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Bart Ehrman, prolific author, New Testament scholar and former evangelical Christian, says it took him eight years to research and complete his new book, How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. Yet, a group of fellow scholars responded in their book, How God Became Jesus, by claiming that the Christian-turned-agnostic's "sloppy" scholarship on Jesus' divinity leaves much to be desired. Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, says his research reveals that Jesus, a first century Galilean, never claimed to be God, and that it...

W. C. Harris is a radical gay activist and Professor of Queer Studies and Early American Literature. He says that homosexuals are still cruelly oppressed in America, even though some of them may end up with very comfortable jobs as university professors.... He is particularly angry with the Christian right for oppressing him.... So he would like to abolish Christianity altogether....and replace it with that he wittily calls “Gaytheism,” i.e., homosexual atheism. Unlike beastly old Christianity, this new religion will meet our spiritual needs with “new forms of community that do not harass and malign gay and lesbian Americans or...

Cosmos Scrubs Religion's Positive Influence from the History of the Scientific Revolution Casey Luskin March 25, 2014 5:45 AM | Permalink We live in interesting times. On the one hand, we're constantly assured that science and religion don't conflict. At the same time, we're told -- sometimes by the same people -- that religion hinders science. Perhaps this is to be expected. Materialists want to project a religion-friendly image because popular culture expects it, while at the same time they make arguments that they hope will ultimately erode religious belief. This requires a tricky balancing act, on vivid display in...

Tickets for the upcoming debate on the viability of creationism between "The Science Guy" Bill Nye and Creation Museum CEO and President Ken Ham sold out within minutes, but information has been released for how people can still watch it via live streaming. "Sorry, all tickets for the debate with Bill Nye sold out within minutes!" Ham posted on Facebook on Monday, when the $25 tickets for the Feb. 4 debate at The Creation Museum's 900-seat Legacy Hall in Petersburg, Ky., went on sale. The debate will center around the question: "Is creation a viable model of origins in today's...

It’s a debate that will surely end with a Big Bang. Bill Nye “The Science Guy” will square off with Ken Ham, the founder of the Kentucky Creation Museum, in a February discussion on the subject of teaching children evolution. The spiritual showdown, which is unlikely to with either man relinquishing their firmly-held beliefs, will take place on Ham’s home turf of Petersburg, Ky. “Having the opportunity to hold a cordial but spirited debate with such a well-known personality who is admired by so many young people will help bring the creation-evolution issue to the attention of many more people,...

If you have a chance, I recommend each of you carve out the evening of Dec 20, from 7-9pm, to watch CNN. The show is called After Jesus: The First Christians, and it is an excellent and stimulating presentation of the first four centuries of the Christian faith. CNN kindly sent me an advanced copy and I have watched it in its entirety. Dec 21, in the morning, I would like to begin a conversation on this blog with those who watched it the evening before. (It will also be replayed Friday Dec 22 at 10pm and 1am; Saturday Dec...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It looked like a typical Sunday morning at any mega-church. Several hundred people, including families with small children, packed in for more than an hour of rousing music, an inspirational talk and some quiet reflection. The only thing missing was God. Nearly three dozen gatherings dubbed "atheist mega-churches" by supporters and detractors have sprung up around the U.S. and Australia — with more to come — after finding success in Great Britain earlier this year. The movement fueled by social media and spearheaded by two prominent British comedians is no joke. On Sunday, the inaugural Sunday...

The atheist community hailed last year’s scientific confirmation of the existence of the Higgs boson, for which the British theoretical physicist Peter Higgs was co-recipient this past week of the Nobel Prize in Physics. Higgs had theorized, all the way back in 1964, that there must be something that gives subatomic particles their mass, which enables them to form atoms, which, in turn, form molecules, all of which is integral to creation as we know it. That something turned out to be the Higgs boson. And its discovery, declared Dan Barker, co-president of the so-called Freedom From Religion Foundation, an...

The Sunday Assembly, co-founded by comedian Sanderson Jones, will make a stop in New York during its U.S. tour. The location for the sermon will be at Tobacco Road, a 'bikini bar' where the staff has vowed to cover up during the service.The British atheists are coming to Hell’s Kitchen! After six months of packed houses at monthly services in London, an atheist congregation called The Sunday Assembly is bringing its movement to the U.S. The co-founders will soon embark on a cross-country tour to decide which cities might support their own permanent Sunday Assembly franchise, and the first test...

