religion

Stories 181 - 200 | << Prev   Next >>

Pastor Arrested for Protesting School's Demon Mascot

Georgia cleric demonstrates against satanic imagery

(Newser) - A Georgia pastor was arrested today for protesting a high school's mascot, the Macon Telegraph reports. Donald Crosby and about 30 others gathered outside Warner Robins High School, whose mascot is a demon. But the picketers didn't have a permit to protest, and Crosby was arrested when he refused to...

Thinking About God Stresses Out Atheists

But for believers, it's a source of peace

(Newser) - Thinking about God activates a part of the brain that relieves stress, but only for believers—atheists experience heightened stress when exposed to God-related ideas. A study by Canadian researchers found that when those with religious beliefs were primed to think about God, it decreased activity in the anterior cingulate...

US Clergy: Overweight, Depressed, Burned Out

Pastors, rabbis, imams really need a vacation

(Newser) - They have higher rates of obesity, hypertension and depression than the general population, their life expectancy is shrinking, and many of them wish they had a different job. The clergy, once a profession associated with happiness and health, has a growing problem with burnout. Even the most immediate remedy—a...

Pope Slams 'Deplorable' Church Sex Raids

Belgian police action 'unprecedented'

(Newser) - Raids by Belgian police investigating priest sex abuse are "deplorable," an angry Pope Benedict lashed out yesterday, adding to the chorus of Vatican criticism of the Belgian government. Police last week searched several Catholic Church buildings and seized nearly 500 files and a computer in Leuven, Belgium. Belgium...

Christ Wasn't Crucified: Scholar
 Christ Wasn't 
 Crucified: Scholar 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Christ Wasn't Crucified: Scholar

Ancient texts make no mention of crosses, crucifixion

(Newser) - Christ probably died tied to a pole instead of nailed to a cross, claims a theologian who has pored through ancient texts. There is no mention of nailing people to crosses as punishment in Greek, Roman, and Hebrew literature from the time of Homer to the first century AD, Gunnar...

Women: Scientologists Made Us Abort

Pregnancies punished with shunning

(Newser) - Women in the Scientology sect who became pregnant were ordered to have abortions—and were punished with manual labor, interrogation, shunning, and separation from their husbands if they resisted, according to a lengthy expose in the St. Petersburg Times . Former members of the group known as Sea Org also recount...

Stephen Hawking: Science 'Will Win' Against Religion

Religion is based on authority, science based on reason: physicist

(Newser) - Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has spent his life probing the cosmos for answers—and doesn't think much of those provided by religion, he tells ABC News . "What could define God is thinking of God as the embodiment of the laws of nature," Hawking says, but that isn't...

Blogger Launches Bus Ad Attack on Islam

It's a crusade against the 'Islamization of America'

(Newser) - A New York City blogger is launching a crusade against "the Islamization of America" —using the sides of 40 NYC buses. "Fatwa on your head? Is your community or family threatening you? Leaving Islam?" read the ads pasted on the buses. "Got questions? Get Answers" it...

Take That, Supreme Court: Mojave Desert Cross Stolen

Theft follows Court ruling that cross can stay put

(Newser) - Somebody unhappy with the high court appears to have taken the law into their own hands by making off with the controversial 7-foot-tall cross that the Court recently ruled could remain on display in the Mojave Desert. The cross, a memorial to soldiers who died in World War I, vanished...

Add Kagan, and High Court Won't Have Any Protestants

Court rarely reflects country's faith mix well

(Newser) - If Elena Kagan is confirmed, the Supreme Court will have six Catholics, three Jews, and, for the first time in history, not a single Protestant. That might not seem as important as it used to, but Ed Kilgore of FiveThirtyEight decided to take a quick look at the court's historic...

