ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 62

Man shot dead for ‘blasphemy’ in Pakistan courtroom

By Asad Hashim A man accused of blasphemy for claiming that he was a prophet has been shot dead in a courtroom in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, police officials say, the latest violence associated with Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. Tahir Ahmad Naseem was shot six times during a hearing in his case at …

Conservative Evangelical Eric Metaxas, Doing Twitter Theology, Claims “Jesus Was White”

By Eric Vanden Eykel When Eric Metaxas tweeted that “Jesus was white” on Monday the small corner of Twitter in which Metaxas is sometimes a conversation piece erupted quickly, and with wild speculation. Is he looking for attention? Being provocative? No one actually believes that Jesus is white, do they? Surely Metaxas is smart enough to know that this claim …

Embattled megachurch pastor John Ortberg resigns from Menlo Church

By Bob Smietana John Ortberg, popular Christian author and speaker, has resigned as pastor of Menlo Church, a megachurch congregation outside of San Francisco. His resignation is effective Sunday (Aug. 2). “I have considered my seventeen years as pastor here to be the greatest joy I’ve had in ministry,” Ortberg said in a statement. “But …

Two Schoolgirls From India Just Discovered an Asteroid

By Satviki Sanjay As space enthusiasts prep to bid goodbye to the rare comet NEOWISE that has been visible almost all through this month, two girls from India have found another celestial body. The 14-year-olds spent the lockdown discovering an earth-bound asteroid, as announced by SPACE India, an Indian space education institute, in a congratulatory tweet. The …

Saudi Arabia: Yemeni Blogger Convicted for Supporting LGBT Rights

By Human Rights Watch A Saudi court sentenced a Yemeni blogger to jail and then deportation to Yemen for a social media post supporting equal rights for all in Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch said today. After a trial in which he was provided no counsel, Mohamad al-Bokari, a Yemeni living in Riyadh, was sentenced on July 20, 2020 …

Trump’s New Favorite COVID Doctor Believes in Alien DNA, Demon Sperm, and Hydroxychloroquine

By Will Sommer A Houston doctor who praises hydroxychloroquine and says that face masks aren’t necessary to stop transmission of the highly contagious coronavirus has become a star on the right-wing internet, garnering tens of millions of views on Facebook on Monday alone. Donald Trump Jr. declared the video of Stella Immanuel a “must watch,” while Donald …

Racism among white Christians is higher than among the nonreligious. That’s no coincidence.

By Robert P. Jones, CEO and founder PRRI Over the last several weeks, the United States has engaged in a long-overdue reckoning with the racist symbols of the past, tearing down monuments to figures complicit in slavery and removing Confederate flags from public displays. But little scrutiny has been given to the cultural institutions that …

Humans Are About to Return a Rock to The Surface of Mars After 600,000 Years

By David Nield Humans are about to make history by sending a little piece of a Martian rock back to the surface of Mars for the first time ever. The meteorite fragment Sayh al Uhaymir 008 (or SaU 008) will hitch a ride on the 2020 NASA Perseverance rover mission on Thursday – some 600,000 years after …

Atheist Group: The IRS Must Investigate Megachurch That Endorsed Trump and Pence

By Hemant Mehta One month ago, Vice President Mike Pence visited First Baptist, the Dallas megachurch of Pastor Robert Jeffress, for an event called “Celebrate Freedom Sunday.” If you heard anything about it in the news, it may have been because we learned after the event that several members of the church’s choir and orchestra had tested positive for COVID before Pence gave …

Pastor John MacArthur, Grace Community Church defy bans on singing, indoor worship

By Alejandra Molina Grace Community Church congregants in Sun Valley gathered indoors and sang hymns on Sunday (July 26), defying California regulations that aim to limit the spread of COVID-19. “This is a very special day in the life of our church family. It is for us a return to what we love the most, …