Of the many remarkable things about Christopher Hitchens, who died on Thursday after one of the most prolific and provocative careers in modern Anglo-American letters, perhaps the most remarkable was how much religious believers liked him. Not all believers, of course: When Hitchens’s esophageal cancer diagnosis became public last year, the famous atheist took obvious pleasure in Read more
Religious believers distrust atheists more than members of other religious groups, gays and feminists, according to a new study by University of B.C. researchers.
The only group the study’s participants distrusted as much as atheists was rapists, said doctoral student Will Gervais, lead author of the study published online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
That prejudice had a significant impact on what kinds of jobs people said they would hire atheists to do.
“People are willing to hire an atheist for a job that is perceived as low-trust, for instance as a waitress,” said Gervais. “But when hiring for a high-trust job like daycare worker, they were like, nope, not going to hire an atheist for that job.”
The antipathy does not seem to run both ways, though. Atheists are indifferent to religious belief when it comes to deciding who is trustworthy.
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According to the annual “Status of Global Missions” study, in this first part of the millennium non-believers will lose two million seven hundred thousand members, whilst declared atheists will lose one million and 370 thousand “faithful”. “Catholicism is growing at a rate of 34 thousand people a day,while Islam is gaining 79 thousand followers per day, and Hinduism 37 thousand.
Between 2000 and 2011, the “non religious” category lost 700 members every day, while the “atheist” category lost 300 per day.
Read the article...Cara Pozolo identifies herself as a member of the Catholic faith, but said she doesn’t always agree with all of the church’s teachings. Pozolo, a senior at the University of Notre Dame, is one of many students who find themselves struggling to accept some of the Catholic church’s beliefs. These students are not alone. A Read more
Two books have recently been published that study the beliefs of the emerging generation. Religious self-identification, it seems has remained very stable, in the United States with 84% calling themselves Christian in 1991, compared to 85% in 2010. But many embrace the title without backing it up in practice. For example, only 45% strongly believe the Read more
As the lead guitarist of the world’s biggest rock band and a prolific song writer, the Beatles’ George Harrison has secured his place in pop culture history. But his greatest legacy may be the way his decades-long spiritual quest shaped the ways the West looks at God, gurus and life. Read Steve Rabey’s column in Read more
9/11 strengthened fundamentalism in every global faith – and in atheism too. But it has also led to backlashes against these doctrines wherever they have appeared. In Islam there have been positive developments. The attacks were repeatedly and clearly condemned by Muslim leaders all over the world. After Pope Benedict XVI’s controversial Regensburg speech, the Read more
A University of Edinburgh study makes the claim that believers are dumb. The claim that the more religious you are, the less likely you are to be intelligent, are “a bit hilarious”, according to Bishop Patrick Dunn. “The suggestion that the less intelligent you are the more religious you would be seems to be “degrading Read more
Is religion necessary for morality? Many believers would say yes. Ricky Gervais is working on a new show,”Afterlife”, about an atheist who died and went to heaven – the point being made that believers don’t have the monopoly on morality. “All too often religious people equate faith with moral behavior”, says Pamela Taylor. “As a Muslim, I Read more
Believers often wonder why atheists care so much about issues that involve religion if they do not do not believe in God. Ben Tegland, and atheist, tries to shed some light on the topic. He thinks believers lack critical thinking skills which he says “is one of the most important skill sets a person can have.” “The Read more