Category Archives: Atheism

In America, celebrity culture carries a great deal of weight and influence, especially among young people. When a famous person dons an ensemble, sales for the same dress or shirt often see a spike. Unfortunately, celebrities have a fair amount of influence in negative ways, too.

A 2014 survey found that 80% of teen girls compare themselves to celebrity photographs although almost half say (doing so) makes them feel dissatisfied with their own appearance. For better or worse almost always its for worse Americans see the pronouncements of celebrities as carrying a great deal of weight.

Even in matters of faith, celebrity beliefs are highly influential. When Madonna started to flirt with the Kabbalah Center, it meant a great deal to the organization, which is based on Jewish traditional mysticism. The Los Angeles Times reported, The centers assets grew from $20 million in 1998, the year after Madonna went public with her ties to kabbalah, to more than $260 million by 2009, according to the resume of a former chief financial officer and tax returns the center and affiliated organizations filed before becoming exempt.

While it shouldnt matter what celebrities say and believe when it comes to religious faith, their influence on their fans and the wider public is undeniable and quite significant. Which makes what Britney Spears said recently all the more troubling.

Since emerging from a conservatorship controlled by her father, the entertainer has made daily headlines as she unloads her feelings about the experience, and her sons with former husband Kevin Federline have done the same.

In response to an interview with her son Jayden on the situation recently, Spears was distraught, explaining on social media in a message directed toward her sons, It saddens me that not one of you has valued me as a person. Youve witnessed how my family has been to me, and thats all you know, Spears wrote. Like I said, I feel you all secretly like to say somethings wrong with me. Honestly, my dad needs to be in jail for the rest of his life. But like I said, God would not allow that to happen to me if a God existed.

She went on, I dont believe in God anymore because of the way my children and my family have treated me. There is nothing to believe anymore. Im an atheist, yall.

Moments of grief and tumult are the ultimate tests of ones faith and also when faith comes most in handy. A belief in a higher power is most tested at moments that seem deeply unfair. But for most people, it is that belief that there is, indeed, a God that helps them weather the storm theyre facing.

Spears pronouncement is childish and sends the message to her fans that a relationship with God is transactional and contingent on the behavior of our fellow man. Its easy to dismiss, but still not a message that the faithful want to see proliferated by someone with a platform as large as Spears, especially with young Americans already leaving organized religion in droves.

Thankfully, this week there was also more thoughtful commentary on faith by Shia LaBeouf.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor spoke about a recent feud with actress Olivia Wilde. The majority of the interview, however, centered on his recent conversion to Catholicism and was strikingly profound. That part was mostly ignored outside of his comments on Wilde, which were, in a way, also influenced by his new faith. LaBeouf shied away from fanning the flames more, saying, It is what it is every blessing to her and her film.

LaBeoufs most powerful comments on his faith came in response to a question about his mothers recent death. He explained:

My mother was full of fear in her last moments: asking the doctor what this tube was and what that machine did. She was frantic. She was deeply interested in God and spirituality her whole life, but she didnt know (God). Hence her last moments. Her greatest gift to me was to promote, in her dying, the necessity of a relationship with God. Not an interest, not just a belief, but a relationship built on proof as tangible as a hug. Her last gift to me was the ultimate persuasion for faith.

This open and powerful interview on deeply personal questions of faith should be making headlines. Instead, in most news outlets, were likely to just see more of the petty feuds, like that between Spears and her family, or more hot takes about LaBeoufs controversy with Wilde instead of deeper questions about his evolving faith and beliefs.

This is the way of Hollywood and the shallow and controversy driven media. For every Spears, there may not be a LaBeouf, but heres hoping that faithful celebrities like LaBeouf are able to break through the noise and not just talk about their faith, but actively live it.

Bethany Mandel is a contributing writer for Deseret News. She is a home-schooling mother of five and a widely published writer on politics, culture and Judaism. She is an editor for the childrens book series Heroes of Liberty.

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Why did Britney Spears turn to atheism and Shia LaBeouf to faith? | Opinion - Deseret News

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(Vienna, kath.net, March 2021) The original German edition of the unusual book, How I Became a Man: A Life with Communists, Atheists, and Other Nice People, was published in 2020. The first edition was sold out in a few weeks. The English edition is now available from Ignatius Press.

The author is a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany. Son of a Russian father and a German mother, he spent his childhood and youth in the Soviet Union and stepped inside a Catholic Church for the first time at the age of twenty.

Alexander Krylovs life story is impressive. He studied history and economics, worked as a teacher, and directed the municipal youth groups in his city. Then he became the manager of a concert business in Moscow, which organized major performances. Later he turned to science, earned a degree, and at the age of thirty became Assistant Dean of the National Institute of Business in Moscow. In the year 2000 Krylov became a German citizen and worked at the Institute for World Commerce and International Management at the University of Bremen. In 2008 he received a professorship at the University of Management and Communication in Potsdam and became director of the West-Ost-Institut in Berlin.

