The gay marriage debate revolves around two very different notions of what marriage is. The traditionalist view sees marriages as having the primary purpose of raising children. The alternative perspective -- adopted by most gay rights advocates -- views marriage as a relationship between two people with emotional and practical...

The big question on everyone's mind is motive. Why would two accomplished young men launch horrifying sadistic attacks on civilians in a city that had provided them a safe haven from war? As athletes, why target an athletic event? Why attack the Boston Marathon, a symbol of international friendship in...

The new pope favors a modest lifestyle without chauffeured limousines or ostentatious palaces. I am sure that his concern for the poor is sincere. Yet, he is not going to do anything radical to reduce poverty. If he did, he would weaken the Church.

Like his predecessors, Pope...

The Sermon on the Mount may be the most radically egalitarian document around. Throwing the money changers out of the temple also put the rich in their place. Ditto for the camel passing through the eye of the needle. Yet, Christianity fosters inequality in practice. It reconciles the poor to...

Atheism blossoms in developed countries but is virtually absent in poorer nations. One interpretation of secularization is that big government helps citizens to feel more secure and less in need of religious reassurance. In a new study, I have found the most compelling evidence yet for...

If you had a trying time with your relatives this holiday season, the news is good. Such gatherings will soon be a faint memory, according to sociologist Joel Cotkin in a new report, "The Rise of Post-Familism."

What Is Post-Familism?

Ever since the Stone Age, married couples...

Political liberals are "bleeding hearts" because they empathize so strongly with the sufferings of others as did the late George McGovern. As Bill Clinton so succinctly phrased it, "I feel your pain." When Republicans wanted to compete in the empathy department, they had to invent a new terminology to identify...

As a 1954 Einstein letter goes up for sale on eBay, the contempt he expresses for conventional religion therein is hard to miss. The buzz surrounding the letter is remarkable considering that the distinguished physicist had been saying essentially the same thing for decades. His idea of religion...

In the last presidential election, some Republicans tried to imply that Obama was a Muslim, in addition to being foreign born. Now it seems that the joke has turned against them. Their current candidate belongs to an even smaller religious group here -- the Mormons -- who...

That is the gist of a new Discover article by Robert Epstein. He presents evidence that Americans are more sexually liberated when there is an excess of women relative to men at peak marrying age (in the mid-twenties). Political liberalism goes along with liberated sexuality and Tea-Party-type conservatism...

Uruguay is as secular as Switzerland or Germany and it just legalized abortion. Only 41 percent of the population see religion as important in their lives, the lowest in South America. Given that poorer countries are generally more religious, one would expect Uruguay...

Large fires can begin with a tiny spark. So the anti-America violence in 20 countries was set off by a crude propaganda video (The Innocence of Muslims) put out by a right-wing fringe element in the U.S.

The propagandists interpret such reactions as a confirmation of their...

About three-quarters of the world's population feels that religion is important. Yet, this large majority is set to dwindle into minority status within a generation. The reason is that affluence kills piety, as I explain in a new book (Why Atheism Will Replace Religion).

Religion as emotion-focused coping

Media coverage hyped the importance of findings suggesting that spiritual experiences have a brain basis. Even so, an evolved capacity for self-transcendence fits in well with what we know about the evolutionary role and function of religion.

The Evolution of Religion

Religious beliefs and rituals are found in every...

Older Americans are not all that religious by some criteria. Younger Americans are considerably less religious. They point to a future where religious people will be a minority.

How religious are Americans?

The majority of Americans still believe in God (about 76 percent, with 12 percent atheists...

Recently, the Catholic hierarchy moved to bring the Leadership Conference of Women Religious into line with orthodox Church teachings . This organization of American nuns had been in conflict with the Vatican over issues related to women's rights, including reproductive rights. The spectacle of an...

On his recent trip to the Middle East Mitt Romney wanted to compliment the Israelis on the success of their economy. Yet, his clumsy comments boiled down to a suggestion that the comparative poverty of Palestine (i.e., West Bank and Gaza Strip) was a lack of Israeli...

Some authors are so confident that religion makes people happier, and healthier, that they want it to be prescribed by doctors (1). In a recent book, I debunked the health claim: the seeming benefits of religion can be attributed to social support, health behavior, and other secular...

Religion is important for American politics because religion is important for Americans.¹ Yet, there are factors in American political life that amplify the role of religion in a way that is not seen in other developed countries.

For a developed country, the U.S. is extraordinarily high on...

If you want to know what the future holds, talk to young people. On social issues, young American adults today are far more liberal than their parents. The majority support gay marriage (50 percent in favor versus 36 percent against with the remainder undecided.)

Many...