ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 205

South Dakota Will Now Force All Public Schools to Put Up “In God We Trust” Signs

By Hemant Mehta South Dakota will require all public schools to display “In God We Trust” signs in a prominent place beginning next school year, after Republican Governor Kristi Noem signed Senate Bill 55 yesterday. Whether to require the display was a sticking point between the Senate and the House during the legislative session. The Senate Education Committee changed the bill’s …

West Virginia accuses Catholic diocese and former bishops of sex abuse cover-up in unusual consumer protection lawsuit

By Michelle Boorstein, Sarah Pulliam Bailey, and Tom Jackman West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey sued the Catholic diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and its former bishop Michael J. Bransfield on Tuesday, charging that they “knowingly employed pedophiles and failed to conduct adequate background checks” for people working in Catholic schools and camps, a news release from …

America Cares About Climate Change Again

By Robinson Meyer Suddenly, climate change is a high-profile national issue again. It’s not just the Green New Deal. Around the country, the loose alliance of politicians, activists, and organizations concerned about climate change is mobilizing. They are deploying a new set of strategies aimed at changing the minds—or at least the behaviors—of a large …

A Meteor as Powerful as 10 Nuclear Bombs Exploded in The Sky, And We All Missed It

By Michelle Starr A few months ago, on 18 December 2018, a massive airburst in the skies above Earth exploded with the equivalent of 173 kilotons of TNT. That’s over 10 times the amount released by the Hiroshima bombing (15 kilotons), and the third largest meteor explosion in over 100 years, coming in behind the …

Evangelical approval of Trump remains high, but other religious groups are less supportive

BY PHILIP SCHWADEL AND GREGORY A. SMITH More than two years into Donald Trump’s presidency, white evangelical Protestants in the United States continue to overwhelmingly support him, according to a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data. Other religious groups, however, are more divided in their views of the president. Roughly seven-in-ten white evangelical …

Supreme Court Won’t Hear B&B’s Anti-LGBTQ “Religious Freedom” Case

By Jeff Taylor The Supreme Court has decided Monday not to take up the case of a Hawaii bed and breakfast owner who declined to rent a room to a lesbian couples over objections to same-sex marriage on religious grounds. That decision leaves a lower court opinion against the proprietor of Aloha Bed & Breakfast, …

83 Gargantuan Black Holes Spotted Guzzling Down Dinner at the Edge of the Universe

By Stephanie Pappas Astronomers have discovered 83 supermassive black holes birthed by the universe in its infancy. More precisely, the researchers have detected quasars, or huge, luminous disks of gases and dust that surround supermassive black holes. (The black holes themselves emit no light or energy, of course, though friction from the matter that swirls …

Christian Host Bryan Fischer Defends New Zealand Terror Attack As ‘Vigilante Justice’

By Michael Stone Conservative Christian radio host Bryan Fischer claims the New Zealand terrorist “took things into his own hands” because his government would not do anything to stop Islam. Fischer, speaking on his “Focal Point” radio show a day after a terrorist attack left 49 people dead at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, …

#MAGA Church: The Doomsday Prophet Who Says the Bible Predicted Trump

By Sam Kestenbaum On a Sunday morning at Beth Israel Worship Center in Wayne, N.J., a bearded pastor named Jonathan Cahn stood on an elevated platform, gazing over a full house. Stage lights shifted from blue to white as the backing band played a drifting melody. Two men hoisted curled rams’ horns and let out …

Missouri Bill to Teach Bible Class in Public Schools Inches Closer to Law

By David G. McAfee A bill sponsored by a Missouri legislator would allow public school districts to offer elective Bible classes to students. HB 267 wouldn’t force districts to offer the classes like a similar bill in Florida, but it still opens the schools up to possible legal troubles if the classes aren’t taught objectively. The legislation — …