Even though my professional career may seem varied and many-sided, in retrospect it turned out to be a continual path from an occupation to a vocation, Krylov said. In 2011 he entered the major seminary of the Archdiocese of Cologne, studied theology, and in 2016 was ordained a priest. He is amazed that there are people in the Church who fight for power and careers. There are plenty of opportunities for that in business and politics.

An interview with this extraordinary man follows.

You worked as a scientist. Ten years ago, you changed your life completely and went into the seminary. Why did you wait until now to break your silence about it?

Alexander Krylov: As a matter of fact, I tried then not to make a fuss about my entrance into the seminary, and my intention was to avoid an unnecessary report about a scientist who gave up everything. Fortunately, becoming a priest is not yet a heroic deed. I pursued my priestly vocation and thereby made my life even more beautiful and meaningful. Everyone who is in love is glad when he can do without something for love of another person. And so this change from a occupation to a vocation brought me lasting joy, too. For me it is not a topic that deserves special public attention.

But now you have written a book in which you tell about your childhood. What motivated you to do this?

Krylov: Even during the time when I taught at the university, again and again I would tell various anecdotes about life in the Soviet Union and was often asked why I did not write them down. My answer was always: I am still too young to write my memoirs. Even though in my book I tell about my childhood, it is not primarily about me, but rather about life and faith in an authoritarian society. In order to make it authentic and vivid, I so to speak loaned myself out and wrote down my personal experiences.

Between the lines the reader can also recognize some of the common problems today. Is this amusing book meant as a social critique?

Krylov: As a matter of fact I get a lot of feedback and letters from readers who recognize themselves, their own childhood, and even our current societal trends in the book. This shows that good and evil in the world are universal. Whether they live in the East or in the West, people need love and devotion, they have fears about their existence, and they are happy about little attentions. There are universal weaknesses, too. Greed for power, the desire to control other peoples lives, and also a susceptibility to ideologies. Every society is in danger when it starts to replace God with some moral ideas, even good ones.

You spoke in your book about the faith, which was forbidden in the Communist system. Who passed it on to you?

Krylov: The family plays an important role in this question. Our family was able to tolerate the political repression and all the difficulties of life only because of our faith. I was not deliberately raised to be a believer. God was simply always present in our life. I tried to show this in my book. But I also know many people from atheistic families who found their way to God. That makes me confident. If someone looks at the world with his eyes open and questions and seeks, he will find his way to God.

The title of your book is: How I Became a Man. What does it mean to you to become a man?

Krylov: My book deals with a process of growing up and with the desire to be grown up. The first cigarette, the first feelings of love, and the first paycheck do not make you a grown-up, but rather the awareness of being responsible for yourself, for your life, your decisions, and your neighbors. The title of my book addresses also the political situation at that time, for every authoritarian society treats its citizens like underage children; it prescribes what they should think and how they should behave. Thus, we can compare such a society to a kindergarten.

We get the sense that freedom is especially important for you.

Krylov: Thats right. This is due on the one hand to my faith convictions and on the other hand to my family. For I grew up with a certain discrepancy. At home I experienced one hundred percent trust and complete freedomin society, however, certain rules of the game and thought control. My studies took place during the period of perestroika; I too fought for freedom and even went once to the barricades. As someone for whom freedom is so important, I can say that genuine freedom can be found only with God.

From the media, though, one may get the impression that for centuries the Church limited peoples freedom.

Krylov: When I was a student, my first major was history. If you want to understand a historical epoch, a process or a decision, you must try to see it from the perspective of the situation at that time and their way of thinking. In the history of the Church there were many dark moments, but the Church was precisely the institution that led Europe to education and progress. It shaped our notions of freedom, responsibility, and solidarity.

But it did so not out of political or other convictions, but rather out of our understanding of God. For our God is love and thus freedom, too. Look at our society today. Various aspects of our Catholic practice of the faith that were rejected are coming back as secular practices. Fasting out of a faith conviction is considered not cool, but instead we are called on to give up meat out of love for nature. Confession is considered outmoded. But we constantly see how admissions of guilt and remorse are expected in public, if someone says something politically incorrect. God and the faith are mocked extensively on television today. Instead there are new phenomena that are treated as sacred, and beyond any and all criticism. The commandments of God and the precepts of the Church do not limit our freedom, but rather protect it.

Do you find everything that the Church is doing today good?

