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A Recent Local Controversy Reveals the Theocratic Heart of ‘Project Blitz’

By Frederick Clarkson

…er how the historical site had expanded its educational mission beyond the fort’s military history, to include the Dakota name for the area, Bdote, “with history spanning 10,000 years,” including “Native peoples, trade, soldiers and veterans, enslaved people, immigrants, and the changing landscape.” Some Republican legislators didn’t like it. While the cut passed the Senate, it was ultimately blocked in budget negotiations with the house. Now, it…

Ordered To Remove Her Hijab, Army Sgt. Felt ‘Religiously Raped’

By Paul Rosenberg

…My religious preference is only to unveil in front of my husband in the comfort of my own home. I feel violated, abused, and degraded of my religious beliefs.” A statement from Fort Carson officials tells a different story. According to sources who were present, Sgt. Valdovinos’ hair was visibly out of regulation…. At no time did the senior non-commissioned officer touch Sgt. Valdovinos. The senior NCO did ask the Soldier to remove her hijab in or…

How Much Did Jesus Care About Sex?

By Peter Laarman

…ce of Christianizing the world than this? It’s regrettable, I think, that “cheap grace” has turned into a kind of meme that Rod Dreher can toss into his debate with Andrew Sullivan without any reference to the context in which Bonhoeffer coined the term. The Gestapo didn’t hang Dietrich Bonhoeffer in April 1945 because he had taken a stand for sexual abstinence (which he hadn’t). Heinrich Himmler ordered Bonhoeffer to be hanged for treason: for i…

Hey Michele Bachmann,
I Got Your Nobel Laureates Right Here

By Lauri Lebo

…lence against the student for having the audacity to question Bachmann. The 16-year-old Myers says that some commenters have called her “a whore.” Bachmann has not responded to the challenge, nor has she issued a statement condemning the threats. This week, 17-year-old Baton Rouge high school student Zack Kopplin called on Bachmann to back up her statement from 2006 in which she said lots of Nobel Prize winners support intelligent design. Exhibit…

We Went Through Amoris Laetitia Section by Section So You Wouldn’t Have To

By Anthony Adams

…ther and a mother, without which a child is just a “plaything.” In Sections 179 and 180, Francis praises the generosity of couples who adopt children, but he refuses to include same-sex couples in that praise. For those waiting to hear what he has to say about the headline issue of divorced and remarried Catholics being barred from receiving Communion, he begins to “go there” when he condemns those who are judgmental and divisive, saying in Sectio…

Episcopal Church Assault Data Reveals the Dark Side of Inclusive Christianity

By Charlotte Dalwood

…nstances of sexual abuse to denominational authorities. Those fears are, unfortunately, well-founded. Of those victims who did report their victimization to Episcopal leaders, the number one assessment from both trans/non-binary and cisgender respondents was that “little or no change” came about as a result. 20.6% of transgender and non-binary survivors reported that they simply left the church altogether. By comparison, “only” 10.7% of cisgender…

Does Atheism Have a Misogyny Problem?

By Julia Galef

…sitioned in an elevator—or if you have, but prefer to deal with your discomfort yourself—you should make sure that you’re not retrofitting your ethical maxim (i.e., “People have no obligation to concern themselves with the comfort of women in those situations”) to your own situation. We still might not all agree about how people should behave. In fact, I’m sure we won’t. But at the very least, trying to examine our ethical intuitions from a more o…

Dining with Dawkins in the Humanist Bosom

By Edward J. Larson

…ghts, including Sam Harris, Robert Wright, Paul Kurtz, Lawrence Krauss, PZ Myers, and Chris Mooney. Even among such demigods of modern atheism, Friday night’s banquet speaker, Richard Dawkins, attracted the most attention among the nearly 400 humanists at the event. I attended both Dawkins’ talk and the pre-banquet reception as a guest of the conference’s local host, the engaging and engaged Center for Inquiry. Mingling with conference participant…

When Communicating Evolution, Which Works Better: Confrontation or Accommodation?

By Lauri Lebo

…ebate about how best to deal with religious belief and its relationship to scientific reality. What makes this so interesting is that National Center for Science Education’s Eugenie Scott and biologist and atheist blogger PZ Myers, as well as writer Chris Mooney, three names at the center of this often-heated debate, are participating. For those who want to watch it live on line at 5 p.m. today (eastern standard time), the video stream is here….

Lifestyles of the Rich and Pious

By Patricia Miller

…foot historic mansion that dates back to the first Catholic bishop of the United States. • And last but certainly not least, Newark Archbishop John Myers, who has come under fire for the diocese’s failure to supervise a known predator priest and has been an outspoken opponent of John Kerry and other pro-choice Catholics, is adding a $500,000, 3,000-square foot wing to his $800,000, 4,500-square foot weekend/retirement home nestled on 8.2 wooded a…