Anthony McIntyre's Blog, page 684

Atheist Bloggers Told To Stop Criticising Religion

Atheist Republic ✒ For the last decade, Patheos, a multifaith media platform that hosts commentary from writers of different religions and the religiously unaffiliated, has been going in a concerning direction. Abdulla GaafarelkhalifaAccording to departing bloggers and their manager, Dale McGowan, the nonreligious channel has been steered away from criticizing religion.Fifteen bloggers left the

Christian Nationalism Is One Of Trump’s Most Powerful Weapons

New York Times ✒ Katherine Stewart has reported on the religious right for more than a decade. She is the author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism.Katherine StewartThe most serious attempt to overthrow the American constitutional system since the Civil War would not have been feasible without the influence of America’s Christian nationalist movement. One

Dangerous Christians

Right Wing Watch ✒ The Jan. 6 Insurrection Should Have Been No Surprise, and Neither Should the Next Right-Wing Coup Attempt.Peter MontgomeryWhile the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 was shocking, it was not surprising to Right Wing Watch or other extremism researchers and watchdogs, who repeatedly sounded the alarm about calls from far-right figures for violence and revolution

Christian Conspiracist ✑ Accepting Faith-Healing Will Make Hospitals Obsolete

Friendly Atheist ✒ Dave Hayes is a Christian activist known as the “Praying Medic” and an extremely vocal QAnon supporter. Hemant MehtaNot surprisingly, he’s known for making bonkers conspiratorial claims and just flat-out lying to his audience. (Last month, for example, he told a struggling man he was “healed” after a painful loss… based on absolutely nothing.)But what he did this week was just

A Morning Thought @ 1305

Funeral Flag

Pádraic Mac Coitir ✒ Seamus Mc Aloran wrote the following piece which is very interesting. I'm going to write something which supports his opinionAs we prepare to bury another republican, Oglach Paddy Mo Burnside, from the New Lodge area, I would like to highlight a practice, which I believe is discriminatory and which needs to be challenged. This involves the removal of the national flag from

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Hundred And Twenty One

Ten links to a diverse range of opinion that might be of interest to TPQ readers. They are selected not to invite agreement but curiosity. Readers can submit links to pieces they find thought provoking.Before We Conform, Let Us At Least Be CuriousIrish Prison Service cancels in person visits to inmates in all jails in response to Covid-19Weaker inmates 'feeling safer' after visits suspended to

Buddha, Abraham, Jesus, Muhammed ✑ Larger-Than-Life Historic Figures Or Largely Legends? Part Ⅰ

Valerie Tarico  ✒ We know less than you might think about the lives of Buddha, Abraham, Jesus, Muhammed, and most other religious “founders.”11-November-2021Author David Fitzgerald is a history buff whose primary fascination is the early history of religion. When he researched the origins of Christianity, he was astounded to discover how little evidence we have about Jesus as a historical person.

A Morning Thought @ 1304

This Week In Terrorism History ✏ Nov. 1-6

Pete Trumbore ✒ The Global Terrorist Database records the first terrorist attack against an American abortion clinic, abortion provider, or other abortion-related target as coming at the beginning of November, 1977.1-November-2021By the end of 2018, there had been a total of 256 such attacks.For this today’s look back at the week in US terrorism history, I’m departing from the pattern I’ve