Krylov: As a scientist I learned to perceive nuances in everything. Therefore it is important to make distinctions in discussing the Church, too. There is the Holy Church, to which all the saint and all the souls in heaven belong, also. And there are many people who work today on earth for the Church. Among these people there are, as everywhere on earth, sinners, dictators, schemers, and careerists. But we also have many, very many lay faithful and priests who are living a holy life today. In various encounters, in the confessional and also in everyday life, again and again I meet people who can be taken as examples of the faith.

In your book, you describe a society that preaches atheism and yet somehow keeps its faith. Today, fewer and fewer people in Europe believe in God. Can we compare these situations? Will the Church survive this time?

Krylov: The Church will survive, for one simple reason. Not because it is so good, and not because it does everything right, but because it was founded by Christ. I am not worried about the Church in itself, but rather about the souls of the people, who are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Mt 9:36). At that time, in the Soviet Union, the situation for believers was clearer. On the one side stood the atheists; on the other, the believers prayed in secret. Today, when many clergymen say that they do not believe in the Resurrection, and many religious teachers tell children that the sacraments should be stood only as symbolic images, it is much more difficult for people to get a good grounding. We are so fond of talking about structures or theories, but what is at stake is the salvation of concrete human beings.

You were once a teacher, journalist, manager, business advisor, and professor. Now you have become not only a priest, but also a writer to boot?

Krylov: For me, it was very surprising that a little book with my stories from the life of a naive child had such a positive reception from the readers. Before now I had written only scientific books and homilies and had serious doubts whether I should publish at all a book like How I Became a Man. Today, of course, I am happy about the positive feedback; I am especially glad, though, when people begin to reflect about their faith stories and to share with others their testimonies of faith. For the life of every single human being is much more exciting, more interesting, and more instructive than the best adventure novel. Pastors can confirm that.

(Editors note: This article was posted originally at kath.net in March 2021. This translation by Michael J. Miller is posted at CWR with kind permission of kath.net.)

How I Became a Man:A Life with Communists, Atheists, and Other Nice PeopleBy Alexander KrylovIgnatius Press, 2022Paperback, 162 pages

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Someone who seeks the truth finds God Catholic World Report - Catholic World Report

TERRY MATTINGLYContributing columnistIt isnt every day that one of the creators of a political thriller gets to ask its real-life protagonist to evaluate the novels plot.

But that happened when the late Billy Wireman, president of Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina, handed the last Soviet Union leader a copy of The Secret Diary of Mikhail Gorbachev. The 1990 novel was written by journalist Frye Gaillard, based on a Wireman idea.

The plot: There were spiritual motivations behind glasnost and perestroika, Gorbachevs risky ideas to restructure Soviet life. But furious KGB insiders including a would-be assassin managed to steal Gorbachevs diary, in which he confessed his Christian faith.

Wireman wrote down Gorbachevs response after hearing the books premise: You must have been reading my real diary.

This faith question never vanished. No matter how often Gorbachev reaffirmed his atheism, he also stressed his respect for the beliefs of his Communist father and devout Russian Orthodox mother. His maternal grandparents hid holy icons behind their homes token Vladimir Lenin portraits.

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Gorbachev died on Aug. 30 at age 91 and his funeral was held in the Pillar Hall of Russias House of the Unions, after President Vladimir Putin denied him a state funeral. He was buried in the cemetery of Moscows Novodevichy Convent next to his wife, Raisa, who died in 1999 of cancer.

Regardless of the geopolitical realities of that era, there was something going on inside Gorbachev, said Gaillard, writer in residence at the University of South Alabama in Mobile and former Southern editor of The Charlotte Observer. He is the author of 30-plus books, including A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s, which won the 2019 F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Prize.

Why did he do it? Thats the question that wont go away, Gaillard added. Thats what has fascinated people for decades and it still does. We may never know now that hes gone. ... But all that speculation about his beliefs is at the heart of the book.

Gaillard traveled to the Soviet Union before writing The Secret Diary and filled many notebooks with information and images from Soviet and American insiders who, in private, were asking similar questions about Gorbachev. Russian Orthodox leaders believed his mothers faith was crucial. Probing those roots in southern Russia, Gaillard found that people who had long known the extended Gorbachev family held similar beliefs.

In a pivotal scene the novel was recently republished a stunned investigator discovers Gorbachevs private diary and photographs its scandalous contents.

Gaillard has the Soviet leader write: Ours is a country with a Christian heart that realization must serve as a cornerstone of reform. ... Do I still believe in Lenin and Marx? The former, maybe; the latter, no. But a new kind of certainty is emerging. I am beginning to understand the old Russian saying, What good is a road that doesnt lead to a church?

Later, critics asked why he wanted to separate atheism and the doctrines of socialist revolution. For a millennium, replies the books Gorbachev, Russian mothers have breathed certain values into their sons that God, in fact, created the world, and that we must see his image in every human being. And yes, comrade, I have come to realize that I do believe it.

