Christianity is about love, not authoritarianism
Unity of church composed of different individuals and their diverse gifts
Richard Dawkins
Pat Kenny witnesses a street brawl in Dalkey: ‘30 or 40 people at it full pelt’
Radio: ‘Thinking about this reopening,’ the Newstalk presenter says. ‘Are we really prepared?’
Trinity and Richard Dawkins: Better to debate ideas than to ban them
Cancelling motions and deplatforming controversial speakers is becoming common
Richard Dawkins: ‘Brexit is now a religion. They don’t mind if they destroy the country’
The atheist biologist has written a new book about God but what really worries him is closer to home
How to recognise alien life
Life on other planets may not be carbon- and water-based but the familiar principles of natural selection will almost certainly apply
Science would be well advised to avoid picking fights with religion
Promoting science to replace religion often has the opposite effect, and scientists would be well-advised to stop picking futile fights
Mixing science and politics to start a serious chain reaction
US scientists are realising they can no longer be passive on climate change and health
Is religion better than atheism as a coping mechanism?
Unthinkable: Secular philosophies ‘lack the melodrama of religion’, says Stephen Asma
Is religion good for children?
Harvard study indicates religious upbringing helps adolescents navigate life’s challenges
A ‘third way’ of looking at religion
Unthinkable: Two dead philosophers could provide the key to a more mature debate on faith
The power and the limits of science
Science’s success in understanding the natural world motivates some scientists to claim that it is all-powerful and will eventually explain absolutely everything
The Irish man ‘fighting fascism’ in Syria: ‘I was always curious how I’d react to battle’
At least three Irish men are fighting with Kurds in Syria, part of an international battalion of ‘villagers, students, sons of butchers, socialists and anarchists’
Ankara Letter: Turkey’s capital is a city caught between the past and future
The argument that modern Turkey is rolling back its historical identity is not difficult to make
Hook to Coppinger: ‘You have no manners. Now shut up’
George Hook, decrying the erosion of civility, fails to practise what he preaches
Religious instinct will outlive evangelical secularists
Populist rants of Stephen Fry and Richard Dawkins insult intelligence as well as the faithful
Richard Dawkins: ‘Why not have a Dáil prayer to the fairies?’
Atheist author rails against Ireland's blasphemy law but says he would ‘love’ Irish citizenship
New Zealand to scrap blasphemy crime after Garda investigation
‘We cherish the fact that we have strong separation between church and state’
Dear atheists, please stop calling religion a meme
Unthinkable: ‘Catholic agnostic’ Gary Gutting criticises pseudoscientific putdowns of religion
Tasmanian tiger ‘sightings’ prompt searches in Australia
Scientists follow up ‘plausible’ encounters with species thought to have died out
The conflict between theists and atheists has become a godawful bore
For large sections of the population, Christianity is of no more interest than astrology, flat-Earthism or water dousing. It is no longer even worth rejecting.
Whatever happened to the Christmas movie? Here are six that need a remake
It's December 2016 - the likes of Home Alone and It’s A Wonderful Life could do with a bit of updating
Does a disability necessarily make you worse off?
‘Being disabled is a way of being a minority,’ says philosopher Elizabeth Barnes
Rite & Reason: Let’s talk about God, whatever that means
The very idea of God is in contest, but it’s no longer as simple as believer v atheist
Breda O’Brien: It’s complicated - our relationship with Catholicism
We may not choose to actively support something - but heaven help anyone who tries to say that we are not entitled to it.
Unthinkable: How can scientists disagree on basic ‘facts’?
An astrophysicist and a philosopher have teamed up to examine how experts disagree
Men, Toilets or Philosophy: Which to celebrate today?
Thursday is ‘feast day’ for three good causes - but only philosophers are really persecuted
Richard Dawkins: ‘There are people for whom truth doesn’t matter’
The geneticist best known for his book ‘The Selfish Gene’ has always been driven by ‘a love of truth, a love of clarity and an almost physical discomfort at obscurity’
New hunting outrage as US woman defends killing of giraffe
‘Everybody thinks we’re cold-hearted killers and it’s not that,’ Sabrina Corgatelli says
What’s worse than bragging? Getting other people to do it for you
Retweeting praise might make it seem like you are not boasting. You’re fooling nobody
Richard Dawkins: Children need to be ‘protected’ from religion
‘You have to write off those people’ who put the Bible ahead of science, author says
Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence
Historian and former nun Karen Armstrong argues that violence and war have as much to do with inequality and nationalism as with religion. But is she too selective in her evidence?
Starmus: a festival of the stars
At Starmus Festival in Tenerife, the superstars of science and megastars of music bring cosmology to earth
Another Life: The strange world of slime mould, ‘dog vomit’ and Ebola
The way bacteria and viruses interact with Earth’s biochemistry is mesmerising in its scale and intricacy
Once upon a time, there was a boy who cried wolf
Fairy tales – and the lessons they teach – are as crucial for children today as they ever were
New Atheists . . .‘shallow’, ‘naive’, ‘dangerous’
Scientific and moral progress do not walk hand in hand
Another Life: Evolutionary trick that has other birds working for the cuckoo
Science calls it ‘brood parasitism’. The naturalist and ornithologist Gilbert White, with more feeling, called it ‘a monstrous outrage on maternal affection’
Unthinkable: Irish radical’s challenge to notion of God still relevant
As the Richard Dawkins of the early Enlightenment, John Toland created a pantheist outlook that’s still relevant today
Standing tall: feminists can wear heels if they want
Emma Thompson is wrong if well-meaning: a heel advocate can also be a feminist. Fashion and feminism both operate on a spectrum with considerably more than 50 shades of grey
Philosophers must oppose arrogance of scientism
Opposition to religion stems from the fact that many of these scientists are fundamentalist materialists
The meming of life: internet oddness, from Sad Keanu to Hitler cats
Web culture has opened our eyes to comical felines, careful whispers, hijacked reviews of a canvas print of Paul Ross, epic fails, planking and owling, and ‘erotic’ fan fiction
New age rubbish posing as an accessible alternative to old-school religion
Christianity offers intellectual depth and some form of internal consistency
Another Life: Wren Boys herald tales of the tiny king of birds
What were – are – the Wren Boys all about? Was there an elder in the village who told of how the wren should ever have been ‘the king of all birds’? Or why it should be killed, or spared, on St Stephen’s Day, and why everyone had to stump up for the ‘burial’?
Let’s face it – sometimes only the direct approach will do
When it comes to bringing about change, it is criticism delivered in person by random strangers that counts
Does science really say everything that can be said about life?
Opinion: ‘scientism’ wants to keep morality and philosopy out of the public domain
Dawn Approach has the class and temperament to land Derby
Science says colt will not stay but legendary trainer Jim Bolger’s hunch is he will
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