ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 71

Minister Challenges Louisiana Cockfighting Ban

By Howard Friedman Suit was filed last week in a Louisiana federal district court by Holy Fight Ministries and its minister claiming that Louisiana’s ban on cockfighting violates their federal and state free exercise rights as well as the Establishment Clause. The complaint (full text) in Plumbar v. Landry, (MD LA, filed 6/12/2020), alleges in part: Reverend …

“He’s The Chosen One To Run America”: Inside The Cult Of Trump, His Rallies Are Church And He Is The Gospel

By Jeff Sharlet Yusif Jones, standing in front of a long row of porta-potties, slides his plastic Trump mask over his face. “I’m him!” he exclaims. He puffs up his chest in his homemade Trump shirt. It’s a short-sleeved American flag pullover, onto which he has ironed black felt letters across vertical red and white …

Leaving Religion Does Not Mean Leaving Society

By Ryan P. Burge and Paul A. Djupe Since the beginning in this country, it has been socially desirable to be religious. Americans have positive feelings toward religious people, on the whole, and negative feelings toward those who reject religion, which puts pressure on individuals to at least pretend to be religious. That was the …

‘Black neutron star’ discovery baffles astronomers

By Pallab Ghosh Scientists have discovered an astronomical object that has never been observed before. The object is more massive than collapsed stars, known as “neutron stars”, but lighter than black holes. Such “black neutron stars” were not thought possible and will mean ideas for how neutron stars and black holes form will need to …

Trump: Under a Liberal Supreme Court, Religion Will Be “Almost Wiped Out”

By Hemant Mehta During an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody tonight, Donald Trump went back to the only campaign strategy that ever works for him: Scaring white evangelical Christians into backing away from their alleged morality to vote for him because the alternative is UTTER CHAOS. In the clip below, he says that if he’s not …

Church tied to Oregon’s largest coronavirus outbreak

By Sara Cline A church in rural northeastern Oregon is now the epicenter of the state’s largest coronavirus outbreak, as 236 people tested positive for the disease, authorities said Tuesday. The outbreak also led to Oregon’s second consecutive record-setting daily case count. “I think generally we are seeing increasing numbers, which is what we expected …

Franklin Graham attacks Anthony Fauci because “Science isn’t truth. God is.”

By Bil Browning Evangelical leader and fervent Trump worshipper Franklin Graham has taken to Facebook to denounce Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for speaking about the anti-science bias that has been fomenting on the right for years now. “Science isn’t truth. God is,” the conservative mouthpiece declared. Graham, the son …

Why some physicists really think there’s a ‘mirror universe’ hiding in space-time

By Rafi Letzter A series of viral articles claimed that NASA had discovered particles from another parallel universe in which time runs backward. These claims were incorrect. The true story is far more exciting and strange, involving a journey into the Big Bang and out the other side. The sensational headlines had muddled the findings of an …

Priests eligible for JobKeeper asked to donate the extra allowance to their Catholic diocese

By Pat McGrath and Alison McClymont The Catholic Church has asked some priests receiving JobKeeper to donate almost half of the payment back to the organisation. ABC Investigations has obtained letters sent to priests about the taxpayer-funded payment which ask them to hand back some of the money to help make up for a plunge …

One of the nation’s largest conversion therapy networks is disbanding

By Michael Majchrowicz Hope for Wholeness, a prominent ex-gay ministry that boasts one of the most expansive networks of conversion therapy offerings in the United States, is disbanding. The Spartanburg, South Carolina-based organization, founded in 1999 as Truth Ministries, told members in an email Monday and obtained by NBC News that Hope for Wholeness would …