The real Gorbachev, in a 1989 Vatican summit with Pope John Paul II, thanked the pope for his prayers and explained that he realized politics was not enough.

We are undergoing major changes in the spiritual sphere. ... Considering the events of the past years I see that democratic measures alone are not sufficient, said Gorbachev. We also need ethics. Democracy can bring evil as well as good. It is what it is. It is very important to us to establish a moral society with such eternal universal human truths as goodness, charity and mutual help. In light of the changes taking place, we believe that it is necessary to respect the internal world of our religious citizens.

The logical assumption, said Gaillard, is that Gorbachev as a political calculation or for heartfelt reasons had concluded that Mother Russia had a soul.

This man was smart, and he knew Russian history, he said. When he challenged the foundations of Soviet power, he had to be thinking about the role of Russian Orthodox faith in that culture. But did he also have personal reasons for believing that?

Mattingly leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.

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On Religion: The faith questions that haunted the life of Gorbachev - GoDanRiver.com

I became an atheist early in my recovery and it remains an important part of my life to this day. I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in my twenties. Dealing with psychosis was confusing and frightening but when I tried medication everything changed. I had always been skeptical but when I experienced hallucinations that were spiritual in nature I was left with a lot of questions. A moment of clarity came when the anti-psychotics kicked in. My hallucinations arent real and neither is god. I was always looking for an explanation. I just never considered the explanation to be a mental illness. My diagnosis came with some relief this is treatable.

That moment of clarity flipped a switch and I declared myself an atheist. Years of suffering came to an end with a simple solution medication.

But what if that moment never came? What if I never had a mental illness? Would I still be an atheist?

First of all, my husband asked me this question and it is so hard to picture. My mental health symptoms started in early childhood so I really dont know any different. I am not my illness but it is still an important part of me. It often explains why I do the things I do.

My journey to becoming an atheist may be a little unique, but I still believe even if none of the mental health issues happened, I would still be an atheist.

Im a curious person its always been in my nature to question. I questioned the existence of god in childhood and the judgmental people in the town where I grew up definitely made me question the goodness of Christianity. Mental illness or not, I always knew I didnt want to be like them. Questioning at that time came with a lot of guilt and fear but I feel no matter what I would have ended up with the same conclusion I am an atheist.

Were there any specific events that led to your atheism? If those events hadnt happened, do you still think you would be an atheist?

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Atheism and Recovery What if I didn't have a mental illness? - Freethought Blogs

Ten years ago, in 2012, the nations atheists staged at Reason Rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., attracting a big crowd of up to 30,000. Four years later, they tried it again, but hardly anyone turned up.

You would think that atheism is growing, with the number of Nones, people who claim to hold to no religion, shooting up from 19% the year before the rally to 29% today. Back then the rally put forward the goal of creating a political coalition of 27 million atheists to counter the political and cultural influence of the religious right. But that effort seems to have fizzled out.

The online journal Religion & Politics published an article by Aysha Khan entitledA Decade After the First Reason Rally, What Happened to Americas Atheist Revolution?

For one thing, the Nones, upon whom the atheists put so much hope, are not predominantly atheists, with 72% believing in God or a higher power. As we have discussed, they are mostly spiritual but not religious, holding to an inward, self-constructed religion of one member.

Furthermore, it isnt just that Nones dont join churches. They dont join anything. The article quotes atheist blogger Hemant Mehta: The demographic shift is shifting away from organized religion, but not to organized anything else, which makes it all but impossible to ask them to do anything, Mehta said. Because most of them are apathetic. Theyre not atheists. Which makes it hard to get a movement going, much less a political force.

But there are other factors. The flood of New Atheist books in the 2010s seem to have hurt their image. Their hyper-intellectualism and brash anti-religious polemics left an unpleasant taste in the mouths of many non-believers and moderate believers, comments Khan. It became difficult to disrupt the longstanding image of atheists as angry white men in their 50s.

Another problem, in these hyper-polarized times, is that atheists have a hard time getting along with each other. There are right-wing atheists, as in the virtue of selfishness followers of Ayn Rand. And there are left-wing, social-justice atheists, as in classical Marxism.

Some atheists hoped for an alliance with Muslims, Jews, and other religious minorities to push back against the dominance of Christianity in the public square. But that was never going to happen.

Then there is the leadership problem. Comments Khan, Many of the old guard atheist leaders have faded from the mainstream spotlightsome in disgrace, like American Atheists firebrand former president David Silverman, after facing #MeToo-erasexual misconduct allegations.

In light of all of these setbacks, Mehta said that instead of trying to form a political block, atheist activists are now focusing their efforts on issues they care about, such as the separation of church and state and abortion. He also mentioned racial equity, feminism, and the LGBTQ cause, sounding like the sort of woke atheist that right wing atheists oppose.

