A 64 year-old British woman has been told she has to be part of a religion to be a conscientious objector to taking up arms while applying for US citizenship. The USCIS has reportedly told Margaret Doughty she has until June 21 of this year to “submit a letter on official church stationery, attesting to the fact that you are a member in good standing and the church’s official position on the bearing of arms.” [Read more…]

Interesting article about atheism in Tunisia, excerpt below. As best I can tell it’s not an automatic death sentence like it is in many Islamic countries. But it’s frowned upon to some degree, I guess not that different from the US in some ways: [Read more…]

Some insist science and religion remain non overlapping human endeavors. I don’t know. It’s a handy way to avoid political strife and allow science continued progress out from under religion’s thumb. There’s something to be said for that. But in the end aren’t both motivated by the desire to know profound truths about our universe? And in the relative end, hasn’t one delivered solidly, more reliably, than the other in recent times?

A new report soon to be published shows that Facebook is not good for your relationship. Really? Like I needed a study to show that? Here’s an excerpt followed by my own anecdotal observation: [Read more…]

If you live long enough you will see miracles. Maybe that’s what this was, or it could have been a more down to earth outbreak of civility towards atheists from His Holiness:

Independent — Pope Francis has said that atheists should be seen as good people as long as they do good, in a move to urge people of all religions – or no religion at all – to get along.

The Catholic leader, who heads the 1.2 billion-strong Church, made his comments in the homily of his morning Mass in his residence, a daily event where he speaks without prepared comments. He told the story of a Catholic who asked a priest if even atheists could be redeemed by Jesus.

Found this on a local South African news site. It’s an op-ed on the user-generated section titled A study of Atheism – Untwisting the knickers. I’ve seen worse. Long excerpt below:

Link — Are atheists then Satanists? After all, they reject the notion of the God of Abraham, therefore they must be Satanists, right? Wrong – you were not paying attention. Atheists reject the notion of ALL gods/God – this includes Satan/Lucifer/Baal and whoever else you might care to throw in the mix.

Right, so what about babies? They do not believe in any gods/God, do they? No, they do not, or at least not until they are taught to believe in gods/God. Does this mean they are atheists? No, it does not – to be an atheist one must reject the notion of gods/Gods, and the only thing I have seen a baby reject is a feed – usually all over one’s shoulder. I am not permitted to say that babies are irreligious – I got well and truly chastised last time I said that – so I will try for “babies are non-religious”, and hope I am not soundly rebuked for using that term.

OK, so God/gods are out – but they must believe in something, surely? It must be Science! No – wrong again. For starters, one does not “believe” in Science. One understands it, (or in my case, tries to understand it), accepts it – but never does one BELIEVE in Science. In any event, neither Science, nor any of the great Scientists, are or were gods. Nothing whatsoever to do with atheism. It is simply Science. Some atheists are into Science, some are not. Then again, some religious folk are into Science too, so it cannot be the exclusive property of the atheists, can it now?

It’s become vogue to hate Facebook, so here’s another reason to hate ’em: Mega Church Pastor Joel Osteen is tapping into social media big time: [Read more…]