Afghanistan is hit by brain drain as the ‘best and brightest’flee Taliban rule. (Los Angeles Times) The re-emergence of Taliban rule has triggered the departure of thousands of highly skilled Afghans from what is already one of the world’s most under-developed nations. As the insurgents continue to tighten their grip, people with “a wealth of …
The number of confirmed exoplanets stands at 3,500, of which, scientists believe, at least some are potential Earths, with very similar characteristics. This poses a theological and philosophical conundrum for many religions, especially Christianity, which focuses on mankind and teaches that God created man in his own image, exclusively on our one small planet. So …
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A former U.S. official doesn’t view the Afghanistan withdrawal as an ‘intelligence failure’! Sue Gordon, who served as a top U.S. intelligence official under both the Trump and Obama administrations, said Sunday that she would not characterize the American withdrawal from Afghanistan “as an intelligence failure”, despite widespread criticism about how the Trump and Biden …
Message from a British evangelical christian “I am British. Some while ago I visited the American South Western states, including Wyoming Colorado and Arizona, and was amazed at the lack of general knowledge among the people we met and with whom we had lovely conversations . “May I suggest that the basic reason for the …
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From 1937 to 1998 church membership in the US remained relatively constant, hovering at about 70%. But over the past two decades, that percentage has dropped to less than 50%, the sharpest recorded decline in American history. Meanwhile the atheists, agnostics and those claiming no religion, have grown to represent a quarter of the population. …
Last week the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Catholic Social Services (CSS), a private foster care agency that receives public funds. In March 2018, the city of Philadelphia learned that CSS, an agency it hired to provide foster care services to children in the city’s care, would not work with same-sex …
Continue reading ‘Fulton v. City of Philadelphia: Religion and politics’ »
Nobody is sure exactly how or why the Prince Philip cult movement began, though there are various theories. One idea is that villagers may have seen his picture along with the Queen’s on the walls of British colonial outposts when Vanuatu was still known as New Hebrides, a colony administered jointly by Britain and France. …
Continue reading ‘Part 2. Prince Philip: God to the Vanuatu tribes! How and why?’ »
The Vanuatu tribes are mourning the death of their ‘god’: the late Prince Philip (of all people). For years two villages on the Vanuatuan island of Tanna (in the Pacific) have revered the Duke as a god-like spiritual figure. “The connection between the people on the island of Tanna and the English people is very …
Continue reading ‘Prince Philip: God to the Vanuatu tribes! Part1’ »
“The only mystery in life is why the kamikaze pilots wore crash helmets.” – Al McGuire My comment: I was brought up to believe that they were not crash helmets, but head-dresses you wore in deference to the Emperor. Death was clearly nothing to these poor, wretched pilots. Just shows the danger of cults and …
An 8-year-old Oklahoma girl has been expelled from school for telling another girl she had a crush on her. Delanie Shelton says officials at the Rejoice Christian Schools told her daughter Chloe that just expressing same-sex attraction was a violation of the Bible. Shelton said Chloe had been “ripped away” from teachers and friends, …
Remember how, at the beginning of the pandemic, everyone used to chirp “we’re all in this together!”? You don’t hear much of that any more because it’s embarrassingly obvious we’re not. Watching wealthy people, who have the means to shield from the virus, being vaccinated before many essential workers is infuriating. Even worse is the …
More than 100 prominent evangelical Christian pastors and church leaders have condemned the “perversion” of Christian nationalism and its role in the insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January. In an open letter, the leaders said they were speaking out because they did not want to be “quiet accomplices in this ongoing sin”, and called …
Studies have shown that attending church frequently does not make white christians less racist. In fact, the data suggests that the opposite is true. The connection between holding more racist views and white christian identity is actually stronger among white evangelicals who attend church frequently than it is among those who attend less frequently. My …
It is well documented that less religious nations tend to be more prosperous. This is most true of the advanced democracies, but also usually holds elsewhere – see how officially atheistic China outperforms more pious India. The trend tends to hold up within countries too: the most irreligious US states are better off than the …
Prior to the election in swing states where lots of evangelicals vote, $140,000 worth of billboards contrasted biblical quotes with those of President Donald Trump. One had an image of Jesus on the left with the phrase, “Turn the other cheek,” while on the right was a photo of Trump saying, “I’d like to punch …
