by Richard Dawkins Donald Trump was surely right when he said, in 2012, “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy . . . A total sham and a travesty”. And he confirmed his sensible view on November 13th, 2016 (after winning the election by the Electoral College system, but losing the popular vote) …

Richard Dawkins 24 Oct 2017   I had tweeted an invitation to attend lectures in various parts of Britain by Saba Douglas-Hamilton, who grew up among wild African elephants while her father, Iain Douglas-Hamilton was conducting his pioneering studies of their ecology and behaviour, and he and his wife Oria were fighting the poachers. Saba’s …

By Michelle Goldberg In 2004, “60 Minutes” aired a segment on what it called “virus hunters,” scientists searching for bugs that can leap from animals to humans and cause pandemics. “What worries me the most is that we are going to miss the next emerging disease,” said a scientist named Peter Daszak, describing his fear …

By Dennis Carter The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision in June Medical Services v. Russo could give anti-choice politicians in 15 states the green light to drastically reduce abortion access. If the conservative justices ignore precedent to rule in favor of Louisiana’s admitting privileges requirement, a wave of laws designed to shutter abortion clinics under the guise of patient …

By Paul A. Djupe and Ryan P. Burge Last fall, we wrote about the extent to which white Protestants believed Donald Trump was anointed by God to be president of the United States. Just 21% believed this, but evangelicals were more likely to believe it (29%), and Pentecostals were the most likely (53%). This belief didn’t …

By Chrissy Stroop Are the nonreligious a marginalized group in America? When I brought this question up to a friend who lives in New York the other day, he was skeptical. Practically everyone he knows is an atheist, he says, as if this were the most natural thing in the world. As someone who grew …

By Paige Embry The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) has arrived in North America. In the past several days photographs and videos have surfaced showing how viciously this insect has attacked honeybees elsewhere in the world: it crawls into hives and rips off the heads of bees in large numbers—making its supervillain nickname, “murder hornet,” …

By Kelsey Dallas The Supreme Court on Monday will hear its final religious freedom case of the current term. According to some legal scholars, it saved the most significant for last. On its surface, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, which was consolidated with St. James School v. Biel, seems to pose a basic question. …