A survey of attitudes among young people has been conducted in eight countries about religious beliefs, prayer and social issues. It found that while about 25 percent identified as being atheist or agnostic, believers and non-believers were very likely to both agree about the severity of environmental problems and the danger of political corruption in Read more
Victoria University religious studies professor Paul Morris says the study Faith and Belief in New Zealand didn’t get an accurate representation of different ethnicities, particularly Māori and Pacific populations. “It’s a very strange sample because it inconsiderably includes less than our population percentages of Māori and Pacifika, and that may have actually impacted on the result – Read more
Here’s a question for you. To what degree do you understand the key principles of the world’s major religions? Judaism. Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism? And how did you develop that knowledge? Through school? Your parents? The media? Your church, perhaps? Or maybe through your own research? I’ll put up my hand and say that Read more
In a recent episode of the CBS show Madam Secretary, there’s a scene where the Secretary of State’s husband—a renowned religion professor—is offered a position leading a special intelligence taskforce to track down Islamic terrorists. “Your religious expertise should be invaluable,” the president and his chief of staff tell Dr. McCord when they offer him Read more
Scientists have found an explanation for the rise of widespread co-operation among humans in societies – the fear of an angry god. International researchers, including the University of Auckland’s Associate Professor Quentin Atkinson, have published the results of their study in the journal Nature. They found people who believe their god is more punitive and 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
Know your enemy, ran the headline in a recent editorial of New Scientist: “To rule out God, first get to know him.” God, New Scientist seems surprised to find, is still everywhere. Try as we might to reduce the Almighty to the small “god” promoted by secularists, we can’t seem to rid ourselves of Him. Read more