Avoid the Plague of Practical Atheism

This is a tired old trope among the religious. That atheism means immorality. Many utilise the notion that we champion women’s rights to have birth control, sexual liberation and gay rights to insinuate that these ideas are immoral and that atheists would therefore have no qualms committing “real crimes”. [Read more]

More Religion in Politics? New Poll’s Findings May Be Over-hyped

Do more Americans want religion in politics and public life? A careful look at the survey shows yes, some do—mainly religious people, and the more religious, the greater desire for public engagement with religion. [Read more]

The Health Effects of Leaving Religion

No deconversion story is the same, but many who leave behind strongly-held religious beliefs can see an impact on their health. Americans are less religious than ever. [Read more]

Evangelicals Add One More Guest to the Wedding Party: Jesus

In an age of big-ticket destination weddings and reality show “bridezillas,” some evangelical Christians are opting for what writer Catherine Strode Parks calls “A Christ-Centered Wedding.” [Read more]

Sunday Assembly, or ‘Atheist Church,’ Debuts in Mpls.

The state’s version of Sunday Assembly, a gathering of atheists, kicked off Sunday in Minneapolis. They have the music, the sermons, and the faithful. What you won’t find at “Atheist Church” is religion. [Read more]

Faith and Science, Heart and Brain: An Interview With Katharine Hayhoe

We need to recognize the true costs of what we’re doing now – not some time in the future. Just take one example: look at the costs of using coal today – not in terms of global warming, but just in terms of human health, pollution and the destruction of local ecosystems. [Read more]

Utopian New Atheism? Review of A. C. Graylings’s ‘The God Argument’

A.C. Grayling’s recent contribution to the burgeoning literature on so-called ‘New Atheism’ is, on first appearance at least, a more promising affair than that offered by (among others) Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. [Read more]

Bodyslamming for Jesus: Inside the Bizarre World of Christian Wrestling

On the surface, the CWF looks like a normal WWE wrestling event, with costumed characters jumping from the ropes and wrestlers being hit in the back of the head with chairs. [Read more]

Christian Education Europe Eats Itself… Bring Popcorn!

You may remember that recently a website called Ace Education sprang up, seemingly with the primary intention of discrediting Leaving Fundamentalism. This was the blog that gave the world10 Questions for Jonny Scaramanga. [Read more]

ICR: The Mind of Brian Thomas

Many of the articles we find at the website of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) — the granddaddy of all creationist outfits, the fountainhead of young-earth creationist wisdom — were written by Brian Thomas. [Read more]

Does a Judge’s Order in the Garcia Fraud Lawsuit Suggest Trouble for Scientology? Scientology, as it has in other lawsuits, filed a motion to compel arbitration. The church has previously been successful arguing that Scientologists, even former members, must submit any complaints about donations to an internal arbitration system rather than to the civil courts. [Read more]

Why Doesn’t the Bible Prove God Exists?

There is so much written in the Bible – as it’s a very long book – about this god and his make-up, his thoughts, his commands, his angers and jealousies, his actions and regrets, that people generally just accept the basic story of this god’s existence and history. [Read more]

At the UN, Conservative Christian Agenda Cloaked in Human Rights Language

In the spacious Room XXIII of the Palais des Nations, home of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, six pre-adolescent children were declaiming a text that sounded very human-rights-ish. [Read more]

So What Really Goes Down if We Find the Aliens?

If we trip across life that’s not of this world, do we blast it or befriend it? What impact would it have on our society? [Read more]

Evolution versus Creation; Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon

Biblical fundamentalists are once again in conflict with biologists, this time as a result of efforts by the National Science Foundation to raise the level of high school biology teaching. [Read more]

‘Ghost’ Caught on N.M. Police Video Likely an Insect

A mysterious moving object caught on camera outside a New Mexico police department last week has many people scratching their heads and wondering if it might be a ghost. [Read more]

The Final Form of Islam?

