1. Vatican rejects adoption of Italy's laws in historic shift
(Religion/General)

...t of Romano Prodi, which had considered a law giving “civil unions” between homosexuals legal status. The Vatican’s new statute also says the Holy See will in future scrutinise int...

2. Scientists Know Better Than You--Even When They're Wrong
(Science/General)

...39;s made the bargain that I want to have an interesting life, and I'm prepared to have a little less status and a little less money as a result....

3. Religion a figment of human imagination
(Religion/General)

...ane and Machiavellian social interactions of everyday life, of sparring every day with contemporaries for status and resources. And the reason is that they can't imagine beyond this immediate soci...

4. Pope Benedict to test secular ground at UN
(Religion/General)

...n used by people wanting to meditate or for official commemoration ceremonies. The Holy See has observer status in the UN General Assembly but has been accorded the status and voice of a full-fledged...

5. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord
(Good news/Humour)

...t." Why place him higher than Stephen Fry, Sir Elton John or Peter Mandelson? Partly because of the status he has within his industry, achieved by doing the impossible: reviving the Doctor &ndas...

6. Hatred and Ignorance on the Web
(Religion/General)

...d Dhimmi. The former literally meaning “people of the book” and the latter being the elevated status of Jews and Christians within Muslim territories. Of course, there was the jizyah (prot...

7. The Moral Instinct
(Religion/General)

...s norms. They believe that it is right to defer to legitimate authorities and to respect people with high status. And they exalt purity, cleanliness and sanctity while loathing defilement, contaminati...

8. The Great Afterlife Debate: Michael Shermer v. Deepak Chopra
(Religion/General)

... varying, and no one has been able to replicate his findings, it has nonetheless grown to urban legendary status as the weight of the soul. The implication is that the soul is a thing that can be weig...

9. Belief in Belief
(Religion/Atheism)

...ach­ings went dead against the only certain cure for poverty—the emancipation of women from the status and condition of breeding machines—that the human race has ever discovered. &nbsp...

10. Lessons of Atheist Dictatorships
(Religion/Atheism)

...of many factors or traditions keeping the masses docile, benumbed and complacent, thereby maintaining the status quo, and thus delaying the revolt of the proletariat. Marx’s unbelief was an offs...