…but only because they didn’t actually go through with it: Three men who announced their intention to burn copies of the Koran and the Bible on Bern’s Parliament Square last November have been acquitted by a Swiss court. The book burnings never took place but the three, two Indians and a Swiss, were charged with violating … Read more
Are you by chance a directionless hipster? Someone who is into the body mods, but doesn’t much care what he/she gets or what ideology lies behind it? Then this might just be the product for you: a random religion-choosing tattoo machine. The strongest indication of a person’s religion is geography. You are born into your religion. That … Read more
No, I won’t. Not when people in positions of power to do so, such as Senators Harry Reid and Lindsey Graham, suggest that perhaps they ought to take some sort of action against people like Terry Jones and his congregation for their blasphemy: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says congressional lawmakers are discussing taking some … Read more
I’m not sure it’s actually worthwhile to delve too deeply into the mind of Terry Jones. He’s far from the only Islamophobe in America, and his reasoning behind the Qur’an burning wouldn’t matter too much even if it were abundantly clear– which it isn’t. A valid argument can be made that paying any more attention … Read more
Doesn’t care about the difference between a secular nationand a Muslim theocracy, and you shouldn’t either. That’s what Newt Gingrich is afraid his country will become by the time his grandchildren are adults, if people like him do not themselves dominate. The full quote: “I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9,” … Read more
The Psychologist‘s April issue is dedicated to psychology, religion, and spirituality, and you don’t need a subscription to read articles such as “The Cognitive Science of Religion” by Justin Barrett and Emily Reed Burdett. Update from the New York Times on the gang rape in Cleveland, Texas– it’s worse than we thought. Much worse. … Read more
Dan Savage reports that pro-gay marriage advocates are protesting outside the home of a florist who refused to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding: “Not cool.” Radley Balko points to a story of New Jersey police arresting five teenagers after a noise complaint…and then leaving them in the police van out in the freezing cold … Read more
According to Wikipedia, Pareidolia ( /pærɪˈdoʊliə/ parr-i-DOH-lee-ə) is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse. … Read more
Let’s say you’re pregnant, and really don’t want to be. Maybe you were raped and conceived as a result, or maybe your birth control just failed. After thinking the matter over, you’ve decided that an abortion is what you want. It isn’t something you take lightly, but you feel that it’s the right decision. Once … Read more
From the American Family Association’s spokesman, Bryan Fischer: Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam. Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy. While there certainly ought to be a presumption of religious … Read more