religion

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Dawkins to Battle the Harry Potter 'Delusion'

Atheist author will write children's book to wean kids from magic

(Newser) - Evengelical atheist Richard Dawkins will take on Harry Potter in his next book, the Daily Telegraph reports. The God Delusion author is working on a book aimed at teaching children not to put their faith in "anti-scientific" fairytales. The professor plans to examine what effect raising children on stories...

A-Rod a Sudden Fan of Kabbalah

Yankees star attends services at LA venue favored by his rumored paramour

(Newser) - Is Alex Rodriguez trading strip clubs for spirituality? The newly single Yankees star denies dating Madonna—who recently split with hubby Guy Ritchie—but his actions suggest otherwise, the New York Daily News reports. This week, A-Rod was spotted at Los Angeles’ Kabbalah Centre, where Madge is a regular—and...

Powell's Anti-Islamophobia Stance Tops Endorsement

Too many in both parties let stabs at Muslim faith go unparried

(Newser) - Colin Powell's Barack Obama endorsement wasn’t the only, or even most, notable aspect of his Meet the Press appearance: equally crucial was his rejection of Islamophobia, an issue too long skirted in this country, Abed Z. Bhuyan writes in the Washington Post/Newsweek Faithbook blog. In doing so, “Colin...

Sony Recalls Video Game for 'Islam Insult'

Koran quotes discovered in music track

(Newser) - Sony has held up distribution of a top video game after the discovery that it contains quotations from the Koran in a background music track, reports the BBC. Copies of Playstation 3 game LittleBigPlanet have been recalled and Sony has apologized. A modified version will be released next month. The...

Top Evangelical Weighs Candidates
Top Evangelical Weighs Candidates
OPINION
Oct 15, 2008 4:45 PM CDT

Top Evangelical Weighs Candidates

Obama 'has given faith more thought and reflection,' Cizik writes

(Newser) - The presidential race is a contest between different sets of philosophy, writes Richard Cizik, president of the National Association of Evangelicals. In an NAE newsletter, Cizik says Barack Obama is “a thinker who sees the grays in ethical choices” while McCain opts for the “clarity of moral opposites”...

Christianity in China Grows Quickly, Quietly

Government puts total enrollment at 21M; others say 130M

(Newser) - Despite government restrictions, Christianity in China is widespread and growing. Authorities typically look the other way, occasionally applying pressure that only seems to spread religion's influence, reports the Economist. Most of the Protestant "house churches" consist of 25 people—the largest legal gathering—where new Christians lead newer converts...

O'Rourke Looks on the Sunny Side of Death
O'Rourke Looks on the Sunny Side of Death
OPINION
Sep 30, 2008 9:30 PM CDT

O'Rourke Looks on the Sunny Side of Death

Satirist's curable cancer prompts musings on life's end

(Newser) - A cancer diagnosis with a 95% chance of survival, while it might not let one “stare death in the face,” at least gives PJ O’Rourke a chance to muse on the end of the road. At first, he “cursed God, as we all do when we...

French Muslims Find Freedom in Catholic Schools

Students get better education, and allowed to wear headscarf

(Newser) - France has Western Europe's largest Muslim population, but its strict separation of church and state means that Muslim girls are forbidden from wearing the headscarves in public schools. In response, many Muslims have turned to an unlikely solution: the nation's large network of Catholic schools. "There is respect for...

Clerics to Defy IRS, Endorse Candidates From Pulpit

Ministers aim to test constitutionality of ban

(Newser) - Pastors from 22 states plan to purposely defy the IRS this Sunday by endorsing presidential candidates in their sermons, the LA Times reports. The so-called “pulpit initiative” aims to trigger a legal showdown, testing the constitutionality of the law forbidding such endorsements by tax-exempt groups. “There is nobody...

Bible Underpins Palin's Politics

Her church promotes gay 'cure,' she hoped Alaskan pipeline was 'God's will'

(Newser) - Sarah Palin's pastors say an abiding faith in the Bible is at the core of her personal and political life, the New York Times reports. She attends the nondenominational Wasilla Bible Church. Its links to groups which seek to convert Jews and "cure" gays have caused concern—but townspeople...