But atheists shouldnt feel too bad about their setbacks. Though their numbers are smallabout 4% of Americans are atheiststhey exercise an enormous influence on the culture. Christians are far greater in number and have more political clout, but, unlike in other periods, they presently seem to have far less cultural, intellectual, and artistic clout than the atheists do.

As the number of committed Christians declines, perhaps the church can learn how to function so effectively as an influential minority.

Illustration: Sign of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Denver, Colorado, by Jeff Ruane, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Whatever Happened to Atheists? | Gene Veith - Patheos

What does atheism mean to you? Is logic ancient history? How is Calvinism changing the world? Put your thinking cap on, earbuds in, and get listening to our curated collection of Very Short Introductions podcast episodes for thinkers.

These four episodeseach under 15 minutes longcreated by our expert authors offer bite-sized introductions to four big concepts: atheism, logic, secularism, and Calvinism.

Listen to the podcast episodes below or subscribe and listen to the Very Short Introductions podcast through your favourite podcast app.

In this episode, lapsed Catholic, failed Methodist, and convinced atheist Julian Baggini introduces atheism, wrongly considered to be a negative, dark, and pessimistic belief characterized by a rejection of values and purpose and a fierce opposition to religion.

But if atheism is not religions inverse, what does it mean to be an atheist?

Listen to Julian explain the historical accident of atheisms emergence in Western civilization and how we can understand atheist worldviews and beliefs.

Or subscribe and listen to the Atheism Very Short Introductions podcast episode on your favourite podcast app now.

God, time and change, truth and existence, language and paradox What I love about logic, personally, is the fact that it has these deep connections to profound philosophical questions.

In this episode, Graham Priest introduces logic, an area which is often wrongly perceived as having little to do with the rest of philosophy and even less to do with real life.

Listen to Graham explain what exactly logic is, why its so integral to our everyday lives, and how he encapsulated this simultaneously ancient and modern subject in a Very Short Introduction.

Or subscribe and listen to the Logic Very Short Introductions podcast episode on your favourite podcast app now.

[Secularism] is about the state maximizing freedom of conscience, freedom of thought, freedom of religion or belief for everyone regardless of their religion or belief, up toand only up tothe rights and freedoms of others.

In this episode, academic and activist Andrew Copson introduces secularism, an increasingly hot topic in public, political, and religious debate across the globe that is more complex than simply state versus religion.

Listen to Andrew explain why we must not neglect secularism and why debating and discussing secularism is of pivotal importance for world civilization today.

Or subscribe and listen to the Secularism Very Short Introductions podcast episode on your favourite podcast app.

Calvinism may seem arcane but in fact as recently as 2009, Time magazine chose Calvinism as one of 10 ideas that were changing the world. But that still may not mean people know a lot about it

In this episode, Jon Balserak introduces Calvinism, which has gone on to influence all aspects of contemporary thought, from theology to civil government, economics to the arts, and education to work.

Listen to Jon set out the character of Calvinist thought and offer critical assessment of it in this bite-sized introduction to the subject.

Or subscribe and listen to the Calvinism Very Short Introductions podcast episode on your favourite podcast app.

Want to learn more? Subscribe to The Very Short Introductions podcast and see where your curiosity takes you!

Featured image by Jusdevoyage on Unsplash, public domain

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Four Very Short Introductions podcast episodes to get you thinking | OUPblog - OUPblog

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Bridge to Terabithia has won the John Newbery Medal for childrens literature despite parental backlash.

Booklash is a column exploring the history of Banned Books in the United States, the reasons behind the arguments, and a students take on this attack on literature.

Bridge to Terabithia is a well-known novel that tugs at the heartstrings of readers. After the reader becomes entangled in the unlikely friendship of the two main characters, Jess and Leslie, they are taken through Jess journey of poverty and the struggle to fit in. Once Jess finds his way in life with Leslie by his side, an untimely and heart-wrenching event turns his life upside down.

Through the characters struggles, the reader is taught many valuable lessons that any child or adult could benefit from. This includes lessons of dealing with poverty and fitting in, as well as standing apart from the crowd, friendship, imagination, death, and ways of coping.

The author, Katherine Paterson, delved into this book with a highly religious background, a quality education, and much life experience that in turn helped set the scene for Bridge to Terabithia.

Despite the John Newbery Award and the numerous claims of the novel being a ground-breaking classic for childrens and young adults literature, many parents bristle at the cold-hard lessons found within the novel. These parents argue that the novel is too morbidly depressing for such young minds. There are also points of profanity, proclaimed witchcraft, and potential atheism promotion.

The novel uses words such as hell, Lord, and damn, which parents argue to be profanity that their children should not be exposed to. Other parents may argue that this claim is a bit pretentious and not adequate enough to ban the book for all students.

