There is an interesting recent book by two Catholic sociologists, Andrew Greeley and Michael Hout: The Truth about Conservative Christians (The University of Chicago Press, 2007). Much of it is not news to anyone who has been paying attention to the conservative Protestant subculture, though Greeley and Hout put a very useful emphasis on the … The Truth about Conservative Christians

I recently read a review of Robert Morey’s 21-year-old book The New Atheism at Bill Muehlenberg’s CultureWatch blog, which describes Nicholas Capaldi’s The Art of Deception as “a famous atheist debating guide, in which every trick in the book is offered to fellow atheists as they attack theists.” There are just a few problems with … Christian deception about The Art of Deception

There’s an interesting draft of a report to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that lists recent creationist and intelligent design activity in Europe, both Muslim and Christian. It’s interesting that enough of this is going on to require such a concerned report, though naturally the level of anti-evolution activity in Europe remains … Creationism in Europe

Susan Blackmore has an interesting op-ed opposing faith in The Guardian. The common understanding of faith, “Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence,” however, is a bit fishy. No doubt that’s often how it’s presented: I’ve had no end of students who conceive of faith as having to do with realities … Faith

Brink Lindsey has an interesting post at his blog about the increasing numbers of nonreligious people globally over the last five decades, and speculation about why the U.S. remains so religious. He suggests that it’s not the separation of church and state (with Australia and New Zealand as counter-examples to the U.S.), but ethnic heterogeneity … Global trends towards secularization

There is a lot of prejudice toward religious nonbelievers in many parts of the United States; indeed, throughout much of the world. We’re not trusted. One of the first questions we face is whether we can be moral — after all, even if perchance we might behave decently, what possible basis can we have for … Nonbelief and mainstream values