There are now very few places left where students can study religion in a secular context. This makes no sense in a multicultural and multi-faith society.

Important US research to reduce HIV infection may have been prevented in recent years because scientists have censored their funding requests in response to political controversy, according to a study published on Tuesday.

Don’t get me wrong–it’s not that I am anti-religion. Not at all. I think religion can be–CAN BE–one of the greatest things in the world, provided it’s done right. More specifically I think Jesus was THE greatest guy who ever walked Your green earth and as much as possible I try to live my life in such a way that I imagine He would find agreeable or–dare I hope–laudable.

A visually stunning two-hour special edition of "Nova" examines decades of archaeological studies that contradict much of what is in the Bible. The entire Exodus story is debunked, as is the idea that the Israelites were monotheistic following the contract made between God and Abraham. It turns out idol worship was common through the reign of King David and right up to the Babylonian exile.

The Bush administration on Thursday urged a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of Amish farmers in Michigan claiming RFID chips required on cattle "are a mark of the beast."

Some 6,000 Ecstasy pills were seized Friday during a police raid on two synagogues in Rishon Lezion's Shikun Hamizrach neighborhood.

Local police, who were tipped off about the drugs a few days ago, found 3,000 Ecstasy pills and a pistol concealed in the ceiling of a synagogue on Shivtei Yisrael Street.

A former Hamilton resident who worked the audio-visual system for an area church allegedly sent child pornography while on the job.

Warning: Contains X-Rated Language

Israeli police rushed into one of Christianity's holiest churches and arrested two clergyman after an argument between monks erupted into a brawl next to the site of Jesus' tomb.

The clash broke out between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

Thousands have lost their jobs and had their homes repossessed but an Anglican bishop says the credit crunch is a gift from God.

The Bishop of Lewes, the Right Reverend Wallace Benn, believes the economic slump is God’s way of shaking Britain from its materialism.

Shaken by military defeat and economic depression after War World I, Germans sought to restore their nation’s dignity and power. In this context the National Socialist Party, with its promise of a revivified Germany, drew supporters. Among the most zealous were a number of Catholic clergymen known as “brown priests” who volunteered as Nazi propagandists.

North Carolina Dinosaur Elizabeth Dole lost her race last night. This was a race she was winning by a landslide and she yet she lost it in a landslide. Why? Because she made a TV ad which was openly prejudice to non-religious people. In it she accused her Christian opponent of being an atheist and "Godless" because she hung around atheists and allowed them on a forum which Dole thought they should be banned from.

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss from Naturei Karta (Protectors of the City) discusses the basic tenets of Judaism and how Zionism is an affront to Judaism.

The Transformations videos are advertised as having been viewed by 200 million people in 70 languages. A star of the videos is none other than Thomas Muthee - the same man whose anointing of Sarah Palin has become an issue in the 2008 presidential campaign. But the videos are important for far more reasons than Palin and Muthee. Muthee's words, just prior to anointing Palin, on invading and infiltrating society and government are not aberrations. They reveal the disturbing ideology of a growing and powerful religio-poltitical movement in the U.S. and around the world.

The nun said she was sexually assaulted by a rioting mob at the end of August, days after the murder of a Hindu priest sparked attacks by Hindu extremists on the Christian community in the East coast Orissa state.

Ms. Palin’s faith has come under scrutiny after two videos taken in her former church surfaced on YouTube and became immediate sensations. The first showed a visiting preacher from Kenya praying fervently over Ms. Palin in a gravelly voice and asking God to favor her campaign for governor and protect her from “every form of witchcraft.”

Well, there was that inquisition thing, and the burning of the witches, and forced conversions, and the (un)holy crusades, and, well, payback is gonna be a bitch!

As strange as it sounds, people in the US do not know that the
oldest Christian community in the world still hails from Palestine,
the birthplace of Jesus. This is a moving video clip of that
community set to Andrea Bocelli singing 'Ave Maria'.

The complete slogan reads: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

Vatican hardliners warned at the weekend that Pope Benedict XVI was pre-varicating on launching the formal process of sainthood to maintain good relations with Israel, where there is strong opposition to canonisation of a church leader accused of not speaking out strongly enough against genocide.

Bishop reminds Catholics to remember Judgment Day in the voting booth.

Bishop Robert J. Herman, the administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, has written a column reminding Catholics that their vote will be a decision weighed on the Day of Judgment. He urged Catholics not to treat the unborn as the neglectful rich man treated Lazarus in the biblical parable.

In a newly disclosed legal memorandum, the Bush administration says it can bypass laws that forbid giving taxpayer money to religious groups that hire only staff members who share their faith.

Yesterday I saw an article in Newsweek that said that Christians in India were being abused. It was the sort of dedicated disinfo that gets churned out by lying, agenda driven hacks who write what they get told to write since journalism got buried in an unmarked grave.

I have friends in India who keep me abreast of what’s been going on there and from what I am told, the Christians are rapacious in their efforts to gain political power and access to the ‘goodies locker’ by any means necessary.

A US judge has thrown out a case against God, ruling that because the defendant has no address, legal papers cannot be served.

A long-running row over the rights to a rooftop section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre could bring the entire structure tumbling down, destroying Christendom's holiest site.

British authorities say a vicar stands accused of allegedly sending herself a dead hedgehog and dog feces to prove herself a crime victim.

