ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 190

Here are 8 simple ways right-wing evangelicals are driving Americans to atheism

By Valerie Tarico If the Catholic Bishops, their Evangelical Protestant allies, and other Right-wing fundamentalists had the sole objective of decimating religious belief, they couldn’t be doing a better job of it. Testimonials at sites like ExChristian.net show that people leave religion for a number of reasons, many of which religious leaders have very little …

The sanctification of Donald Trump

By Andrew Restuccia For his closest advisers, President Donald Trump is a godsend — literally. Trump’s campaign manager says the president was sent by God to save the country. The White House press secretary thinks God wanted Trump to be president. And the secretary of State believes it’s possible that Trump is on a holy …

Nature crisis: Humans ‘threaten 1m species with extinction’

By Matt McGrath On land, in the seas, in the sky, the devastating impact of humans on nature is laid bare in a compelling UN report. One million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction. Nature everywhere is declining at a speed never previously seen and our need for ever more food and …

Scientists Think They’ve Found the Ancient Neutron Star Crash That Showered Our Solar System in Gold

By Brandon Specktor Two astronomers think they’ve pinpointed the ancient stellar collision that gave our solar system its cache of precious gold and platinum — some of it, anyway. In a new study published May 1 in the journal Nature, the duo analyzed the remnants of radioactive isotopes, or versions of molecules with different numbers of …

Kids in Philly Islamic Center Video Say “We Will Chop Off Their Heads” for Allah

By Hemant Mehta A video from the Muslim American Society Islamic Center in Philadelphia, taken in mid-April, shows a bunch of kids reciting poems and singing songs… which is perfectly normal for any religious center. Except that the script here calls for the celebration of those who “crush the treacherous ones” before saying of their …

Brunei Says It Won’t Execute Gays After Protests of Stoning Law

By Austin Ramzy HONG KONG — Brunei said on Sunday it would not carry out executions by stoning for people convicted of adultery and gay sex, following widespread international protest over the brutality of such penalties. Critics of the country’s newly enacted Islamic laws said several other harsh punishments remain on the books, including whipping …

The alleged synagogue shooter was a churchgoer who talked Christian theology, raising tough questions for evangelical pastors

By Julie Zauzmer Before he allegedly walked into a synagogue in Poway, Calif., and opened fire, John Earnest appears to have written a seven-page letter spelling out his core beliefs: that Jewish people, guilty in his view of faults ranging from killing Jesus to controlling the media, deserved to die. That his intention to kill …

Pope Francis Guilty of “Heresy,” Catholic Scholars Claim in “Historic” Letter

By David G. McAfee Pope Francis has his share of enemies — whether he’s ignoring child sex abuse complaints or being criticized as nothing more than a “P.R. Pope.” But now he has a new nemesis: a group of Catholic scholars who say he’s guilty of heresy. The Catholic group is making the accusation for a variety …

Trump Administration Finalizes Health-Care Discrimination Rule

By Jessica Mason Pieklo The Trump administration on Thursday took another significant step in rolling back legal protections for LGBTQ patients, finalizing a rule that, if allowed to take effect, would allow individuals and health-care entities to refuse care to patients based on religious or moral objections. In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human …

Jack Dorsey Is Gwyneth Paltrow for Silicon Valley

By Nellie Bowles Young men are staggering around, hungry for days. They are throwing themselves into ice baths and cryotherapy pods. There are not enough beds at the silent vegan meditation centers to accommodate them. They need more near-infrared bulbs. They are the followers of Jack Dorsey, Silicon Valley’s answer to the mega-influencer Gwyneth Paltrow. …