Religion
Category archives for Religion
Why I would believe in God if I wasn’t an atheist.
Posted by Greg Laden on February 15, 2016 
I have often made the argument that religiosity, a personal belief in god, spirits, the supernatural, etc., would emerge in human societies on its own if it wasn’t there already. Imagine taking an entire generation of people in a geographically isolated region, and wiping out their memory of religion, and also, removing all references to…
God-Awful: The Worst Religious Leaders of the Western World
Posted by Greg Laden on July 24, 2014 
There are a lot of great and admirable religious leaders. Gandhi. Some other guys. But there are also a lot of bad ones. Did you ever want to have a place to look up who these dudes are (and most, but not all, are dudes)? This may be especially helpful if you find yourself in…
The Nightmare That Was Christmas (Death Never Dies)
Posted by Greg Laden on December 22, 2012 
I remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday, even though it happened years ago, even before you were born. I screamed silently, pinned on my back by the massive weight of a cotton blanket, legs frozen, the dark lights flickering as the human-like form approached, its arms raised in front like The Mummy…
The Salvation Army, GLBT Rights, Harry Potter, and Your Spare Change
Posted by Greg Laden on November 17, 2012 And a little bit of separation of church and state to go along with this. Next time you go to the grocery store or some other place which has the Salvation Army out front with its bell and its bucket, there are two, not one, but two things you should do. The first thing you…
The War on Science: Interview
Posted by Greg Laden on November 5, 2012 This is an interview at Atheists Talk (TV), an update on the war on science, and a rare opportunity to see me wearing a suit. The first few seconds are sound free; do not adjust your television set. I mentioned the NCSE, here’s their web site. Here’s a couple of books related to the topic:…
Would you like a copy of Einstein’s Famous Religion Letter?
Posted by Greg Laden on October 16, 2012 Or even better yet, how about the original? It’s going up for sale on ebay. Here’s my copy of the letter: And the ebay site is here. The letter was written to the author of Choose Life The Biblical Call To Revolt, and includes this famous comment: … The word God is for me nothing…
Tradition!!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on November 18, 2011 Tradition. Not just a song from Fiddler on the Roof. You know the refrain: “The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.” It’s a great play but it is firmly rooted in the patriarchy, as “tradition” often is. There are many ways to define “tradition” and we can look it up somewhere and have a flameware over dictionary…
Our home grown racists show up at town hall to protest bedroom-community terrorists
Posted by Greg Laden on August 18, 2011 Plymouth, Minnesota plays a fairly important role in my life. It is a big suburb to the west of Minneapolis, a mainly liberal or progressive middle class bedroom community linked to first ring extra-urban commercial development based mainly on corn. Kellogs, Cargill, Mosaic, other companies that grow corn, use corn in making products, sell corn…
Spare the rod, save the child
Posted by Greg Laden on August 17, 2011 “Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” -Proverbs 22:6 This is a report of a Fundamentalist Christian couple who beat thier 7 year old child to death as part of the practice of corporal punishment to which they subscribed as…
Exorcisms are Affordable because of Michele Bachmann’s Generosity
Posted by Greg Laden on July 14, 2011 This is not new but it is current. In 2009, Michele Bachmann donated several thousand dollars to an organization that carries out exorcisms mainly on teenagers who have bee posessed by multiple demons. This has become increasingly popular among Christians … the idea that demons posses people on a regular basis. Right now, at least…