Christian Patriarchy and Emotional Incest

April 4, 2012 By 17 Comments

Libby Anne has a fascinating and troubling series on emotional incest and how Christian patriarchy actively cultivates it. The whole thing is must read. Here are a few key selections:

Filed Under: Christianity, Christianity, Feminism, Feminism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Women's Issues Tagged With: , , , , , 17 Comments

Against The Religiously Lazy Defenders of The Pious

March 4, 2012 By 8 Comments

Religious moderates and liberals come in many stripes. In this post I want to talk about a couple of related kinds of religious moderates or liberals and why they irk me. In order to do that, I want to draw some distinctions that I do not think I see anyone else making but which it [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy Of Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates 8 Comments

Libby Anne on Growing Up Fearing The Rapture

February 18, 2012 By 6 Comments

Libby Anne details some of the anxieties she and others felt growing up as true believers in the rapture: I was very afraid the rapture might occur and I might be left behind. One morning when I was ten or twelve I woke up and couldn’t find anyone in the house. Before I realized that [...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Christianity, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism Tagged With: , 6 Comments

Support Hamza Kashgari However You Can

February 13, 2012 By 1 Comment

Maryam Namazie has been on top of the story of Hamza Kashgari, a 23 year old Saudi journalist whose life is on the line after he tweeted the following on Mohammad’s birthday: “On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Islam, Islam, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Theocracy, Theocracy, Theocrats, Theocrats Tagged With: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Kidnapped for Christ

February 10, 2012 By 8 Comments

A trailer for a documentary about a Christian discipline camp in the Dominican Republic. One of the kids is there because he’s gay (natch). via End Hereditary Religion.com Your Thoughts?

Filed Under: Homophobia, Homophobia, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism 8 Comments

Religious Privilege and Grievance-Based Catholic Identity Politics on Full Display

February 7, 2012 By 12 Comments

In a column last week, Melinda Henneberger criticized the Obama administration’s refusal to exempt the Catholic Church from requirements it provide for its employees health insurance which would cover birth control at organizations it runs which have secular functions. The column is an extraordinary exemplification of religious entitlement, identity politics, and anti-secular, anti-democratic demands for [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Faith, Feminism, Feminism, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Law, Law, Law & Politics, News Discussion, News Discussion, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Rape, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Issues Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 12 Comments

"What Are The Limits of Church Authority In the Public Sphere?"

February 5, 2012 By 55 Comments

This is part 2 of a debate with Roman Catholic theology graduate student named Mary. In part 1, we introduced and began to debate the topic of whether or not universities, hospitals, and social agencies run by the Catholic Church should be exempted from laws requiring employers to provide their employees health insurance that covers [...]

Filed Under: Abortion, Abortion, Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Authoritarianism, Authoritarianism, Authority, Authority, Autonomy, Autonomy, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Bio-Medical Ethics, Bio-Medical Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Feminism, Feminism, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homophobia, Law, Law, LGBTQAA, News Discussion, News Discussion, Personal, Philosophy, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Rights, Religious Rights, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Rights, Women's Issues Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 55 Comments

Now A Muslim Extremist Terrorizes The Audience, Not Just The Speaker

January 17, 2012 By 5 Comments

The New Humanist recounts a chilling, appalling, infuriating story: Yesterday evening, a talk on “Sharia Law and Human Rights” organised by the Atheism, Secularism and Humanism Society at Queen Mary, University London, had to be cancelled after threats of violence. The talk was due to be given by Anne Marie Waters of the One Law [...]

Filed Under: Islam, Islam, News, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, World Affairs, World Affairs 5 Comments

The Author of The Cranston High School Prayer Outraged

January 14, 2012 By 22 Comments

This week, Jessica Ahlquist and the ACLU won their court case against Cranston High School West in Rhode Island. The school was ordered to immediately remove a banner containing an official school prayer addressed to “Our Heavenly Father” and ending in “Amen”, which hung over the school gymnasium as an unambiguous endorsement of the Christian [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, News, News Discussion, News Discussion, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Theocrats Tagged With: , , , , 22 Comments

Mother Tries To Perform Exorcism On Gay Son, He Eventually Kills Himself

January 12, 2012 By 19 Comments

This is EricJames Borges’s “It Gets Better” video posted last month, on December 10. In it he explained, among other things, that his mother tried to perform an exorcism on him after he came out of the closet. Yesterday, on January 11, still only 19 years old, he killed himself. He was an intern with the [...]

Filed Under: Homophobia, Homophobia, LGBTQAA, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism 19 Comments