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Larry Sanger may be a lifelong skeptic, but the co-founder of the world’s most popular online encyclopedia is certain he’s had a dramatic conversion to the Christian faith. Sanger, 56, who co-founded Wikipedia in 2001 along with Jimmy Wales in pursuit of a “free and open” internet, detailed his roughly 35-year journey from “skeptical philosopher” to Christianity in a new blog on his personal website. Outlining a philosophy he called "methodical skepticism," which rejects any belief that cannot be known "with certainty,” Sanger said after years of questioning and weighing the arguments for and against God's existence, he found himself...

I have used eleven Nuggets to investigate the notion of life on earth and whether there is a possibility of life elsewhere and have come to the conclusion that the Earth is the perfect place for life and the chances of life elsewhere is remote. The Bible makes it clear over both Genesis accounts of creation (Genesis 1 and 2 – read Beginnings) that God made the heavens and the Earth for the habitation of the crowning glory of His creative acts. There are commentators who regard the first two chapters of Genesis as an account of two different and...

Imagine a universe where fundamental mysteries about our existence are so finely tuned that they seem orchestrated by some unseen cosmic necessity. What if this idea, a theory known as the “Anthropic Principle” and one often invoked to explain the seemingly improbable, could be tested and potentially falsifiable? A groundbreaking study on axion dark matter by Dr. Nemanja Kaloper, a physicist from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Alexander Westphal, a professor at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Germany, now proposes a method for testing the Anthropic Principle, potentially shaking the foundations...

Bill Gates, the mega-rich billionaire whose wife divorced him after he was exposed as a frequenter of Jeffrey Epstein’s Little Saint James island, has announced on Reid Hoffman’s podcast that a new religion should be created, centered around Artificial Intelligence. Gates, who is worth an estimated to be worth 104 billion dollars and is currently the 15th richest man in the world, has followed in the lead of John D. Rockefeller, who founded the Rockefeller Foundation in 1906 as a means to cloak his monopolistic venture capitalism in a veil of purported charity. Like Rockefeller, who attempted to rebrand his...

The number of people in the United Kingdom who identify as atheist is greater than those who say they believe in God, according to a research project examining why people reject religion. Explaining Atheism, a three-year program overseen by Queen’s University Belfast in collaboration with other academic institutions launched in 2022, presented interim findings earlier this year on the levels of atheism in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom. According to the research project, from 2008 to 2018, the number of Brits who don't believe in God rose from 35.2% to 42.9%, leaping ahead of belief in God, which dropped...

Christian prayer is usually an unchallenged activity in Britain, often constructed as benign or even positive. But in some contexts, prayer can be experienced as intimidating, particularly when it is deemed “out of place” or when the motives for prayer are questioned. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that praying outside of abortion clinics is considered wrong by most of the British public. In the wake of legislation – that has been passed but not yet enacted – to stop activism in the immediate vicinity of all abortion clinics in Britain, anti-abortion campaigners have reacted strongly, arguing that legislating against...

Pro-lifers are often accused of opposing abortion solely for religious reasons. If you follow Secular Pro-Life on Twitter long enough, you will see tweets from pro-choicers claiming SPL is really a Christian group. Some pro-abortion people say that atheists like me who oppose abortion are closet Christians who have no reason for our views except for our (alleged) faith. Pro-abortion people have also used this argument to discredit religious pro-lifers. Even when a religious pro-lifer relies solely on secular arguments, they almost invariably hear that they only oppose abortion because their religion tells them to. Sometimes, though, it is pro-choicers...

“Would you ever consider altering your genetics?” It was late in the afternoon when I popped the question to my unsaved friend. It was a complete change of subject, but she was used to that. We’ve known each other a long time. She fingered the stem of her glass and glanced at me sideways. “I don’t think I understand,” she replied. “Do I need to?” “I mean, would you ever knowingly choose to do anything at all that would change your body’s DNA structure from what it is now to something else?” She flushed and set her jaw. Her gaze...

In his “sermon” last week, rank heretic Joel Osteen continued macrodosing his herd of goatlings with spiritual strychnine, insisting that God is determined to give you a double blessing of wealth and favor, but He can’t if you don’t keep a chipper attitude. It’s familiar ground for reprobates Joel and Victoria Osteen, the impastor and impastorette duo who lead Lakewood Church, the 600,000-square-foot, 16,000-seat behemoth in the former Compaq Center. Blessed to have the devil himself literally dictating their sermons, Lakewood has ballooned to an annual budget of nearly $90,000,000, with 368 full-time and part-time staff spending nearly 1.7 million...