Within the novel, the characters escape the harsh realities of life by running to their imaginary kingdom, Terabithia. Terabithia is a hidden place among the trees and across a treacherous creek that is found behind their houses. Though the children use their imaginations to create their own little world, as many young children may do, parents unjustly attach the use of imagination to the idea of witchcraft.

Another reason parents attempt to ban this novel is the claim that Bridge to Terabithia promotes atheism. Although Jesss family believes in God and goes to church on Easter, Jess in his young age is unsure of whether he truly believes or not. On top of God already being put in question, Leslies family is said not to believe at all, though Leslie is interested in learning about God and perhaps finding within herself a way to believe. One could argue that perhaps the novel is not promoting atheism, but rather demonstrating a young childs journey in believing. Taking in consideration that Paterson comes from such a religious background and is a believer herself, it can be assumed that atheism was not her intended notion with the novel.

Parents would not be wrong to argue that the novel becomes depressing and may even be a trigger to young children that have experienced loss. However, much as the main character Jess learns to cope with the notion of death, the reader can also learn ways of coping with their own personal grief.

This begs the question, how young is too young to be exposed to death and grief? Against many parents wishes, death is untimely and it can therefore be argued that it is better to prepare children to cope with the resulting grief and to become aware of the notion of death. Being unprepared to face this notion with no understanding of death, children can become confused and angry.

Bridge to Terabithia was an outlet for Paterson and her son to finally cope with a traumatic experience in their own life. Patersons son unexpectedly lost his best friend at an early age. Neither Paterson nor her son knew how to cope with this loss, hence came the inspiration for Bridge to Terabithia, in hopes that the novel could help other young children and their parents if ever faced with such a devastating experience.

Despite the frequent attempts to ban and challenge Bridge to Terabithia, the novel remains an integral piece of literature for any age. The lessons found within can be beneficial to us all. If looking to read this novel, or watch the newer movie adaptation, be prepared for the roller coaster of emotions.

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BookLash: Are the cold, hard realities found within Bridge to Terabithia not for young, innocent minds? - The Wood Word

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has started consultation on a major review of data it collects on religions.

The ABS undertakes regular reviews of standards to ensure questions reflect the changing nature of Australian society. According to the ABS, Although the Australian Standard Classification of Religious Groups (ASCRG) was updated in 2016, it still reflects the original 1996 version based on the social environment in Australia at that time.

The review, which includes a look at the associated Religious Affiliation Standard (the Standard), will be guided by consultation with stakeholders from religious groups and data from the 2021 census to offer a standard that is more reflective of contemporary society.

ABS documents discussing the scope of the review identify the relative level of sub-classification in Christian and non-Christian religions as a significant area for reform.

Currently, the standard includes a pick list with seven Christian denominations, but only broad categories for Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. Although participants are able to fill out any religion in the other category, the inclusion of a pick list compels some respondents to make a choice rather than write which religion they most closely identify with, according to the agency.

The pick list was designed to make completing census forms easier and is similar to other census questions (e.g. Country of birth), the ABS said.

However, feedback indicates that people not affiliated with any of the groups in this list feel excluded.

For example, people affiliated with the Macedonian Orthodox religious group felt they were being asked to mark the Greek Orthodox box because it was in the pick list, and Macedonian Orthodox was not, the agency explained.

The review will also try to answer whether secular beliefs, like atheism and agnosticism, should continue to be distinguished from no religion, and address inconsistencies in the way data for different religions and denominations is coded by the ABS.

The new ASCRG will be released in December 2023, with the new standard expected to be applied in the 2026 census.

Public consultations will run to 18 November, to be followed by additional post-consultation stakeholder engagement. More detailed information is available on the ABS Consultation Hub.

READ MORE:

Millennials growing while religion declines, shows 2021 Census

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ABS to consult on religious classifications - The Mandarin

Liberals love to talk about all the words that Shakespeare invented. They love to use words based in mythology. But bring up the influence of the Bible and theyll start hissing like a viper. Everything they claim to be is nothing but a bad imitation of Christianity.

Their delusions have no basis in reality. The Bible has had a greater impact than Shakespeare or Mythology ever could. Not to mention the fact that Shakespeares work, with an estimated 1,350 Biblical references, is proof of this.

As for mythology, the Bible tells a story unlike anything ever told, most of all by myth, which is accurately a synonym for lie.

The Bible is the most influential book ever written.

From the works of Michelangelo to the films of Quentin Tarantino, the Bible is foundational. One of the most powerful scenes in pulp fiction is when Samuel L. Jacksons character quotes Ezekiel 25:17.

Reports about the spread of atheism often imply the death of religion, like its a victory. But really, what they mean is that they hate Christianity. What theyre doing isnt religious, its POLITICAL.

