The author of The God Delusion is helping to launch Britain’s first summer retreat for non-believers, where children will have lessons in evolution and sing along to John Lennon’s Imagine. ... [More]

Dr. Ralph D. Winter argued that all violent forms of life – including all disease pathogens – are the works of an “intelligent evil power” that seeks to destroy God’s creation. As a result, God has for far too long been taking the blame for Satan’s destructive works. And even Christians are confused over who is responsible for all the evil in the world, including disease and suffering. Some even claim that God wants diseases in the world. ... [More]

Greetings friends, Please pardon the interruption in our content over the past month here at the Atheist Times (AT). I have had several unexpected issues to handle during the past few weeks, culminating with being laid off my day job last week. On the bright side, with more time on my hands, I hope to get AT back on track. ... [More]

Parents who complain that a mandatory public school course contradicts their religious views have taken the provincial government to court. The "Ethics and Religious Culture" class covers Quebec's Catholic and Protestant religious heritage, as well as other faiths represented in the province, including Judaism, Native spiritualism, Islam, and Hinduism. ... [More]

Worship is forced on 99 per cent of children without even asking what they think. For all their whining that they are "persecuted", the religious minority in Britain are in fact accorded remarkable privileges. They are given a bench-full of unelected positions in the legislature, protection from criticism in the law, and vast amounts of public money to indoctrinate children into their belief systems in every school in the land. ... [More]

The White House is planning a muted observance of Thursday's National Day of Prayer, a response that has disappointed both Christian conservatives and an atheist group that wants to end the tradition. Congress established the day in 1952 and in 1988 set the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to issue proclamations asking Americans to pray. ... [More]

A federal judge ruled that a public high school history teacher violated the First Amendment when he called creationism "superstitious nonsense" during a classroom lecture. U.S. District Judge James Selna ruled Friday in a lawsuit student Chad Farnan filed in 2007, alleging that teacher James Corbett violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment by making repeated comments in class that were hostile to Christian beliefs. ... [More]

In a session on religious freedom on Wednesday, Muslim scholars from around the world debated how apostates should be treated according to Islamic law. ... Some participants did not support of the beheading of apostates, but several were adamant in refusing a lighter approach toward apostates in the name of freedom of religion. ... [More]

Several American science organisations explicitly accommodate religious sensibilities. These organisations have considered it necessary to calm the fears of American religionists that science, particularly evolutionary biology, undermines religion. ... In my view, that is a deplorable step. ... [More]

Republican Congressman John Fleming said he was “disturbed” by President Barack Obama’s request to have the symbolic name for Jesus Christ – IHS – covered from a pediment that was visible behind him when he spoke at Georgetown University’s Gaston Hall on April 14. ... [More]

"Act of God" is filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal's exploration of lightning strikes. "When you think about it, the lightning bolt coming out of the sky is kind of the perfect metaphor for the paradox of being singled out by randomness ... it embodies this tension between meaning and chance and meaning and randomness," says Baichwal. ... [More]

In this witty book, Terry Eagleton argues that Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and their ilk are shockingly ill-informed about the Christian faith. ... The point of Eagleton's "Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate" is to defend the theory and practice of religion against its most ardent contemporary critics. ... [More]

About half of all Americans have switched religions at least once, according to the most in-depth survey on the topic, released Monday. And that may still be "a conservative estimate," says Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. ... [More]

Local and national atheist organizations have flourished in recent years, fed by outrage over the Bush administration’s embrace of the religious right. A spate of best-selling books on atheism also popularized the notion that nonbelief is not just an argument but a cause, like environmentalism or muscular dystrophy. ... [More]

Notorious non-believer Richard Dawkins will ironically be a godlike presence at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival as he beams in from England for a video interview. On the other hand, former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway will appear in the flesh. ... [More]

From Pakistan to Gaza and Lebanon, militant Islamic movements have gained ground rapidly in recent years, fanning Western fears of a consolidation of radical Muslim governments. But in the world’s most populous Muslim nation just the opposite is happening, with Islamic parties suffering a steep drop in popular support. ... [More]

Berliners voted on Sunday in a referendum on religious education in schools that goes to the heart of how Germany's sizeable Muslim minority is integrated into modern society. ... [More]

Atheists are targeting schools in a campaign designed to challenge Christian societies, collective worship and religious education. The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (AHS) plans to launch a recruitment drive this summer. ... [More]

Not all that long ago, the great minds of Europe predicted a future with little or no religion. Science would make us highly skeptical of miracles. Psychiatry would direct all of our awe and wonder inward. Changing roles for women would weaken the patriarchal structure that props up clerics. Whatever script for modernity one followed, it had God playing a bit role. ... [More]

The U.S. imprisons more people than any other developed nation. The majority of Americans support the death penalty. We’re willing to put minors on trial as adults and execute mentally ill offenders. So why, given our eye-for-an-eye system of punishment, wouldn’t Congress pass legislation that would give law enforcement officials another tool to get the bad guys off the streets and into prisons? ... [More]