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FROM AP: Golf Capsules
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FROM AP: 10 Things to Know for Monday
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
We need a nonbelievers' rights movement that will encourage more people to come out of the closet and help free the country -- and the world -- from destructive sectarian conflict.
Should we have to adopt a belief we don't really hold in order to feel part of the larger American family who were collectively targeted on Monday, and who are grieving and searching for answers as part of one people?
There have always been fringes in every group that will kill for their cause, but we rarely extrapolate beyond their group membership to make generalizations based on religion, ideology or color. But if we find out tomorrow that the bomber was a Muslim, then I don't think we can say the same. And that's a problem.
My friend was having trouble reconciling the fact that I am both a scientist whom she respects and someone who calls himself a Christian. How do I tell my friend that being a Christian has not always been foundationally defined on belief, but a transformative way of newly living, a faith?
Study after study tells us that Americans are leaving religion in droves, with the number of spiritual but not religious increasing dramatically. Though some of these predictions may be an over-dramatization, significant changes in organized religion are inevitable and necessary.
Frans de Waal's new book The Bonobo and the Atheist asks a question that vexed Greek sages thousands of years ago and every philosopher since: are we moral because we believe in god, or do we believe in god because we are moral?
This long-overdue affirmation of secular students' place within an otherwise predominantly religious institution owes largely to precisely the kind of interfaith dialogue and collaboration that encourages mutual respect and solidarity between atheists and the religious, rather than scorn or derision.
For a materialist, there can be no mystery that will not eventually be made clear in the light of reason and critical intelligence. It chases away not only the old gods and spirits and half heard whispers in the night; it chases away the mystery of life and being itself.
I'll admit it: I was more excited about the return of "Doctor Who" than about Easter. Some may say this makes me a poor Christian, but in the past few years it has been in this story of a self-proclaimed madman with a box that I have encountered the most meaningful depictions of the divine.
The act of questioning whether organized religion makes people stupid is bound to provoke a heated response. On one hand, there are people who claim to live in faith-based communities who attribute every event in their lives to God. On the other hand, there are those who are confirmed atheists.
In the Church of Baseball, there are a million different kinds of strike-outs, homeruns, curve balls, fastballs, bunts, stolen bases, pitching changes, errors, pop outs, grounders and foul balls. And without a doubt, every season will have its share of rain delays.
It's that time of year that every Jew dreads. Eight days without bread, pizza, pasta or anything else that leavens. But not in our house.
The evidence is in, and it is clear: New Atheists have been a media success and a societal failure.
The central scandal of Christianity is an invitation to give up such superstitious certainties at a material level and fully embrace the world without unconscious religious support.
Senator Portman's son Will's decision to come out to his father was a brave one, especially considering his father's public opposition to gay marriage. His bravery is exactly what we all must emulate if we are to defeat those who would see our society divided upon sexual, religious, or other lines.
As an atheist and an interfaith activist, I encounter my share of stereotypes and know how it feels to be dismissed not only because of my atheism, but also because of my sexual orientation. More directly, as a former evangelical Christian, I recall feeling misunderstood by society at the time.
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