Daniel Dennett, the American philosopher, who has died aged 82, was, with Richard Dawkins, a leading proponent of Darwinism and one of the most virulent controversialists on the academic circuit...

Shared testimonies, collective singing, and silent meditation and baptism rituals. These are all activities you might find at a Christian church service on a Sunday morning in the United States. But what would it look like if atheists were gathering to do these rituals instead? Today, almost 30% of adults in the United States say they have no religious affiliation, and only half attend worship services regularly. But not all forms of church are on the decline – including “secular congregations,” or what many call “atheist churches.” As a sociologist of religion who has spent the past 10 years studying...

One common pro-abortion argument is that pro-lifers are pushing a religious agenda in their opposition to abortion. These advocates often use slogans like “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries,” and “Pray to end abortion,” to demonstrate the idea that only religious people are pro-life. Monica Snyder, director of Secular Pro-Life, turns that argument on its head and explains that opposing abortion has nothing to do with religion. “The belief that abortion is wrong is not exclusive to the Bible — or to any one worldview, theistic, secular or otherwise,” Snyder says in Live Action’s latest Pro-Life Replies video. “I am...

... along with Moses' specific time ("about midnight") for the time of the Exodus.Backgound:On a mystical level, the number 600,000 is identified with the number of souls comprising the Nation of Israel. The Talmud teaches that the arrival of the Messiah will transpire when all these souls are "complete."The Nation of IsraelWe know that the Torah actually has 304,805 letters, so why would our Sages say it has 600,000? [And even prove it by saying “Israel” (ישראל) stands for yesh shishim ribua otiot l’Torah (יש שישים ריבוא אותיות לתורה), “There are 600,000 letters in the Torah.”] The answer, as is...

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John 12:24-26Friends, in today’s Gospel, just after announcing that he is about to be glorified on the cross, Jesus declares: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”A seed can exist for a long time—they have found seeds in the tombs of the Pharaohs. But unless they fall into the soil and crack open, nothing further comes of them. Their life is inside, but it’s a life that grows by being given away and mixing with...

An interesting YouTube discussion on the authenticity Of The Bible- from an historical document review process. Its a 72 minute interview in which you will learn new things about the composition of the Bible- Most important being, that it's writings are verifiable in a way the secular world chooses to ignore. A good commute listen for sure.Yes. The Bible Is Relible. Here's Why.

Chinese Bishop Han says following the state rules is important for the Church's mission and growth A Chinese bishop, recognized by both state and the Vatican, says all Catholic clergy in China should register with the government to end the division among them as state-sanctioned and underground churches. “What hurts and torments us the most are the situations of disunity and heartbreak between brothers,” said Bishop Joseph Han Zhi-hai of Lanzhou in the province of Gansu in north-central China. Han made the remarks in a letter he sent to the Vatican Fides agency, on the 20th anniversary of his ordination...

Could two highly intelligent men with two entirely different perspectives possibly help you come to your own personal conclusion concerning the central figure of history? Perhaps. Let’s find out. History’s central figure, of course, is Jesus Christ. And the two men I have in mind are American New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman and Canadian astrophysicist Hugh Ross. Ehrman professed faith in Christ as a teenager but is now an atheist; whereas Ross grew up in a non-religious home but is now a Christian. One man abandoned Christianity, while the other embraced it. Ross said, “I didn’t know any Christians or...

James Croft has become the first humanist to be appointed to lead a chaplaincy, pastoral, and spiritual care team at a UK university. He has been appointed to the role of ‘University Chaplain and Lead Faith Advisor’ at the University of Sussex. Humanists UK has hailed his appointment as a landmark moment, and hopes that it will encourage other universities and institutions to embrace a more inclusive approach when it comes to providing person-centred care for students. James officially started his new role on 6 February. Non-religious pastoral care is like-minded support that encompasses the emotional, moral, ethical, and existential...

How do you feel about religion?As Statista's Katharina Buchholz details below, depending on which country you are in, this question is more or less likely to be met with a shrug or even an objection to religious belief.In China, the highest percentage of people among the 56 countries and territories included in the Statista Global Consumer Survey is non-religious or atheist, the latter describing people rejecting the idea that there is a God.You will find more infographics at StatistaAmong European countries, Germany ranks high for the share of its non-religious and atheist population, which stands at around a third of...