In reality, it could never lead to a post-religion world, because politics is a child to religion, so the collapse of religion would lead to annihilation.

This is not an exaggeration. Society itself is founded on religion. So while atheism may occasionally APPEAR to be on the rise, theres no such thing as an atheistic society.

Some of the Biblical phrases that appear in our everyday language include:

"eye for an eye"land of milk and honeyforbidden fruit"bottomless pit""two-edged sword""God forbid""scapegoatscandalLand of Nodby the sweat of your browapple of my eyefire and brimstoneashes to ashes, dust to dusta man after my own heart"broken heartwits endbite the dustput words in my mouthput your house in order"nothing but skin and bonesby the skin of your teethBehemoth"nothing new under the suna little birdie told merise and shinecan a leopard change his spotseat drink and be merrywriting on the walldrop in a bucketfly in the ointmentfour corners of the earthsee eye to eyesalt of the earthgo the extra milepearls before swinefall by the waysidestraight and narrowwolf in sheeps clothingblind leading the blind"the 11th hourkiss of deathgive up the ghostwash your hands of the matter""the truth will set you freetwinkling of an eyelabor of lovelive by the sword die by the swordfall from gracefight the good fightthe powers that beYou know the famous line from the song Money by Pink Floyd? Its a rip-off of Timothy 6:10.

But the Bible is even more influential than these phrases.

More than a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, the Bible reveals the foundation of language itself. In fact, the philosophical study of language is based on the prologue to the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Teddy Roosevelt once said that no other book of any kind ever written in English has ever so affected the whole life of a people.

A literary masterpiece written by uneducated men, the Bible is the best-selling book of all time, with between five and seven BILLION copies sold. For reference, an estimated 800 million copies of the Quran, and 200 million copies of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

The Bible is also the most shoplifted book.

It was the first book ever printed, after Johannes Gutenberg chose it as the first book for his printing press. Education as we know it is based on the Bible.

Christianity is the foundation of modern politics and law. Leviticus 25:10 (Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof) appears on the Liberty Bell.

When Martin Luther King Jr. gave his I Have a Dream speech on the National Mall, 250,000 people witnessed a sermon. He referenced four scriptures in the speech. Amos 5:24, Isaiah 40:4, Psalm 30:5, and Galatians 3:28.

Without the Bible, freedom as we know it could not exist. Sure, Plato talked about Democracy 300 years before Jesus came to earth. But Democracy is nothing without the political freedom that Christianity gave us.

The right to a fair trial appears in Deuteronomy 19:15 and Exodus 21:2325.

Christian monks founded the earliest health care systems using the principles of the Bible as their guide.

The Lefts obsession with destroying Christianity is the same as their obsession with destroying Western society.

They remind me of Daniel 7:25, which describes the Antichrist, And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

They speak like children, they understand like children, they think like children. Ultimately, theyre just hypocrites, who may be able to evaluate the appearance of the sky, but not the signs of the times.

More:
In defense of the Bible - iHeartRadio

The case of Nigerian humanist, Mubarak Bala has made it necessary to reflect on the situation of atheism in Nigeria. It is imperative to examine how religious minds have demonized atheism and tyrannized the lives of nonbelievers.

Irreligiosity is not a phenomenon that is often linked to the African continent. But in recent times things have started to change. The religious landscape is undergoing significant shifts and transformations. Despite the growing visibility of religion on the continent, irreligious individuals are becoming active.

Groups of nonbelievers are emerging and organizing. There is a need to explore the link between atheist activism and liberation, especially the liberation of nonreligious persons in Africa. It is in investigating this connection that efforts and actions by atheists and humanists to free themselves and society from religious bondage could better be understood. Such an exploration would situate initiatives by godless and faithless individuals to bring about social change and transformation.

Atheist activism has been misrepresented by pious minds and in pious scholarship. And in consequence, atheist assertiveness has largely been misunderstood and mischaracterized. Atheist activism is designated as militant, fundamentalist, and in some cases, Islamophobic. Nonbelief in religious gods, deities, and dogmas has been presented in the negative sense; as an 'antiestablishment' sentiment, a deviation from the norm, a violation of the sociopolitical order, an epitome of intellectual, or moral debauchery and deserving of suppression and repression.

Little attention has been paid to the notion that religious faiths encapsulate theologies of oppression, persecution, and marginalization. The god idea has become an epithet for dictatorship, a pretext to perpetrate heinous crimes and abuse. The name of Allah has been used to justify bloodletting, savagery, genocide, physical and structuralviolence, and other atrocities. Religions make absolute claims to knowledge, truth, power, and morality. Supernatural faiths do not countenance opposition and disputation. They are totalitarian. Faith groups maintain and strive to control to the minutest details the lives and actions of individuals and societies. Religions sanction socio-economic oppression and political subjugation of others, the religious and non-religious others.

