t just a belief sea change. It’s also a large loss – of culture, and sometimes family You’ve likely heard the numbers by now. Approximately 23% of Americansare religiously unaffiliated (atheist, agnostic and “nothing in particular”). This demographic is expected […]
Overcoming Spiritual Laziness
aleteia.org: by Theresa Branch — Why “I’m spiritual, not religious” doesn’t really work “Spiritual but not religious” is a cliché among many young people, including Christians. “Why,” goes the question, “do I need church when I can pray anywhere?” A 2012 Pew Research Poll reports the appalling numbers. Twenty percent […]