Religion, as certain members of the media never fail to remind us at this time of year, seems to be on the decline, and for disgruntled secularists, the end cannot come quickly enough. But the death of God, at least in the hearts of most human beings, is a Western illusion. New demographic projections suggest Read more
New Zealand is one of only three countries in which religiosity is predicted to decline between now and 2050. The other two are France and the Netherlands. These are some of the predictions made by Washington-based think-tank, Pew Research Centre, in a recently published report. The report predicted that by 2050 In the Asia Pacific Read more
I was 18 or 19 when I told the local Church of Ireland minister in Dunmurry, Canon Robert C Ellis, that I was an atheist and could no longer sing in the church choir or superintend the Sunday School classes on the council housing estate in nearby Seymour Hill where I lived with my aging Read more
The coastal city of Wenzhou is sometimes called China’s Jerusalem. Ringed by mountains and far from the capital, Beijing, it has long been a haven for a religion that China’s Communist leaders view with deep unease: Christianity. Most cities of its size, with about 9m people, have no more than a dozen or so visibly Read more
The 90-year-old Italian atheist who twice interviewed Pope Francis has revealed that he asked the pontiff to bless his family. Eugenio Scalfari, one of Italy’s most prominent atheist intellectuals and for 20 years the editor of the newspaper La Repubblica, said the Pope had visited his family and blessed them following his request. Speaking to Read more
The Sunday Assembly, commonly know as the atheist church, has arrived in Christchurch. Sunday Assembly Christchurch will formally launch on Sunday September 28th, 2014. Sunday Assembly is a church without god but it is not necessarily anti god. Sunday Assembly was founded in London in January 2013, and since then it has exploded across the world Read more
Supporters of people with Down syndrome have slammed atheist Richard Dawkins’ comments that it would be immoral not to abort a foetus with the condition. The controversy erupted after a Twitter exchange between Dawkins and a woman who said she would face a real ethical dilemma if pregnant with a baby diagnosed with Down syndrome. Read more
A new law to be enacted in Ireland could make religious bodies that supply a service to the public subject to Freedom of Information law requests. That was what Ireland’s Department of Public Expenditure and Reform told Socialist MP Joe Higgins, who had asked if Freedom of Information legislation could be extended to cover records Read more
Atheist Richard Dawkins has argued that the niceness of ordinary churchgoers has helped enable religious fundamentalists to become suicide bombers. The Telegraph in the United Kingdom reported Dawkins saying moderate Christian and Muslim believers had inadvertently paved the way for extremists. Dawkins said ordinary believers do this by being “so nice” that people do not Read more
Norman Vincent Peale, who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking, once said, “The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.” It’s hard to honestly face criticism, but it’s the only way we can grow as human beings, since we are notoriously good at deceiving Read more