ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 46

Christian group’s leaked texts call for hanging gays “in a loving way”

By Alex Bollinger A Christian organization in the Cayman Islands was caught calling for LGBTQ people to be hanged “in a loving way,” and now the governor is calling for calm on “both sides,” as if LGBTQ people were at fault for the death threats. Two weeks ago, messages sent between members of the Christian …

Rising temperatures shrink Arctic sea ice to second-lowest level on record

By Reuters Rising temperatures in the Arctic shrank the ice covering the polar ocean this year to its second-lowest extent in four decades, scientists have announced, in yet another sign of how the climate crisis is rapidly transforming the region. Satellites recorded this year’s sea ice minimum at 3.74m sq km on 15 September, only the second …

Who is Amy Coney Barrett, the judge at the top of Trump’s list to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

By Colby Itkowitz At the top of President Trump’s list to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court is U.S. Circuit Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a jurist in the mold of the late Antonin Scalia who fulfills nearly all criteria on conservatives’ wish list. At 48 years old, Barrett could hold the lifetime seat …

Mike Pompeo: It’s “Imperative” to Connect U.S. Foreign Policy to Christianity

By Hemant Mehta Over the weekend, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas and told the (indoor, mask-optional) congregation that we live in a Christian country. It’s only the most recent example of Pompeo using his pulpit as the nation’s top ambassador to promote his conservative Christian religion. Back in October, the front page …

Are Iraqi youths losing their religion?

By Judit Neurink “It’s about my identity,” Yara Ali said with confidence. Ali is an Arab-Iraqi lawyer and prominent activist living in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq; for security reasons, she uses a pseudonym. “I was forced to wear it. It was to protect me, but it wasn’t me.” Yara, 29, told Al-Monitor. A couple of years …

Pastel-colored Jupiter dazzles in gorgeous Hubble telescope photo

By Mike Wall It’s like somebody put Jupiter under a blacklight. A new photo by the Hubble Space Telescope shows the solar system’s largest planet in surprising pastel hues. The image, captured on Aug. 25, combines data in ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light to give researchers a new look at Jupiter, one that could reveal insights about the gas …

More And More Americans Aren’t Religious. Why Are Democrats Ignoring These Voters?

By Daniel Cox and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux Democrats are once again doubling down on religion this year. Faith was on full display during the Democratic National Convention, where Joe Biden closed out the week with several pointed references to his Catholic faith. And the Biden campaign is also making an ambitious play for white evangelical Protestants and Mormons, two loyal …

FEC Chair Says There’s No Separation of Church and State, Calls 2020 Election a ‘Spiritual War’

By Aila Slisco Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chair James E. “Trey” Trainor III insisted that the separation of church and state is a “fallacy” while describing November’s election as a “spiritual war” in multiple recent interviews. Trainor, a devout Catholic and an appointee of President Donald Trump, made the comments in two recent interviews with …

White Christians Have Become Even Less Motivated to Address Racial Injustice

By the Barna Group This year, the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and the shooting of Jacob Blake have sparked a nationwide conversation about racial justice. Some of the more prominent responses include a series of marches with historic attendance, a players’ strike in the NBA and WNBA and new policies concerning issues …

The world set a 2020 deadline to save nature but not a single target was met, UN report says

By Jessie Yeung In 2010, leaders from 196 countries gathered in Japan and agreed on a list of goals designed to save the Earth. The Aichi Biodiversity Targets laid out a 10-year plan to conserve the world’s biodiversity, promote sustainability, and protect ecosystems. The targets were ambitious, but crucial. One, for instance, aimed to prevent the extinction of threatened …