****Official RGT Article Thread****

[Splendour]

Antonio Damasio interview in which he answers the question "Is it possible to locate the spiritual in the human organism?" And answers: "the spiritual is the ultimate state of well being":
http://www.harcourtbooks.com/authori...ew_damasio.asp

[All-In Flynn]

Two German lawyers have filed charges against Pope Benedict at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Kind of smacks of publicity stunt but hey, might be fun to watch.

[bluesbassman]

I posted a link to this book in another thread, but realized it might be appropriate to post here as well. It's a pdf of George H. Smith's classic book on atheism:

Atheism: The Case Against God

[stueycal]

Hey guys lets play a game called whats WLC smoking?

http://www.alternet.org/belief/15074...e/?page=entire

oldish article, I find it to be well written and makes some valid points.

[stueycal]

http://www.infidels.org/library/hist...ally_live.html

[always_sunni_]

Just out from the Pew Forum:

Global Survey of Evangelical Protestant Leaders (pdf: link)

Cliffs: ~2k evangelical leaders from around the world surveyed...lots of statistics, mostly comparisons between Evangelical Christianity in the "Global North" (Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand) and the "Global South" (sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and most of Asia). Seems evangelicalism is booming in the South, busting in the North.

[stueycal]

Drugs and the Meaning of Life - Sam Harris

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/d...aning-of-life/

[Splendour]

For the Christian Apologists on the board. It's quite long...still working on reading it myself but just to see an early church father's thinking here is:

Dialogue of Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.viii.iv.html

[All-In Flynn]

So the Irish Times is running a weekly series by a James P. Mackey, Professor of Theology at Edinburgh.

Part two was published yesterday. Read it and rage.

...the creator of the cosmos according to Dawkins is “evolution”...

Just a taste.

[Splendour]

Rich Gay Activist buying up local politicians:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/articl...d_Gay_Activism

[All-In Flynn]

The Vatican has recalled its envoy to Ireland after the Irish premier criticised "the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism – and the narcissism – that dominate the culture of the Vatican".

Originally Posted by The Article

A confidential 1997 Vatican letter... warned bishops that their 1996 child-protection policy, particularly its emphasis on the need to start reporting all suspected crimes to police, violated canon law.

[Splendour]

Women In Ancient Christianity: The New Discoveries by Karen L. King, a professor of New Testament Studies and the History of Ancient Christianity at Harvard University in the Divinity School.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...rst/women.html

[Splendour]

There is only one who is good:
http://doxaweb.wordpress.com/2011/05...e-who-is-good/

[always_sunni_]

Originally Posted by Splendour

There is only one who is good:
http://doxaweb.wordpress.com/2011/05...e-who-is-good/

In this post, I’ll continue to examine the opening meditation of Veritatis Splendor, John Paul II’s encyclical letter on the moral life.

[bambam_jr]

two articles worth reading:

1. article in DerSpiegel (german news-magazine) about the growing number of atheists/secular people

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...777281,00.html

This sentence really surprised me:

Churches in the US are losing up to 1 million members every year.

Does anybody have another source for that?

2. article from The NewYorker - Secularism and its discontents.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critic...?currentPage=1