ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 115

China coronavirus latest: How quickly does the virus spread?

By Nature Scientists are increasingly concerned about a new virus that has infected thousands of people and can be deadly. The virus is a coronavirus, from the family that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. It causes a respiratory illness, can spread from person to person and emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December. …

Paula White: Christians Must Pray That “Satanic Pregnancies” End in Miscarriage

By Beth Stoneburner Around the same time White House spiritual advisor Paula White was telling lies about how prayer reduced crime after 9/11, she was also stepping up her calls for prayers for the president. Apparently Secret Service can’t do much to shield Trump from the animal kingdom and so-called “Satanic pregnancies.” We cancel every surprise, from the witchcraft… …

Jerry Falwell Jr. plays while gay students suffer under his university’s conversion “therapy”

By Lucas Wilson Jerry Falwell, Jr. and the university he inherited from his dad, Liberty, has gotten a lot of bad press lately, from charges that Jr. circulated racy photos of the woman to whom he is married to his decision to hand a former male student a lucrative contract to build a fitness facility on university property at the …

Saints seek to prevent release of emails related to work on Catholic abuse crisis

By ESPN News Services The New Orleans Saints are going to court to keep the public from seeing hundreds of emails that allegedly show team executives doing public relations damage control for the area’s Roman Catholic archdiocese to help it contain the fallout from a burgeoning sexual abuse crisis. Attorneys for about two dozen men suing the …

United Methodist clergywomen ask church to reopen sexual misconduct case against elder

By Emily McFarlan Miller More than five dozen young United Methodist clergywomen are circulating an open letter claiming there was no justice in the denomination’s “just resolution” process for the four women who accused the Rev. Donald “Bud” Heckman of sexual misconduct. And while that resolution ended the judicial process against Heckman, it could be reopened, according …

Turkish activists oppose amnesties for child rapists

By Bethan McKernan Turkey’s ruling party has begun a second attempt at introducing a law to grant rapists amnesty as long as they marry their victim, four years after a similar bill sparked outrage at home and internationally. The legislation, which was first debated by parliament on 16 January, would give men suspended sentences for …

Science ranks grow thin in Trump administration

By Annie Gowen, Juliet Eilperin, Ben Guarino, and Andrew Ba Tran Dozens of government computers sit in a nondescript building here, able to connect to a data model that could help farmers manage the impact of a changing climate on their crops. But no one in this federal agency would know how to access the …

DeVos compares abortion rights debate to slavery

By Nicole Gaudiano Education Secretary Betsy DeVos compared the abortion rights debate to the battle to eliminate slavery during remarks at a Colorado Christian University event in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night. DeVos, a Christian conservative, discussed the Trump administration’s record of opposition to abortion, and said she was reminded of President Abraham Lincoln. “He, …

The Biggest Celestial Event of the Year Could Happen Tomorrow

By Marina Koren Sometime this week, you might walk outside in broad daylight, look up at the sky, and see a luminous orb as bright as a full moon. Only it wouldn’t be the moon. It would be something far more explosive: the dazzling aftermath of a cataclysm hundreds of light-years away. You’d be seeing …

Aaron Rodgers: How Can Anyone Believe in a God Who Sends People to Hell?

By Hemant Mehta If you pay any attention to football, then you know Aaron Rodgers is both an amazing quarterback and intelligent guy. (He was a winner on Celebrity Jeopardy, too.) About a month ago, he gave an interview to Danica Patrick for her “Pretty Intense” podcast and opened up about his religious skepticism. He spoke about joining a Christian …