I recently finished Mark Lilla’s intellectual history of the separation of politics and political theology in Christendom, The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics and the Modern West. Interesting book, very illuminating in some respects. Still, I find myself ambivalent about it, overall. I thought I might write a short review to express why, but it seems … The Stillborn God

After complaints from religious villagers for forty years, Reeves, Louisiana’s telephone prefix has been changed from 666 to 749. I added a smartass comment on the story that “In other news, Satan has announced that the Antichrist is now going by the number 749,” but a much better response comes from Daniel Rutter on the … Reeves, Louisiana ditches 666 prefix

I thought for a moment I was reading The Onion, but this story is from what at least sometimes purports to be a real newspaper, the UK’s Daily Mail: The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism. Vatican chiefs are concerned at what they see as … Pope forming exorcist squads to wage war on Satan

There is a slightly irritating genre of religious writing in which a faithful person takes a superficial look at some infidel literature and emerges loudly proclaiming that the experience strengthened their faith. Michael Coren’s “Their Disbelief Is My Strength,” for example. Indeed, a particularly smug and clueless example. There’s nothing wrong with the basic idea. … “It only strengthens my faith”

Australia’s Daily Telegraph ran a story “Christ-miss for atheist celebs” on Christmas eve which features a gallery of celebrities who are atheists (but not celebrities because of their atheism), such as Keanu Reaves, Angelina Jolie, Rachel Griffiths, Richard Branson, Bob Geldof, Bill Gates, Katherine Hepburn, Jodie Foster, Marlon Brando, Ricky Gervais, John Malkovich, and Bjork. … Celebrity atheists gallery

The year-end issue of The Economist has three articles of interest regarding religion. One article, “The battle of the books,” describes how Christianity and Islam are competing to distribute their holy books and convert followers, and how their respective demographics have changed dramatically since 1900. In 1900, Islam had about 200 million followers concentrated in … The Economist on Mormons, the Bible vs. the Koran, and New Age

OK, so the Problem of Evil is one of the oldest and most prominent reasons to be skeptical about a benign God. I don’t emphasize it, since it says nothing about supernatural powers with an obnoxious streak, but I guess for people enculturated within a conventional monotheism it should raise a question or two. But … The Problem of Niggling Inconveniences

I just read The Cube and the Cathedral, by conservative Catholic theologian George Weigel. Silly book. Normally I don’t care much for grandiose theological pontifications on history and civilizations etc., but since this book seems to have made a name for itself as an example of Islamophobia and American conservative-style Europe-bashing, I thought I’d take … Cubes and Cathedrals

The paperback edition of Science and Nonbelief is out! I don’t expect it will be overflowing the shelves of small bookstores, but it’s there (and very cheap) on amazon.com at least. $12.89 makes Science and Nonbelief my most introductory, most accessible, and most affordable book on science and religion. Click and get one, or give … Science and Nonbelief paperback available!

I just read avery good article by Andrew F. March, “Reading Tariq Ramadan: Political Liberalism, Islam, and ‘Overlapping Consensus’”. It’s the best short piece I’ve run into that addresses what political demands can be made of conservative Islam if it is to be accommodated in an Anglo-American style liberal multicultural system. Here are March’s basic … Political Responses to Islam