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Atheists in the Pulpit?

If ministers can't even believe what they preach, how can anyone else have faith?

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The Faith Of Our President

August is a stupid month. It just got stupider, at least when it comes to faith and politics.

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The Unbearable Stupidness of Talking about the President’s Religion

Can we talk? I mean, can we talk about something that actually affects people’s lives?

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“You’ve Never Met a Muslim”

Four New York Muslims take the anniversary of 9/11 to reflect on piety and patriotism, on sharing classrooms and rituals of community life, on the courage and goodness of New Yorkers, and on the...

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Nuns Pray, Rangers Lose

So much for the efficacy of remote prayer. Or is there more to think about?

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Way Beyond Atheism: God Does Not (Not) Exist

Most principled atheists do not go beyond simple denial. They refuse to go further, to seriously question the ground beneath their feet. And, by holding on, consciously or not, to their unjustified...

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Lying about Santa: The Irrelevance of Proof to the Holiday Spirit

When a serious philosophical lecture on the origin and meaning of Santa Claus is interrupted by the tinkling of bells, jovial laughter, and the mysterious delivery of a case of beer, our writer has the...

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At National Prayer B’fast Obama Defends His Faith… Again

Some unsolicited advice on how Mr. Obama should talk about his faith.

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In Wake of Murder in Uganda, LGBT Group Protests Prayer Breakfast

Yesterday morning President Barack Obama gave the keynote address at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast, a longstanding tradition among presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower. The breakfast also drew...

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Thinking Theologically About Wisconsin Union Conflict

What has faith to say about the conflict between Scott Walker and state workers' unions?

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Unreasonable Doubt: Vincent Bugliosi Defends Agnosticism

When he’s not writing bestselling books, Vincent Bugliosi is a legendary prosecuting attorney. As such, he is certainly well acquainted with the legal policy of presumption of innocence. His newest...

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Teach Your Children Well: Challenging Religion-Based Sexism

During my lecture I faced a standing room crowd of heretics, fence sitters, curiosity seekers, and true believers bracing for a circus sideshow. Traveling across America to speak on freethought and...

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Melissa Harris-Perry: LGBT Advocates Need Public Progressive Faith

“As a black, feminist, marriage-equality advocate I reside at an important intersection in this struggle. This movement must acknowledge the unique history of racial oppression, while still revealing...

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Do Atheists Belong in the Interfaith Movement?

The atheist and the interfaith movements actually share a common point of origin: they both started, in part, as a reaction to religious extremism. Much like the atheist movement, the interfaith...

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Americans Lose Faith, Sinning with Transfats, the Elusive God Particle

A roundup of the week’s religion headlines.

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God Wants You to Work Harder, and to Stop Complaining

So-called “workplace spirituality” teaches people that the anxieties associated with global capital are inevitable, even part of the natural order of things. Under the highly deregulated conditions...

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Where Do “Sacred” Values Live in the Brain?

For the research subjects’ sacred values, the ones they wouldn’t give up on for any amount of money (they could ‘auction off their value’ for up to $100), what lit up in the brain were areas known to...

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A Valentine for the World…and for the Church I Left

I’m not an unbeliever. No way. My theology is fuzzy, a bit of a smorgasbord—Emerson and Tolstoy and Jesus and Augustine. I would be happily worshipping with Quakers if I could find any; the “inner...

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An Atheist Hero is Something to Be

Faith is completely redundant. It may take a long time for people to figure out it’s redundant, but given what we know about psychology and the way the brain works and the way evolution has taught us...

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Harold Camping Is Not Sorry

Harold Camping admits he was wrong, but only in the most technical way. He wasn’t really wrong, he is saying, because he trusts God, and was just passing God’s false prophecy along. It’s not that he’s...

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Coming Out As a Heretic

For folks who are unorthodox but aren’t atheists, who care about metaphysics but who aren’t mystics, perhaps the good old-fashioned term “heretic” will satisfy. 

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Herman Cain Sings For the Press

Jesus may be looking beyond the candidate's faults, but we're not.

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Faith and Football: What the Gospel Church Can Learn from the NFL

Who knew it would turn out that the NFL has a thing or two to teach the gospel church about love, acceptance, and the struggle to overcome in a world of injustice?

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Toward a Non-Malignant Faith: An Interview with Brian McLaren

What McLaren is after is a Christian faith that is not automatically hostile to other faiths and to no faith: he calls this “strong-benevolent” Christianity, observing along the way that only active...

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Muhammad’s Doubt

Is there any there there without it?

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No Zombies Here, Just a Bunch of Women Talking to the Dead

Title: Talking to the Dead: Music, Religion, and Lived Memory among Gullah/Geechee Women Author: LeRhonda...

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‘I Don’t Buy It’: The Gospel According to Frank Underwood

With bonus: 12 Quotes from the Underwood Bible

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Rubio’s Awkward Balancing Act Between Evangelicals and Catholics

Marco Rubio’s “Faith” evangelical outreach ad, which debuted in Iowa over the weekend, can be seen...

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Why Faith Needs Redemptive Struggle to Be Meaningful

I have had the honor of working extensively with the Rev. Dr. William Barber II,...

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Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed” Depicts Death Struggle Between Hope and Despair

A younger Paul Schrader might have chosen to end this film, which many critics are calling his masterpiece, in apocalyptic violence. But I don’t think it’s quite right to conclude that Schrader has...

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