People like Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion (Amazon USA) , (Amazon UK) , and Christopher Hitchens, who wrote God Is Not Great (Amazon USA) , (Amazon UK) , et al, when attacking “religion”, play on various ambiguities. They create ambiguities in their choice of terms and then these ambiguities are convenient for them. The first instance of ambiguity is the use of the term “religion”. It puts together all sorts of people and doctrines which may have very little in common. To give an analogy, the flat earth theory is undoubtedly a theory of physics. It says something...

"We know that a large population of 'Christians' are actually atheists who feel trapped in their family's religion. If you know god is a myth, you do not have to lie and call yourself 'Christian' in order to have a festive holiday season. You can be merry without the myth, and indeed, you should," said David Silverman, President of American Atheists.

Atheist techies fearful of the Word of God 'corrupting' young and impressionable minds are hoping that when school resumes in September, their revolutionary new Internet filtering software will keep kids safe in the classroom from the ultimate online predator, namely, God. "GodBlock is a web filter that blocks religious content," states the company's website. "It is targeted at parents and schools who wish to protect their kids from the often violent, sexual, and psychologically harmful material in many holy texts, and from being indoctrinated into any religion before they are of the age to make such decisions." Not even the...

I have read Christopher Hitchens’s book God Is Not Great twice, in preparation for a book I have co-written with Biola University philosopher Dr. John Mark Reynolds. Due to come out this spring, our book is titled Against All Gods: What’s Right and Wrong About the “New Atheism.” Because not all readers may know at once who the new atheists are, I will say that they are a group of very fervent opponents of “religion,” of whom the best known are zoologist and science popularizer Richard Dawkins, Tufts University philosopher Daniel Dennett, and Hitchens. What is new about these atheists...

Not only are they out to get us, they want our children too. “They” being the atheist stalkers that seek to undermine every shred of faith in God. They are sometimes blatant and sometimes sneaky, but they know what they are doing. Consider the “Atheist Pocket Debater,” a new iPhone app released last month. The competition is stiff with more than 150,000 apps on the market, yet “Atheist Pocket Debater” is currently ranked #100 in popularity. Here is the iTunes description:“Atheist Pocket Debater” gives many ways to argue against Christians, Creationists, and Bible thumpers. It is set up for very...

More than 2,000 atheists from around the world are gathering in Melbourne, Australia, to celebrate their lack of religious belief. It is thought to be the world's largest gathering of atheist thinkers. They plan to issue a statement on what they say are the negative effects of religion on society. All 2,500 tickets were sold out earlier this year, but a religious gathering at the same venue in December attracted three times as many delegates. The Global Atheist Convention is bringing together scientists, philosophers, writers and comedians, says the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Christopher Landau. They will be joined by...

...atheists in Australia appear to have demonstrated that they have more money than they know what to do with by wasting it on bus ads that read “Atheism - celebrate reason.” Atheists have, again, come very close to quoting that which the Bible has stated for almost 3,000 years, “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD (Isaiah 1:18). The ads are occasioned by the upcoming “Global Atheist Convention” in Melbourne a convention that is being titled, “The Rise of Atheism” and billed as the “biggest ever atheist event in Australia’s history.” This convention will feature the best and...

Letter to a Christian Nation Sam Harris, Knopf, $16.95, 112 pages   For those unaware of Sam Harris, his bestseller The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason established him as the American atheist laureate, the Yankee counterpart of the Brits' Richard Dawkins. Now comes the inevitable follow-up: Harris has composed a Letter to a Christian Nation for our edification. Harris is no H. L. Mencken. He is not even in Dawkins's league. But, I confess, I like him anyway. Unlike many of our culture's atheists who pretend to be friendly to religion -- and speak to...

ctor Sam Elliott claims that the Catholic Church prevented Hollywood from proceeding with the next two film’s in the His Dark Materials trilogy based on Philip Pullman’s books. “The Catholic Church ... lambasted them,” said Elliott. “I think it scared New Line off.” The film...angered Catholics who accused it of promoting atheism. In the book trilogy, set in a series of parallel worlds, heroine Lyra fights the Magisterium, an evil organisation some have interpreted as being based on the Catholic Church. Pullman, 63, told the Western Mail: "If Sam is right then I am very disappointed because it obviously would...