religion

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Pastor Who Questioned Hell Dumps Megachurch

'Love Wins' author is taking his message on the road

(Newser) - Holy hell. A beloved local evangelical preacher who dared to question the notion that some people spend eternity suffering for their sins in hell has quit his Michigan megachurch to pursue "strategic opportunities." Rob Bell's book Love Wins sparked a furious controversy among conservative evangelical theologians. Bell...

Virginia School Board Sued Over Ten Commandments

Civil liberties groups want plaque removed from hallway

(Newser) - Dispatches from the church-and-state front:
  • Ten Commandments: Civil liberties groups have sued the school board in Giles County, Virginia, demanding that a Ten Commandments plaque be removed from a high school hallway. The board says it's simply part of a display of historical documents, including the Declaration of Independence,
...

Candidates&#39; Faith Is Our Business


 Candidates' Faith 
 Is Our Business 
BILL KELLER
Aug 25, 2011 2:36 PM CDT

Candidates' Faith Is Our Business

Candidates need to answer clearly about their religious beliefs

(Newser) - It's time to "get over" our squeamishness of talking frankly about religion in public life, especially when so many Republicans running for their party's presidential nomination have such unusual and strong religious beliefs, says Bill Keller in the New York Times . Two are Mormons, and three others...

Crosses to Be Removed From San Diego Hillside

Officials received complaints about monuments on public property

(Newser) - It could be the end of days for a few crosses outside San Diego. The California Department of Transportation plans to remove three long-standing crosses from public property after receiving complaints about them, reports the San Diego Union Tribune . The large monuments have stood just east of a state highway...

&#39;Dead&#39; Pastor: I Saw Heaven
 'Dead' Pastor: I Saw Heaven 
Aug 4, 2011 4:44 AM CDT

'Dead' Pastor: I Saw Heaven

Minister reports magnificent gates, spectacular music, old loved ones

(Newser) - A Baptist minister who was declared dead says he "saw heaven" during that time and details meeting dead loved ones, smelling aromas he had never experienced before and hearing music "beyond spectacular." It was the "most real thing that ever happened to me," Pastor Don...

Group Sues to Stop Perry's Prayer Day

Texas governor shouldn't have endorsed event, group argues

(Newser) - The amusingly named Freedom from Religion Foundation isn't happy with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and it's filed a lawsuit claiming that he's violated the First Amendment ban on government-endorsed religion. Perry organized and promoted a Christian prayer event that the group of atheists and agnostics now wants...

NBC Slammed for Dropping 'Under God' From Pledge

Network issues apology amid Twitter fuss

(Newser) - NBC sparked a furor on Twitter after it omitted the words “under God” from of the Pledge of Allegiance during its US Open coverage—twice. In the pre-taped segment, kids recited the pledge as patriotic images appeared on screen. The first time, the words “under God” and “...

Pay Up and We'll Rid You of Demons: Alleged Scammers

Claimed a Rolex watch would allow them to cleanse one person of evil spirits

(Newser) - Three women are accused in Florida of scamming people out of thousands of dollars by promising to cleanse them of evil spirits. Federal prosecutors in Fort Lauderdale say 36-year-old Polly Evans; her daughter, Olivia, 22; and Polly's sister, Bridgette, 32, are facing federal fraud charges and being held without...

Believers Spread the Word: World Ends Next Month

1,000 signs erected as May 21 approaches

(Newser) - Many already know not to plan anything for May 22; but for those who aren’t aware of the upcoming apocalypse, believers are spreading the news. Subscribers to Harold Camping’s school of thought have already erected some 1,000 billboards around the nation. “Seven billion people are facing...

Protesters Smash &#39;Piss Christ&#39;
 Protesters Smash 'Piss Christ' 
Apr 19, 2011 8:50 AM CDT

Protesters Smash 'Piss Christ'

Catholic activists hit it with a hammer in Avignon museum

(Newser) - A pair of extreme Catholic protesters celebrated Palm Sunday this weekend by bursting into the Museum of Contemporary Art in Avignon, France, and smashing Andres Serrano’s (in)famous photograph “Immersion Piss Christ,” and some other works of art they objected to, with hammers. According to a French report...

