ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 57

Bahrain woman charged with insulting Hindu religious symbol

By the AFP A woman in Bahrain seen desecrating idols of Lord Ganesha in a video published online has been charged with intentional damage and publicly insulting a religious symbol. The police said on Sunday that the 54-year-old woman was summoned after the video on social media showed her “intentionally damaging a shop… and breaking …

Watch This Insane Megachurch Celebrate Its Rejection of Masks and Distancing

By Hemant Mehta Despite a court ruling yesterday saying they had to follow Los Angeles County’s COVID restrictions limiting attendance for indoor events to 100 people, Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in California held service this morning defying common sense, health experts, and the law. Because you can get away with anything in this country if you’re …

Scientists probe the weird, alien water inside of Uranus and Neptune

By Chelsea Gohd Researchers are investigating an alien version of water inside the strange, icy interiors of Uranus and Neptune. In a new study, scientists have devised a theoretical computer model and used it to peer inside the ice giants Uranus and Neptune. With this tool, the team studied the thermal and electrical conductivity of the unusual water …

Secular Democrats of America Plans to Mobilize Non-Religious Voters

By Hemant Mehta Here’s something you don’t see every day… or every four years, even. A new group called the Secular Democrats of America will hold its inaugural event next week (during the Democratic Convention). Their aim is to bring together everyone who cares about state/church separation, ending faith-based neglect of children, promoting civil rights that don’t permit religious …

The End of the Secular Republic

By Yasmeen Serhan In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has acted on his yearlong quest to restore the historic Hagia Sophia, once a Byzantine-era cathedral and museum, as a functioning mosque. Three thousand miles away, in India’s northeastern city of Ayodhya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fulfilled a similar promise, last week laying the foundation for a new Hindu …

Pakistan’s persecution of Ahmadi Muslims must end

By Siobhain McDonagh Pakistan’s birth on Aug. 14, 1947 offered hope of a new country with new opportunities and new freedoms. That was the vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who as Pakistan’s founding father had rallied for a state where all would be free to believe in any faith or indeed in no faith at …

The bizarre dimming of bright star Betelgeuse caused by giant stellar eruption

By Mike Wall Betelgeuse’s odd recent dimming was caused by a huge cloud of material that the supergiant star blasted into space, a new study suggests. The bright star Betelgeuse, which forms the shoulder of the constellation Orion (The Hunter), is about 11 times more massive than the sun but 900 times more voluminous. That bloated condition shows …

Abortion, transgender rights likely to land back before Supreme Court

By Robert Barnes The Supreme Court’s rulings from a momentous just-completed term already are altering the nation’s legal landscape, almost assuring that issues such as abortion and transgender rights will be returning to the high court. In the past week, lower courts have resurrected controversial abortion restrictions in Arkansas, stopped a Vermont program that disfavored …

Trinity Co. (CA) Will Reconsider Putting “In God We Trust” Sign in Meeting Room

By Hemant Mehta About a month ago, the Trinity County Board of Supervisors in California voted 4-1 to install an “In God We Trust” plaque in the board’s meeting room at the Trinity County Library. That came as a surprise to a lot of residents, who had no opportunity to voice any dissent, and who only found out about …

Missionaries gain access to Amazon’s Indigenous peoples, despite pandemic

By Eduardo Campos Lima When the first COVID-19 cases hit Brazil in March, the government agency in charge of protecting the country’s Indigenous peoples, the National Indigenous Foundation, ordered all civilians to leave the Indigenous reservations. Only essential workers, such as health care personnel and those involved in food distribution, could remain. But a new …