Free Talk Live

Atheists know more about religion than the religious

Why is anyone surprised at the findings of a new survey of American religious knowledge, released last week by the Pew Forum, which demonstrate that atheists and agnostics know more about religion than the religious do? The only religious groups comparable to atheists in general religious knowledge are Jews and Mormons. Atheists even know more about Christianity than American Christians.

Our Humanity, Naturally

Nine bullets fired from close range ended the life of Salman Taseer last month, making the Pakistani governor the latest high-profile victim of religious violence. Taseer had the audacity to publicly question Pakistan's blasphemy laws, and for this transgression he paid with his life.

Irish homeowners can now legally shoot anyone who enters their property – a move that has been slammed by civil liberties campaigners in a row with Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

Earlier today, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against New Hampshire’s School Choice Scholarship Act of 2012, which offers tax credits worth 85% of corporate donations to registered, non-profit scholarship organizations that fund low- and middle-income students attending non-public or home schools. The ACLU argues that since parents can use the scholarships at religious schools, the law violates two provisions of New Hampshire’s constitution: the historically anti-Catholic “Blaine Amendment” and the “compelled support” clause.

"According to the research, animals fed on three strains of genetically modified maize created by the U.S. biotech firm Monsanto suffered signs of organ damage after just three months. The findings only came to light after Monsanto was forced to publish its raw data on safety tests by anti-GM campaigners."

The Libertarian Party has done it again.

In Las Vegas this weekend, Libertarian Party national delegates nominated former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson as their representative to challenge Barack Obama for the Presidency, leaving Ron Paul as the only libertarian left in the race.

To say the least, those that truly believe in the non-aggression principle are disappointed with the third largest political party's choice to challenge the statist status quo.

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, is among a group of prominent Australians who have declared the ''war on drugs'' a failure in the most significant challenge to drug laws in decades.

Michigan lawmakers approve key parts of hardline anti-abortion law package - Michigan lawmakers have voted in favour of key parts of anti-abortion laws that pro-choice campaigners claim could shut down most abortion clinics in the state. The state's House of Representatives voted by 70 to 39 in favour of the main new piece of proposed legislation on Wednesday, with two more bills still awaiting votes. The law is now set to move to the state's Senate in September and is likely to put Michigan are the forefront of America's battle over abortion rights.

Judge George Caram Steeh in Detroit has squashed a challenge to the health care bill by upholding the law's insurance purchase requirement as constitutional--not because there is any constitutional backing for forcing "citizens" to purchase services, but because enforcement of the law will fail without the provision: "Without the minimum coverage provision, there would be an incentive for some individuals to wait to purchase health insurance until they needed care." Huh, government school told me the three branches were supposed to challenge each other.