Monday, February 20, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Bill Moyers Essay: Freedom of and From Religion
February 16, 2012 on BillMoyers.com
In this video essay, Bill Moyers addresses the question of how to honor religious liberty without it becoming the liberty to impose on others moral beliefs they don’t share. The recent debate over contraception coverage in Catholic hospitals and other faith-based institutions brought this question to the forefront, but then something surprising happened — a reasonable, practical, and equitable solution from President Obama that took the political steam out of what some saw as a holy war.(via RDnet)
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Italy Plans to Tax Vatican on Commercial Property
From BBC News:
Italy's Catholic Church faces an annual multi-million euro bill over government plans to strip it of its tax-exempt status.
Prime Minister Mario Monti has announced the Vatican must pay taxes on non-religious property, from which it previously enjoyed an exemption.
The annual cost could be up to 720m euros ($945m; £598m) according to municipal government bodies.
Italy's Catholic Church has 110,000 properties, worth about 9bn euros. It includes shopping centres and a range of residential property.
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
BBC Newsnight: Secularism vs. Religion in National Affairs
February 15, 2012 on BBC Two
Richard Dawkins, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali and Ruth Gledhill discuss secularism in the UK
Andrew Copson and Anne Atkins discussing "militant secularism"
BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson on the BBC News channel, discussing Baroness Warsi's claims of 'militant secularism' with Anne Atkins.(via RDnet)
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Fears for Blogger After Extradition to Saudi Arabia
From Euro News:
Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari has been deported from Malaysia back to Saudi Arabia. The 23-year-old columnist had sparked outrage following controversial Twitter comments on the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed which were seen to be insulting.
The columnist had fled the oil-rich kingdom and was arrested in transit through Kuala Lumpur airport on Thursday. Malaysia and Saudi have close ties.
Some Islam clerics had called for him to face the death penalty. Blasphemy is a crime punishable by execution under Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. It is not a capital crime in Malaysia.
Human rights groups have protested. Adding to the controversy is a claim his lawyer had obtained a court order preventing deportation, but had not been allowed to see his client.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Richard Dawkins & Lawrence Krauss - Something From Nothing?
Join critically-acclaimed author and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and world-renowned theoretical physicist and author Lawrence Krauss as they discuss biology, cosmology, religion, and a host of other topics.via RichardDawkins.net
The authors will also discuss their new books. Dawkins recently published The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True, an exploration of the magic of discovery embodied in the practice of science. Written for all age groups, the book moves forward from historical examples of supernatural explanations of natural phenomena to focus on the actual science behind how the world works.
Krauss's latest book, A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing, explains the scientific advances that provide insight into how the universe formed. Krauss tackles the age-old assumption that something cannot arise from nothing by arguing that not only can something arise from nothing, but something will always arise from nothing.
Founded in 2008, the ASU Origins Project is a university-wide transdisciplinary initiative aimed at facilitating cutting edge research and inquiry about origins questions, enhancing public science literacy, and improving science education. Since its inception, the Origins Project has brought the world's leading scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, to Tempe to explore origins questions. The Origins Project has hosted workshops and public events that have focused on questions as fundamental as the origin of the universe, how life began, the origins of human uniqueness, and the origins of morality.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
New Rule: Atheism is not a religion! - Bill Maher
February 3, 2012 on Real Time with Bill Maher
The Real Time host brings Mitt Romney's father-in-law back to the realm of the dead atheist.
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