http://www.infidels.org/wire Current events articles of interest to atheists, freethinkers, and anyone interested in religious liberty en Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:22:14 GMT Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:22:14 GMT wire@infidels.org wire@infidels.org http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/atheism-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-20100320-qn86.html There are enduring mysteries, and the most pressing is why reason and logic are so rarely the primary means of resolving differences. The fact that people getting together to profess their love of reason and logic is threatening, however, isn't exactly reassuring. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2703846 When celebrity nonbeliever Richard Dawkins finished addressing his hundreds of Godless followers at the American Atheists Convention at Atlanta's Emory Center last April, the follow up act was a man virtually no one in the room had ever heard of. Onto the dais walked a middle-aged, doleful-eyed cab driver from Cranbrook, B.C., by the name of Nate Phelps. He had come to talk about how his childhood in a religious household had brought him to atheism. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/20/popes-letter-disappoints-abuse-survivors 'Pope Benedict has passed up a glorious opportunity,' says campaigning group of pastoral letter to Irish Catholics http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8577986.stm A senior commander of the Somali Islamist group, al-Shabab, has been shot dead at close range as he left a mosque in the city of Kismayo. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8577740.stm Pope Benedict XVI has apologised to victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland. http://www.slate.com/id/2247861/ Christopher Hitchens: The pope's entire career has the stench of evil about it. http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/18/ireland.abuse.abroad/index.html?hpt=Sbin Priest Francis Markey is sitting in an Indiana jail awaiting extradition to Ireland to face the charge that he raped a boy more than 40 years ago. http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/19/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html?hpt=Sbin Amnesty International is calling on Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to stop the execution of a Lebanese man sentenced to death for "sorcery." http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/03/18/ireland.abuse.fallout/index.html?hpt=C2 Kelly, now 59, spent much of his childhood living in institutions run by Catholic orders in Ireland. The abuse he remembers most vividly took place at a reformatory in Daingean, in central Ireland. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8575734.stm Pope Benedict has written a pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland with guidelines on preventing and punishing sexual abuse of children by priests. http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/daniel_c_dennett/2010/03/skeptical_clergy_a_silent_majority.html Here are some questions that have haunted me for years. How many preachers actually believe what they say from the pulpit? http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/18/394680/his-fortune-polishes-atheists.html Like many modern philanthropists, such as Bill and Melinda Gates or Warren Buffett, Stiefel is not motivated by religious zeal. In fact, Stiefel has become one of the country's biggest benefactors of atheist causes. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100318/christian-philosopher-explores-causes-of-atheism/ While atheists insist that their foundational reason for rejecting God is the problem of evil or the scientific irrelevance of the supernatural, the Christian philosopher says the argument is "only a ruse" or "a conceptual smoke screen to mask the real issue - personal rebellion." http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/heavens-above-this-pofaced-cynic-gives-atheism-a-bad-name-20100319-qm1r.html The trouble with Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist, is that he has no sense of humour. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-michael-johnson/the-unseen-and-unknowable_b_500299.html For those of you who grew up being taught to believe in unseen and unknowable forces but are now feeling like you've been hoodwinked, don't be afraid to say so. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997741 Scientists from universities like Harvard, Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins are using new technologies to analyze the brains of people who claim they have touched the spiritual. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124494788 Religious historian Philip Jenkins says scriptures from the Bible are more violent than those from the Quran. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/14/jihad-jamie-islam-terrorism-us US citizen Jamie Paulin-Ramirez detained in connection with alleged conspiracy to kill Danish cartoonist http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124572693 Bible scholar Bart Ehrman began his studies at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Originally an evangelical Christian, Ehrman believed that the Bible was the inerrant word of God. But later, as a student at Princeton Theological Seminary, Ehrman started reading the Bible with a more historical approach and analyzing contradictions in the Gospels. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8567144.stm The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland says he will only resign over claims he helped cover up sex abuse if he is asked to do so by the Pope. http://www.theledger.com/article/20100312/NEWS/3125036/0/APS?p=1&tc=pg The Lakeland City Commission is being challenged on its policy of beginning its meetings with prayer, part of an effort by a state atheist organization that is targeting the practice at other city councils in the region.