Hunger Activists Starve to Protest GOP Budget Cuts

Cuts come 'on backs of poor, hungry,' say strikers

(Newser) - With the GOP salivating over budget cuts, a group of religious leaders and anti-hunger activists are going on a hunger strike in response to measures they say go too far. “The budget is a moral document,” said former Rep. Tony Hall, the head of the Alliance to End...

Ex-TSA Employee: I Was Fired Because I'm a Witch

Carole A. Smith claims religious discrimination got her canned

(Newser) - Carole A. Smith ranked among the top 10% of workers when it came to catching weapons on the X-ray machine at New York's Albany International Airport. So why did the TSA fire her? She says it was over her religious beliefs: Smith is a practicing Wiccan, or, as she calls...

Ex-Minister: Why I Decided to Support Homosexuality

Murray Richmond preached against it, until he talked to gay men

(Newser) - When Murray Richmond became a Presbyterian minister in 1989, "homosexuality was an invisible issue," he writes for Salon . But over the next five years, "it became The Issue," and Richmond found himself forced to choose a side—and chose the "incredibly obvious" one, he recalls....

Churchgoers More Likely to Be Obese

 Churchgoers 
 More Likely to 
 Be Obese 
study says
Mar 25, 2011 11:25 AM CDT

Churchgoers More Likely to Be Obese

Researchers suspect all those church functions are to blame

(Newser) - Achieving inner peace comes with a price, apparently. People who go to church regularly are more prone to pack on the pounds, reports Time . In one analysis, researchers at Northwestern University found that those who attended church or some kind of church function a minimum of once a week were...

Religion Going Way of the Dodo, Says Math Team

 Religion to Die Out in 9 Nations 
say math researchers
Mar 22, 2011 5:00 AM CDT

Religion to Die Out in 9 Nations

Mathematical model points to extinction in Australia, Austria, Ireland

(Newser) - Religion is bound for extinction in nine nations where it's already in decline, according to researchers using mathematical models. The researchers applied the principle of "nonlinear dynamics" to census data from the countries—Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland—and predicted...

Alabama Gov: OK, You're All My Brothers!

Robert Bentley's really sorry if he offended non-Christians

(Newser) - Robert Bentley is quickly getting the hang of being a politician: Alabama's new governor stuck his foot in it in his first hour in office, and now he's rapidly mastering the art of apologizing. "If anyone from other religions felt disenfranchised by the language, I want to say I...

Leading Atheists Are Way Too Smug
Today's Leading Atheists
Are Way Too Smug
OPINION
Dec 29, 2010 8:21 PM CST

Today's Leading Atheists Are Way Too Smug

S.E. Cupp thinks her fellow non-believers need some humility

(Newser) - Some of the leading voices of modern atheism—the likes of Christopher Hitchens, Bill Maher, and Sam Harris—tend to view people of faith as closed-minded fools, writes fellow atheist S.E. Cupp in the Daily News . But with their smug condescension, she thinks they're the ones guilty of the...

Let's Stop Lecturing Once-a-Year Churchgoers
Let's Stop Lecturing
Once-a-Year Churchgoers
OPINION
Dec 23, 2010 10:05 AM CST

Let's Stop Lecturing Once-a-Year Churchgoers

Reverend: Instead, we should celebrate they're still coming

(Newser) - The Rev. Scott Black Johnston knows his church will be packed tomorrow night with people who attend only once a year at Christmastime. But he's not bemoaning the fact—he's celebrating it, especially in an age where more young people than ever claim no faith. "Instead of wagging our...

The Real Reason Religious People Are Happier

It's not because of God...

(Newser) - It's relationships with people—not God—that make religious people happy, a new study suggests. While several studies have shown that when it comes to life satisfaction, the devout are more satisfied than nonbelievers, the latest findings show that's because of the social network they build at church. "We...

Coming to Kentucky: Creationism Theme Park

Complete with 500-foot Noah's Ark replica

(Newser) - Disneyland, pshaw. Soon the new hot amusement park will be located in Kentucky, and called ... Ark Encounter. The Christian theme park will include, among other attractions, a 500-foot-long Noah's Ark complete with live animals, a Tower of Babel replica, and a re-created first-century Middle Eastern village. "Make no mistake...

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