The Evolution of Religion, According to Darwin
“Today we’d probably call Darwin something of a seeker. You might say he’s something of a proto-None.”
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Benedict’s Painful Legacy
Critics cite the “devastating” impact of Benedict’s papacy when it comes to the place of LGBT people within the Church, as well as his antagonism toward women religious.
Read MoreOver Objections of New Arch. of Cant., UK Okays Marriage Equality
The gay that could not be prayed away.
Read MoreStephen King Appeals to Gun Advocates’ Individual Responsibility
The divinely human compassion of “Jesus wept” meets the theology of Atlas Shrugged.
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The Internet is Not Killing Organized Religion
The theory that access to the internet will be the undoing of organized religion has resurfaced. But do the data show anything like this?
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Mark Driscoll Hate-Tweets as Pope Benedict Flip-Flops: This Week in Religion and Social Media
As if the whole Louie Giglio inaugural preaching debacle weren’t enough to sour many in on the religiosity of the American political process, conservative evangelical shock preacher Mark Driscoll stirred a hornet’s nest of Christianist hate and Christian outrage with the following…
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New Research Links Spiritual-Not-Religious to Mental Disorder
As with periodic surveys showing relationships between levels of religiosity and well-being, this latest research is apt to find its way into many a sermon at declining churches across the U.K. and its former colonies. The gist (perhaps under a veneer of Christian pity): “There ya go! Your fakey-fakey, sage-burning, labyrinth-walking, church-of-the-blessed-ME ‘spirituality’ doesn’t make you happy.” Throw in some (largely inconclusive) studies on prayer and healing, an the result seems fairly obvious: Traditional believers are happier, healthier, and a heck of a lot saner. So there!
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None Means None (Not Atheist, Agnostic, Unbeliever…)
“I’d feel most comfortable assigning myself to the category of people who prefer not to be assigned to categories,” a fifty-something, Silicon Valley entrepreneur I’ll call Nathan* joked when I asked him how he’d describe his religious identification or affiliation. “But I suppose ‘none’ will do.”
Read MoreChurch of England to Allow Gay Bishops, Sort Of
Celibacy? Isn’t that a Catholic thing?
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Five Must-Reads on the “Nones”: A Tipping Point in American Religion and Spirituality
Religion writers, both journalists and scholars, have had much to say of late about the continued growth of the religiously unaffiliated—especially given the impact of so-called “Nones” in the recent presidential election. But much of what’s been written fails to highlight finer distinctions among Nones. So how to better understand this fast-approaching tipping point in American religion and spirituality?
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