Palin Might Also Have Pastor Problems

Wasilla church leader Kalnins says Bush critics will go to hell

(Newser) - It turns out Sarah Palin has a controversial preacher of her own: Ed Kalnins, senior pastor at the Wasilla Assembly of God, which the Alaska governor has attended much of her adult life. Radar compiles some of his greatest hits:
  • On the Bush Administration and Katrina: "I hate criticisms
...

Koran More Feminist Than Bible: Scholar

Muslim text 'more modern' than Christian regarding women

(Newser) - Certain passages in the Koran give women more freedoms than the Bible, a Dutch philosopher tells Radio Free Netherlands. On the site bibleandkoran.net, Marlies ter Borg compares texts on economic independence, marriage, and divorce from both books to dispel what she calls misconceptions about the Islamic faith. "In...

Israeli Divorce Spurs Debate Over Who Is Jewish

(Newser) - A divorce ruling in Israel has thrown thousands of Jewish conversions into question and sparked a debate over who is really Jewish, the Washington Post reports. Ultra-Orthodox rabbis, who frame one side of the dispute, refused to let a Jewish convert divorce last year, saying she was never married because...

The Real Loser at the Pastor Rick-Quisition: America

Warrren's examination of candidates' faith was absolutely un-American

(Newser) - Discussion of whether John McCain or Barack Obama "won" Saturday’s Saddleback inquisition misses the point, Kathleen Parker writes in the Washington Post. When the presidential candidates are publicly interrogated on their beliefs by a minister, even one as exemplary as Rick Warren, the only winner is the minister—...

Candidates Score in Pastor Rick-a-thon
 Candidates Score
 in Pastor Rick-a-thon
OPINION
Aug 17, 2008 12:43 PM CDT

Candidates Score in Pastor Rick-a-thon

Even in a non-debate, pundits still find a way to label somebody a winner

(Newser) - Pastor Rick stressed that last night's Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency wasn't a debate, but that won't stop the pundits from deciding who came out ahead:
  • Byron York, of the National Review, sees the night as a big win for McCain, who's had a "much bigger life."
...

Candidates Bound for Spiritual Showdown

(Newser) - The presidential candidates will put their spiritual views on display tomorrow night, appearing with Rick Warren, the country's most popular pastor, at his megachurch in California. The back-to-back 1-hour interviews are clear signs of both the importance of religion in the campaign and the emergence of a new type of...

McCain Recalls POW Prayers, Tests of Faith

Generally quiet on religion, candidate open about Vietnam

(Newser) - John McCain has kept relatively quiet about his religious beliefs and practices, but he speaks freely on the spiritual significance of his captivity in North Vietnam from 1967 to 1973. Ahead of tomorrow's sit-down with Rick Warren, the candidate tells the Chicago Tribune about his harrowing experience in the Hanoi...

Young Evangelical Vote Is Up For Grabs

They no longer automatically claim Republican mantle

(Newser) - When Barack Obama and John McCain meet with pastor Rick Warren tomorrow, they’ll be fighting for the future of an increasingly split evangelical voting block, the Washington Post reports. Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, is at the forefront of a movement rippling through young evangelicals and prompting...

Dem Platform Reaches Out to Pro-Lifers
Dem Platform Reaches Out
to Pro-Lifers
ANALYSIS
Aug 13, 2008 12:53 PM CDT

Dem Platform Reaches Out to Pro-Lifers

Obama approves language that finds 'common ground'

(Newser) - The Obama campaign is reaching out to Catholics, evangelicals, and other anti-abortion swing voters by adjusting the language of the official Democratic platform on the controversial issue, Alec MacGillis writes in the Washington Post. The new party plank moves "closer to the middle ground where most Americans reside—not...

140 Killed in India Temple Stampede

40 children among the dead in mountaintop pilgrimmage

(Newser) - At least 140 people, including at least 40 children, were killed today in a stampede when a restraining rail gave way at a Hindu temple in northern India, the BBC reports. The pilgrims were attending a 9-day religious festival. Authorities used a cable car to remove the injured from the...

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