Pope Francis has expressed pleasure at meeting “a wise man” after a private audience with the Uruguayan president, Jose Mujica, an atheist. Mujica, a former guerilla fighter, has been described as “the world’s ‘poorest’ president”. He donates 90 per cent of his salary to charities, lives with his wife in a modest farmhouse instead of Read more
Emphasising that everyone has the potential to do good, Pope Francis has said Christ’s saving act on the cross was for everyone, no matter their belief. “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone. Even the atheists. Everyone,” he insisted. “We Read more
A judge has tossed out a lawsuit that sought to stop the display of a cross-shaped steel beam found among the World Trade Center’s rubble, saying the artifact could help tell the story of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. US District Judge Deborah Batts rejected the arguments of American Atheists, which had sued the National September Read more
When atheist magician Penn Jillette got into an argument over the Catholic Church with Catholic TV host Piers Morgan, Jillette ended up defending the pope and the Church against Morgan’s criticisms. Jillette, part of the Penn & Teller illusionist team, is the author of Every Day is an Atheist Holiday and God, No! Morgan, former Read more
The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has defeated the prominent atheist Richard Dawkins in a debate on religion at the University of Cambridge in England. Students voted 324-136 against Dawkins’ argument that religion has no place in the 21st century. “Religion has always been a matter of community building, a matter of building Read more
This is actually a study from the middle of last year that I never got round to covering (there was a run of studies from the same team, and this one ended up at the bottom of the pile!). But I’m glad I did. The study leads were Ara Norenzayan and Will Gervais at the Read more
More than 80 per cent of the world’s people identify with a religious group — but unbelievers, including atheists and agnostics, are now the third largest grouping. These results come from a new demographic study carried out by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Christians, with 2.2 billion or 32 per Read more
The practical atheism of those who say they are Christian but live as if God does not exist is more destructive than actual atheism, Pope Benedict XVI has said. Speaking to a crowd of nearly 7000 in Rome, he presented three ways to more fully discover God and combat indifference towards faith. Continue reading
There are more Catholics in Ireland than ever before, but the church is losing market share due to a surge in other religions and non-believers, the Independent news site reported. The report, quoting a new census on religion, said the Catholic Church now has 3.86 million members in Ireland, but a growing population – including Read more
About 20 percent of the American people say they are unaffiliated with any religion, making them almost as numerous as Catholics, who accounted for 22 percent of participants in a new Pew Research Center study released Oct. 9. The survey of 2,973 adults conducted this summer found people who say they are atheist, agnostic or Read more