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Atheists Gather in Burbank: A Humanist’s Response

By Anthony B. Pinn

…scended on Burbank, California earlier this month for the Atheist Alliance International 2009 convention. The main topic? The great harm done throughout history by religion: the single most dangerous human creation. The welfare of humanity, it was argued, depends on the dismantling of religion and all of its delusions. The possibility of collaboration, of compromise, of any shared ethical commitments between theists and non-theists, was not on the…

Modernity’s Fraternity: What Dan Brown Gets Right

By Samuel Biagetti

…ive Freemasonry,” spread from Scotland to England, and then took off as an international movement. Masonic initiations included some amount of mild ritual hazing, intended to disorient the initiate and prepare him for entry into a new social and spiritual realm; in the 1600s and 1700s, these rituals created a buzz of fear and suspicion around the Masons, which only added to their popularity. Masonic lodges proliferated in America from the 1720s on…

Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World: An Excerpt

By Michael J. Baigent

…e on the stage, a “false prophet” (16:13)—the Antichrist—who will lead his international satanic army against the forces of God. All these satanic forces will be gathered together “at the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon” (16:16). Abruptly, a white horse bearing a divine warrior will appear from heaven, a warrior described as “The Word of God” (19:13), whom many interpret to be Christ; he will lead the “armies of heaven” (19:14) in a vast and bl…

Tea Partiers and Religious Right Court at Values Voter Summit

By Sarah Posner

…though she is now affiliated with a group called the City Action Coalition International which, she says, trains pastors to be political activists. It is led by Bishop Joseph Mattera, whose son, Jason, is a well-known conservative activist and blogger who led another Values Voter workshop, “Turning the Tide in Your Generation.” Hernandez does not fit the stereotype of the Anglo, spittle-flicking, where’s-the-birth-certificate, Obama-is-Hitler type…

“I Had No Intention to Write Atheistically”: Darwin, God, and the 2500-Year History of the Debate

By Edward J. Larson

…orture and secret prisons were okay even thought the Geneva Convention and international law called them wrong. Strepsiades: Good God, how can torture ever be right? Is nothing certain? A basket descends from the sky carrying Pope Benedict XVI, who cries out: Benedict: Strepsiades, you called for God? I am God’s agent on earth. Strepsiades: I did not call for God, I merely cried Good God. But since you are here, let me ask you about torture. Can i…

That Mercenary Feeling: What the Apparently Unlimited Use of “Contractors” Says About American Empire in Afghanistan and Iraq

By Peter Laarman

…ticularly like. He quotes Frederick Barton of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who tracks our country’s growing reliance on civilian mercenaries. Barton observes that “no one really knows whether having a force made up mainly of contractors whose salaries were often triple or quadruple those of a corresponding soldier or Marine was cheaper or more expensive for the American taxpayer.” Excuse me? “No one really knows”?? I’m not a…

Aung San Suu Kyi: The Verdict is Unfair

By Juliane Schober

…l ended in long prison sentences for all of the accused, and has triggered international outrage. Senator John Webb negotiated Yettaw’s release last week. General Than Shwe reduced Aung Than Suu Kyi’s sentence to a year and a half under continued house arrest. His act of leniency prevents her from playing a role in national elections scheduled for next year. Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma’s national martyr and founder of the armed force…

American Nuns Under the Vatican Microscope

By Mary E. Hunt

…el of religious life conforms to the dictates of Rome. For the record: the International Union of Superiors General, the highest-ranking such organization, threw its weight behind the American communities, calling their renewal work “a great gift, not only to the pluralistic society in which they live, but also to the universal Church.” Perhaps they envision more such investigations popping up around the globe. LCWR has its roots in the Vatican-re…

In Wake of Murder in Uganda, LGBT Group Protests Prayer Breakfast

By Kay Steiger

…zation. Pastor Scott Lively, president of a group called Defend the Family International, who is not connected to the Family but is considered an instigator of homophobia in Uganda, wrote on the group’s website: Ugandan homosexual activist David Kato was recently beaten to death with a hammer, a horrific crime. These very media have rushed eagerly to judge this a hate crime and to blame those, like me, who have spoken against homosexuality in Ugan…