Venezuelan police officer Sofia Aguilar denounced the Vatican Tuesday for granting asylum to Nixon Moreno, the leader of a violent opposition student group called March 13th Movement (M13) that waged violent protests in 2006, during which Aguilar was assaulted and nearly raped, and Aguilar's police partner was left in a coma.

Bill Maher is preaching to the choir with "Religulous," a documentary that dissects organized religion, but he's doing it in his laceratingly funny, typically sardonic way.

The Bible devotes some 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but over 2000 verses on money and possessions.

At a three day religious conference held in Everett, Washington last summer, on June 13, 2008, Glazier described how, nearly two decades ago, her movement helped propel Alaska Independence Party candidate Walter J. Hickel, in an upset write-in campaign, into the Alaska governor's office: Glazier's new prayer group member, a 24 year old woman named Sarah Palin, would later follow.

Some terrified that mere perception of impropriety could ruin their lives.

Has the so-called Prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That's what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of Pentecostal Christianity believes. While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California at Riverside, he realized that Prosperity's central promise — that God will "make a way" for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, dangerous expression during the subprime-lending boom.

Woman claims Arkansas court denied her child custody due to alleged wicca practices.

The lawsuit alleges the military allows religious discrimination by fundamentalist Christians who try to force their views on others, especially subordinates. Its examples include programs for soldiers, presentations by "anti-Muslim activists" and a "spiritual handbook" for soldiers endorsed by Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East.

On Pulpit Freedom Sunday, pastors from 20 states will reclaim their constitutional right. From the pulpit, they will advise their congregation what scripture says about today’s issues apply those issues to the candidates standing for election just like their forefathers did for 150 years.

A west suburban man is suing a former Catholic priest for allegedly providing marriage counseling to the man and his estranged wife, then quitting the church and moving in with the wife.

One of the major problems America faces is a large population of religious fundamentalists who have become as fanatical in their own way as any Middle Eastern Ayatollah. At present, they are caught up in their own version of the myth of the end of the world, and hope that by working to bring it about, they'll get to sit at the right hand of their diety and to hell with everyone else. No doubt fistfights will break out over who gets to sit closest, but that is a subject for another article.

Sarah Palin's churches are being portrayed by many religion writers as typical of traditional Assemblies of God congregations. This includes claims that she may share the endtimes belief that the godly will be snatched from the earth in the Rapture and therefore avoid the reign of the Antichrist in the Tribulation and the Apocalypse. This conclusion completely ignores the fact that Palin's churches are deeply involved in the activities and beliefs of a nondenominational movement that is sweeping the globe. The followers of this movement are not waiting around for the Rapture!

"The Bible says that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It's high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity running the economics of our nations. That's what we are waiting for. That's part and parcel of transformation. If you look at the -- you know -- if you look at the Israelites, that's how they work. And that's how they are, even today."

The FBI says evangelist Tony Alamo has been arrested in Arizona on suspicion of transporting minors across state lines for sexual purposes.

Constitutionally, the United States guarantees the Freedom of ALL Religions – as well as the Freedom FROM Religion. One can worship as one pleases and one can also refrain from worship, as one pleases. This is one of the reasons for the separation of “Church” and “State”.
Whenever “Church” and “State” have been combined, both have become corrupted. Thomas Paine showed this eloquently in his writings.

FBI agents and state police raided an evangelist's headquarters Saturday as part of a child pornography investigation and said they planned to remove several children from the complex, run by a man previously accused of child abuse.

Is this country ready for a president who is excited about and eagerly looking forward to the Rapture?

The witch hunter, aka Pastor Muthee, was the guest pastor from Kenya that appeared at Palin’s church, The Wasilla Assembly of God, and “prayed over” Sarah to help her become governor.

Muthee began his life in ministry in Africa by hunting down a local woman named Mama Jane after proclaiming her a witch.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, six months of fervent prayer and research identified the source of the witchcraft as a local woman called Mama Jane, who ran a “divination” centre called the Emmanuel Clinic.

It seems the Church of England owes Charles Darwin an apology.

At least that's the opinion of Rev. Malcolm Brown, head of the church's public affairs department. In a statement Monday, Brown faulted the church for initially misunderstanding Darwin's theory of evolution.

Sarah Palin may be a governor and a vice presidential candidate, but in the hyper-masculine world of the Christian right she is subservient to a male hierarchy that claims to speak for God.

Two Sydney men have been charged with more than 220 sex offences against a young woman during 'prayer sessions' to remove curses.

The young woman has told police she went to numerous 'prayer sessions' at various hotels between 2001 and 2005 where she was blindfolded and sexually assaulted

An Italian comedienne faces prosecution for insulting the Pope, an offence that carries a prison sentence of up to five years.

Sabina Guzzanti, noted for her sharp satirical wit and lampoons of the powerful, is accused of "offending the honour of the sacred and inviolable person" of Pope Benedict XVI at a rally in Rome in July at which opposition leaders accused Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister and media tycoon, of passing ad personam laws to protect his own interests and avoid prosecution for alleged corruption.

I asked how she felt about the second coming and the end times. She responded that she fully believed that the signs of Jesus returning soon "during MY lifetime," were obvious. "I can see that, maybe you can't - but it guides me every day."

The renowned German writer Günter Grass once wrote: "History, or, to be more precise, the history we Germans have repeatedly mucked up, is a clogged toilet. We flush and flush, but the shit keeps rising."

A theocrat is a theocrat, whether Muslim or Christian.