ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 129

How the ‘extreme abstinence’ of the purity movement created a sense of shame in evangelical women

By Julie Ingersoll Millennial evangelicals are speaking out about the heightened emphasis on sexual purity that characterized their upbringing in that subculture. Joshua Harris, a former pastor who became one of the most public faces of the purity culture movement in the United States with his 1997 book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye,” recently renounced his views and very publicly …

Gene therapy is facing its biggest challenge yet

By Heidi Ledford Grajevis Bakatunkanda’s mother knew the signs: when her son lost interest in dinner, that meant the pain was on its way. It would strike, like clockwork, nearly every week. Soon the shy, skinny boy would be at the hospital near their home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where doctors would …

Republicans are introducing a new compromise LGBTQ rights bill. But everyone already hates it.

By Katelyn Burns A group of Republican lawmakers appears ready to try to bridge one of the most acrimonious divides in modern American politics: the gap between LGBTQ activists and religious conservatives. On Friday, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) will introduce the Fairness For All Act, a purported compromise bill that would ban discrimination against LGBTQ …

SMU sued as it moves to cut ties with United Methodist Church

By Emily McFarlan Miller Southern Methodist University is being sued over a recent move to sever control of the school from the United Methodist Church. The move is part of the latest fallout over the global denomination’s decision earlier this year to strengthen language in its rulebook barring LGBTQ members from marriage and ordination. Afterward, …

‘Soldiers of Jesus’: Armed neo-Pentecostals torment Brazil’s religious minorities

By Terrence McCoy There was a pounding at the door. Strange, the priest thought: He wasn’t expecting anyone. Marcos Figueiredo hurried to the entrance of his home temple and opened it. Guns. Three of them. All pointing at him. The “Soldiers of Jesus” had arrived — three members of a gang of extremist evangelical Christians …

Bible college president accused of sexually assaulting a teen boy during a flight

By Daniel Villarreal Rev. Cornelius Tilton, the 65-year-old president of the Christian Bible College of Louisiana, has been charged with sexually assaulting an unnamed male 19-year-old theological seminary student on an international flight from Tel Aviv, Israel to Newark, New Jersey. Tilton, who is married to a woman and has served as the pastor of …

1 in 4 Canadians believe humans were created by God within the last 10,000 years: poll

By Simon Little A new poll has found a hefty minority (23 per cent) of Canadians reject the theory of evolution, and instead believe a god created humans within the last 10,000 years. The survey, conducted by Research Co., found 61 per cent of Canadians believe humans “definitely” or “probably” evolved from less-advanced life forms over millions …

Measles deaths ‘staggering and tragic’

By James Gallagher More than 140,000 people died from measles last year as the number of cases around the world surged once again, official estimates suggest. Most of the lives cut short were children aged under five. The situation has been described by health experts as staggering, an outrage, a tragedy and easily preventable with …

Nature’s ‘Brita Filter’ Is Dying and Nobody Knows Why

By Nathan Rott On “good” bad days, the shells lay open at the bottom of the river, shimmering in the refracted sunlight. Their insides, pearl white and picked clean of flesh, flicker against the dark riverbed like a beacon, alerting the world above to a problem below. “That’s what we look for in die-offs,” says …

Sun-bombing spacecraft uncovers secrets of the solar wind

By Alexandra Witze A spacecraft buzzing past the Sun has caught the best-ever glimpse of the birthplace of the solar wind — the stream of energized particles that floods outwards from the star. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spotted strange spikes in the wind, where particles speed up and flip the direction of the wind’s magnetic …