Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Abuse is the theme this week. Over and over, stories of religious abuse emerge. People in positions of trust continue to abuse such positions and often the religious response is to cover it all up and pretend it has not happened. During the past seven days the following tragic stories have emerged. Item 1 – Pastor … Read more
Each year the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) issues an updated version of their Freedom of Though report. The latest edition is now available. What exactly does the term “Freedom of Thought” mean? The right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief protects the individual conscience of every human being. This right was first stated … Read more
A legal case that has been trundling its way through the US system has finally reached the US supreme court and had a hearing last Tuesday (5th Dec). The essence of this concerns a couple named Mr Mullins and Mr Craig, pictured above, who went into the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, near Denver back in 2012 owned … Read more
It is perhaps almost inevitable for Roy Moore to pop up in the weekly weird religious news. As the modern incarnation of rather extreme right-wing “Christian” values, he has garnered rather a lot of popular support from right-wing evangelicals despite the mounting and very believable evidence via multiple sources that he is rather fond of … Read more
Previously the selection of my personal top three items of religious weirdness have perhaps been dominated by US religious weirdness each week. So what happens if I apply a US filter this week, will I be left bereft and find nothing to choose because the US has a monopoly on religious weirdness? In a word … Read more
There has been some previous research that suggested that people who hold strong religious beliefs are more intuitive and less analytical, and when they think more analytically their religious beliefs decrease. This opens up an interesting question – are they born that way, or do they simply inherit this modality? It is a rather fundamental Nurture … Read more