The case of Mubarak Bala shows that misrepresentation of atheism is entrenched, and serves the cause of religious tyranny and despotism in Nigeria. Theocratic governments politicize mischaracterization of atheism to justify denial and erosion of irreligious liberties, violation of the humanity of atheists, the sanctification of impunity, as in the notion of holy war or jihad, and cruel and unjust treatment.

This presentation focuses on two main weapons of religious oppression, apostasy, and blasphemy. It explains the actions taken by Bala to undo these oppressive mechanisms and further his freedom. I argue that atheists' assertion of their rights and liberties are not transgressions but an exercise in social, political, and economic liberation from religious oppression.

Bala came out as an ex-Muslim in 2014. Take note of the expression, 'came out. The profession of Islam is like being locked away in a room and prevented from leaving. Bala might have ditched Islam much earlier than 2014 but the hostage and antagonistic climate did not permit him to go open and public with his non-belief. As I was told, persons who are born into Muslim families are automatically Muslims. Born into an Islamic home, there is no option of choice to belong or not to belong.

One cannot decide not to be a Muslim. Once a Muslim always as a Muslim. One cannot leave or renounce the religion because abandoning Islam is a dishonor to the family and an offense against the Islamic state and community.

But apostasy is not an infraction in any way. It is a right. However, Muslims made it a violation of Islam. As a transgression, apostasy attracts heavy penalties: ex-communication, banishment, honor killing, execution, or extrajudicial killing by nonstate Islamic actors. Thus ittakes a lot of courage to renounce Islam, to scale the religious prison walls. Many who are unable to leave or escape this religious bondage resign to fate; they continue to pay lip service to the religion. They continue to identify as Muslims even when they are not. Many observe the teachings of Islam even when they think and believe otherwise. Simply put, Islamic faith holds its confessors and members captive.

To free himself from this social prison and mental hostage, Bala left Islam. He could not continue to deceive himself. He could no longer pretend to be a Muslim when he was not. More importantly, Bala found the teachings and practices of the religion objectionable, harmful, and incompatible with a reasoned outlook. He discovered that Islam as practiced was outdated, incompatible with human rights, and an improper moral guide to happy and meaningful living in this 21st century.

Bala's renunciation of Islam came at an enormous cost because Islamic gatekeepers put a heavy price on freedom, freethought, free speech, and free assembly. Islamic prison guards placed a price, the supreme priceon liberty which many of its prisoners cannot afford to pay. In the case of Bala, he decided to bite the bullet. He resolved to free himself. But his quest for freedom led to the severance of family ties. Relatives consigned him to a mental hospital where he was shackled and treated as a psychiatric patient. His family regarded his renunciation of Islam as a form of mental illness. They thought he must be out of his mind to leave or to contemplate leaving Islam. They took him to a state hospital for rehabilitation. The family wanted to cure him of apostasy so that he could regain his sanity and return to the Islamic faith.

Bala escaped from the hospital and continued to live, identify and conduct himself as an apostate. In 2020, police arrested Bala for making some Facebook posts. Some Islamists claimed that the posts insulted their prophet and offended their religious sensibilities. One way that Muslims have tried to hold people hostage is to make a violation of their sensibilities an offense, a punishable infraction for other Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Meanwhile, nobody punishes Muslims for offending other religious and irreligious sentiments and sensibilities. Nobody penalizes the Islamicfaithful for casting aspersions on non-Muslims and nonbelievers. Again, Bala refused to be caged or gagged. He continued to speak freely and express his thoughts and ideas about religions and their prophets. Of course, it was not for a long time. After two years of incarceration, Islamic theocrats prosecuted and jailed him.

As the case of Mubarak Bala has shown, Islam has become an oppressive ideology, and a device to hold any real or imagined nonbelievers hostage. Atheist activism tries to undo the oppression and subjugation of infidels and other religious nonbelievers. Atheists in Africa are human beings and have equal rights. Atheists want to be free and to exercise their liberty like religious believers. But theocrats undermine this process of liberation and progressive emancipation. Atheists want to live in a society where people freely embrace, renounce or change their beliefs. But the religious establishment is opposed to freedom and equality of all and for all. Atheists want to live in an environment where individuals are free to say or write whatever they think about anyreligion or prophet. Religious tyrants loathe freethought and free expression. Early in this 21st century, atheist activism has become a liberation struggle against religious tyranny and totalitarianism.

Atheist activists have become freedom fighters, social, political, and intellectual liberators of Africa and Africans. Atheist activists have become awakeners of Africa and Africans from religiously induced slumber, oppression and mental slavery.

Read more here:
Mubarak Bala: Atheist Activism And Liberation From Religious Oppression In Nigeria By Leo Igwe - SaharaReporters.com