ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 77

30 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 after religious revival in Idaho Falls

By Eric Grossarth At least 30 people who attended a religious revival in Idaho Falls have been diagnosed with or are suspected to have COVID-19. The Idaho Falls Potter’s House Christian Center on Lomax Street held a multi-day revival near the end of May. In the days following the event, people who attended began showing …

A Sliver Of White Evangelicals Abandoning Trump, But That May Be Enough

By Daniel Schultz Donald Trump is losing the 2020 election, but you’d hardly know it by looking at the latest survey of various religious groups by PRRI (and by “various religious groups,” I really mean “mostly white Christians”). PRRI says that 66% of white evangelicals look favorably on Pres. Trump, as do 44% of white mainline …

‘I find it baffling and reprehensible’: Catholic archbishop of Washington slams Trump’s visit to John Paul II shrine

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey and Michelle Boorstein President Trump triggered sharp condemnation from top religious leaders for the second time in two days on Tuesday, with Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory slamming his visit to a D.C. shrine honoring Pope John Paul II. On Monday, Trump’s appearance in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church across from …

Black Hole Seen Blasting Out Jets at Close to the Speed of Light

By Evan Gough The Chandra X-Ray Observatory has spotted a distant black hole shooting out jets of material, at close to the speed of light. No worries, this beast is about 10,000 light years away from us. It’s more of a spectacle than a danger. But it’s a spectacle laden with scientific insights. I know …

One in Five Americans Believe that a Democrat will Ban the Bible

By Paul A. Djupe and Ryan P. Burge By now, everyone has seen it. The photo op that came at the cost of tear gassing (banned in war by the Geneva Convention) and shooting protesters outside the White House, so Trump could hold up a bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, while a …

Israeli scientists dig up cannabis traces in ancient temple

By Ilan Ben Zion Israeli archaeologists say they’ve found cannabis residue on artifacts from an ancient temple in southern Israel — providing the first evidence of the use of hallucinogenics in the ancient Jewish religion. In a research paper, the authors say the discovery from an 8th-century B.C. shrine at Tel Arad offers the first …

Trump Poses With Bible After Mobilizing Military Against Protesters

By Michael Stone Shades Of Theocracy: President Donald Trump posed with a Bible in front of St. John’s Church after promising to use the U.S. military against the widespread demonstrations protesting the killing of George Floyd by police. Escalating an already tense situation, Trump, speaking  to the press at the White House Rose Garden, said …

With SpaceX’s first astronaut launch, a new era of human spaceflight has dawned

By Mike Wall We’ve gotten our hopes up before. The success of NASA’s Apollo moon missions half a century ago, for example, made Mars seem very much within reach for human explorers. Indeed, the space agency drew up plans to put boots on the Red Planet by the early 1980s, but shifting political and societal winds killed that …

Supreme Court rejects challenge to limits on church services

By Mark Sherman A divided Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal by a California church that challenged state limits on attendance at worship services that have been imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Over the dissent of the four more conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s four liberals …

‘Look what he’s taken from me’: the deadly toll of Catholic church sex abuse on Guam

By Anita Hofschneider Roosters crow in the distance as Walter Denton gestures toward a white one-storey concrete building behind a church in Agat, a village in southern Guam. “You know, just standing here, right behind you, that is where I was raped,” says Denton, 56. It has been more than three years since Denton first went …