The days of explaining away religious violence in Islam as the inevitable result of Western actions and attitudes towards Islam are over. [Read more]

Hotels Give Kosher Cuisine an Upgrade

Harriette Katz recalls groaning anytime a client asked for kosher food to be served at a wedding or other event that she planned. [Read more]

The End Times: When Jesus Stops Being Jesus

I’m genuinely sad about this because I’ve been fascinated with the “end times” since I was a kid. Although, the reason for that fascination has radically changed over the years. [Read more]

Activists Rally Around Teenager Accused of Desecrating Jesus Statue

Chris Renz said she made the 35-mile trip between Bedford and her hometown of Jennerstown Saturday morning to prove that local atheists are “out of the closet.” [Read more]

A Christian-Oriented Biology Textbook’s Omissions and Inaccuracies Leave Students at a Disadvantage

Judge Robert Hobgood ruled that it is unconstitutional to use state money to support schools in which the curricula are not subject to any requirements or standards. [Read more]

Amen: 61 Percent of Americans Support Prayer in School

Repeat that: Six out of 10 people support prayer in public schools. No problem. Go right ahead, teachers and students. Eighty percent of Republicans, 64 percent of independents and 45 percent of Democrats agree with this, the pollster finds in a survey released Friday. But wait, there’s more. [Read more]

Islamic State ‘Brand’ Gains Ground Among Asian Muslim Militants

A threat by Philippine militants to kill a German hostage in a show of solidarity with Islamic State is the latest sign that the Middle East group’s brand of radicalism is winning recruits in Asia and posing a growing security risk in the region. [Read more]

In The Rural West, ‘Roving Rabbis’ Reach Isolated Jews

Residents of the rural West have historically relied on the talents of people passing through — traveling doctors, traveling circus performers and traveling preachers. [Read more]

Americans Don’t Trust Scientists, New Research Claims

Scientific facts like the theory of evolution remain controversial topics in some parts of the U.S., despite evidence their validity. Although politics and religion may have caused a significant number of people in the United States to refuse to acknowledge these important facts. [Read more]

“Under God” Is Not All that Needs to Change About the Pledge

Here’s a confession from an atheist: I would not want school children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance daily if the words “under God” were removed. Why? [Read more]

Muslim Women in Sports Media: Is It Still Progress if No One Cares?

On September 16, 2014, basketball’s international governing body, FIBA, announced it would be allowing head-coverings during competitive play for a trial period. [Read more]

Patriarch Spanks Wife & Gets Jail Time: Physical Violence is Always Unacceptable!

This Monday and Tuesday on the Dr. Phil show there was featured a man (Kirby ) that is a Fundamentalist Christian Patriarch type who’d spanked his wife Renee with a paddle for not calling him “Sir”. [Read more]

Hurts Me More Than You

Corporal punishment has become a national conversation after a former NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) was indicted for child abuse in Texas. [Read more]

Discoveroids’ War on Science Continues

The latest campaign from the bowels of the Discovery Institute is a war on something at the heart of the scientific method, and that is methodological naturalism. [Read more]

The Totality of the ex-Muslim Experience

Islam is the world’s second-largest religion, practiced by over 1.6 billion people, in practically every country in the world. These people’s experiences inevitably vary. [Read more]

Religious Freedom Restoration Act

RFRA came about after some courts made some shit calls that favored corporate and political interests over the interests of Native Americans. Since 1993 RFRAs have been adopted at state and local government levels. [Read more]

The Rise and Fall and Rise of the National Council of Churches

Like many mainline Protestant institutions, the National Council of Churches has had a rough couple of years. Once the public face of American Protestantism, the NCC is now just another face in the crowd. [Read more]

Cyclops Baby of the Apocalypse? Another Day in ISIS Fundamentalism

Earlier this month, Vocativ reported on rumors circulating on Twitter and some Islamic websites that a baby born with a rare birth defect known as cyclopism is actually the Muslim anti-Christ. [Read more]

John Hagee – Let Them Eat Cake? Socialist! Let Them Starve!

Pastor John Hagee decided to champion that old republican attitude towards poverty recently. In a show of alleged Christian Morality ™ that pervades American Conservatives, he decided to speak about welfare recipients.



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A Conversation Between Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking

A unique discussion between evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.



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