religion

Saudi Arabia human rights violations get even worse

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Not too long ago I blogged about the utterly absurd case of Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes for the (from the viewpoint of the Saudi authorities) hideous crime of starting a progressive website. The latest update is that things are getting even worse, you would not think it possible, but … Read more

Hobby Lobby has opened the door for Satanists to demand religious rights

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As I’m sure you are aware, right wing evangelical billionaire David Green, the owner of Hobby Lobby, initiated a “religious freedom” lawsuit against Sylvia Burwell, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The final result was that this Burwell v. Hobby Lobby became a landmark legal case, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby last year was finally decided by the United … Read more

Claim: “atheism is a nonintellectual exercise in self-deception”

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I have perhaps been guilty in times past of living inside a religious bubble, and so having now stepped outside, it is always worth pondering the thought that I have just exchanged one bubble for another, hence I often expose myself (intellectually) to things that are clearly not ideas I agree with. Today’s example comes from … Read more

“Eppur si muove.” (And yet it moves.)

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Galileo was famously arrested and then sentenced by the Inquisition for the crime of heresy – his crime? – he simply supported the fact based observation that the earth revolves around the sun, and so was overturning the idea that the earth was the centre of everything. He was also famously quoted as  saying to those who … Read more

Religion, Sex, Porn and Politics

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The more religious people are, the more upset they will often be about the availability of porn, and yet surprisingly enough (to some), that degree of religiosity also correlates with a voracious consumption of porn, so what is going on here? Valerie Tarico, a psychologist and writer in Seattle, has a great article over on AlterNet that … Read more