To replace John Paul Stevens, an atheist - latimes.com
 Put an Atheist on 
 Supreme Court 
opinion

Put an Atheist on Supreme Court

(Newser) - President Obama should "absolutely" take into account the religious views of his next nominee for the Supreme Court, but not for the usual reasons, Marc Cooper says. "Clearly, the next person to take the bench should be an atheist," he writes for the Los Angeles Times . Having...

Preacher Arrested for Calling Homosexuality a Sin

UK Baptist charged with harassment, abusive language

(Newser) - A UK minister was arrested for harassment after publicly calling homosexuality a sin. Baptist preacher Dale McAlpine spent seven hours in jail on charges that because he had made the remark loudly enough for others to overhear, it constituted abusive language. McAlpine was handing out religious pamphlets in public when...

Churches Counsel Porn-Addicted Women

In new frontier for evangelicals, women pray to resist porn

(Newser) - "Every time I'm tempted" to look at porn, says Kelsie, 17, "I'll just let everything out to God." Kelsie is a member of a support group for women addicted to pornography that meets at an evangelical megachurch in Kansas. While churches have long offered men Christian counseling...

Millennials Are 'Mushy' Christians
Millennials
Are 'Mushy' Christians

Millennials Are 'Mushy' Christians

Young adults avoid church, are 'more spiritual than religious'

(Newser) - Devoted Christians are hard to find among young adults: a new survey found that 72% of 18- to 29-year-olds describe themselves as "more spiritual than religious." Though 65% describe themselves as Christian, most never or rarely go to church, pray with others, or read the Bible. While Christianity...

Near-Death 'Heavenly Lights' Linked to CO 2
 Near-Death 'Heavenly 
 Lights' Linked to CO2 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Near-Death 'Heavenly Lights' Linked to CO2

Study ties carbon dioxide to eerie visions

(Newser) - That "heavenly" light at the end of the tunnel may have more to do with carbon dioxide than an afterlife, a new study finds. Slovenian researchers studying near-death experiences found that people who reported seeing their life—or light—flash before their eyes had higher levels of CO2 in...

White House Renews Seder Tradition

(Newser) - Among the families around the world gathering tomorrow to celebrate the beginning of Passover with a dinner, or seder, will be a high-profile group: the Obamas. The White House seder tradition started on the campaign trail in 2008, when then-senator Barack Obama surprised three staffers by showing up for their...

Sikh Completes Basic Training
 Sikh Completes Basic Training 
1st in decades

Sikh Completes Basic Training

Ends policy that effectively banned Sikhs

(Newser) - Cap. Tejdeep Singh Rattan yesterday became the first Sikh in a generation allowed to compete US army basic officer training without sacrificing the articles of his faith. He got a waiver from the Army to serve with unshorn hair and a turban, an exemption to a policy that has effectively...

Stewart Does Another Glenn Beck Takedown

Gawker: 'One of his greatest segments ever'

(Newser) - Jon Stewart took another run at Glenn Beck on the Daily Show last night. In a 13-minute spoof that Gawker 's Matt Cherette calls "probably one of his greatest segments ever," Stewart plays Beck in all his God-fearing, progressive-bashing glory. It was, writes Cherette, a "complete and...

Condom Machine in School Enrages Vatican

Italy's first, church says it 'trivializes sexuality'

(Newser) - Just a few miles from the Vatican, Italian teens can now buy condoms from vending machines in the bathrooms of their high school—and the Catholic Church is none too happy. In a rebuke to the church's position on birth control, the school yesterday became the first in all of...

Duggar Critics See Fringe Cult
 Duggar Critics See Fringe Cult 
19 kids & counting

Duggar Critics See Fringe Cult

Enquirer notes link with group that wants to overthrow government

(Newser) - If the National Enquirer is to be believed, the Duggars don’t have 19 children simply because they love kids: No, it’s because they belong to a cult that plans to take over the US government. Jim Bob and Michelle, stars of TLC’s 19 Kids & Counting, are...

Stories 181 - 200 | << Prev   Next >>