I was raised Roman Catholic -- a product of Catholic school education through Grades 1-12, taught by the nuns, Sisters of Mercy. I regret that in the past I never understood their real value. I do now.

For better or worse, we remember the First Crusade now. But how should we do so? What did the battle of Jerusalem mean in 1099, and why should we care today?

There is no part of the brain that, when damaged, takes away the Cartesian soul. Instead damage to different structures takes away different chunks of the mind.

For many, the Galileo affair was emblematic of Christianity's inherent antagonism towards science and reason. Sadly, the "pattern" theory has a problem.

The Bible is not a book. It is dozens of very different books bound together. The assumption that identifying one part as fiction undermines the factual character of another part is ludicrous.

Darwin's theory of evolution is 160 years old. Christianity has been thriving for more than 1700 years. So, evolution denial is a new modification for the religion.

Both secular and religious institutions employed torture. The popular impression that it was primarily a religious activity indicates the success of the anti-religion culture warriors telling their sensationalized version of history