Write for Religion Compass Exchanges

Are you a graduate student looking for an opportunity to write for a broad international audience? We want to hear from budding scholars who are looking for a chance to write about the phenomenon of religion for a popular blog, and who want to show how the ideas in religious studies can improve our understanding … Continue reading →

NEWS: Faith and Education

A recent article by Andrew Penman in The Independent highlights some of the issues faced by parents when choosing a school for their children. Since writing his book School Daze: Searching for Decent State Education Penman claims he has suffered abuse and vilification. The primary focus for this opprobrium appears to be focused upon the … Continue reading →

NEWS: Recognition for Britain’s “Oldest” Religion

This week it has been announced that ‘[d]ruidry is to become the first pagan practice to be given official recognition as a religion’ in Britain. Recognition by the Charity Commission relates in the main to financial regulations, and indeed this rationale lay behind the Druid Network’s application. However, an additional benefit of this acknowledgement means … Continue reading →

NEWS: Preparations for the Pope’s Visit to the UK

Ahead of this week’s long awaited visit by Pope Benedict XVI the BBC has published his proposed itinerary. The first papal visit to the UK in 28 years includes a combination of private and public events focused around London, Birmingham and Edinburgh. Despite the ongoing controversy over child abuse allegations against members of the Roman … Continue reading →

NEWS: Big Week for Religion in Germany

Some significant stories pertaining to religion came out of Germany this week. On Friday, July 16, Bishop Maria Jepsen, the first woman worldwide ever elected – in 1992 – as a Lutheran bishop, resigned from her post in northern Germany after being accused of mishandling abuse complaints. According to the New York Times, hundreds of … Continue reading →

NEWS: Pakistan to Monitor Websites for ‘Blasphemy’

The BBC has recently reported Pakistan’s plans to monitor ‘seven major websites’ for material deemed offensive to Muslims. These include perennial favourites: Amazon, Hotmail, YouTube and Google, along with seventeen other less well known websites. Given the two week ban imposed by Pakistan in May, it is perhaps surprising that the popular social networking site … Continue reading →

Is God a Delusion? A Reply to Religion’s Cultured Despisers

Eric Reitan’s latest book, Is God a Delusion? A Reply to Religion’s Cultured Despisers was named an Outstanding Academic Title of 2009. Here he tells us how he was motivated to write the book partly in response to the misrepresentations of religious thought he discovered in Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, but also by a … Continue reading →

NEWS: Religious and Racial Hatred on the Web

Two defendants are currently standing trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged with ‘urging people to kill Jewish people’ via posting on a website. Both Michael Heaton and Trevor Hannington are alleged to be members of the Aryan Strike Force [ASF], and furthermore, having posted racist and anti-Semitic comments designed to incite others to murder. The … Continue reading →

In the Name of God: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Ethics and Violence

John Teehan is the author of In the Name of God: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Ethics and Violence, and has published and lectured widely on the impact of evolutionary theories on moral philosophy. In this comprehensive interview, John talks in depth about some of the themes in his book: how our moral minds may … Continue reading →

NEWS: One man’s mission against Christian soldiers

Stephen Glain of Foreign Policy magazine recently brought attention to the work of Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, an activist who seeks to remove evangelical Christians’ influence from the military. As a former Air Force judge advocate general and target of anti-Semitic violence as a cadet, Weinstein views the overwhelming presence of evangelical Christianity in the … Continue reading →

NEWS: Faith and Football

The Right Reverend Nick Baines and the Reverend Peter Moger have joined forces to create three prayers in advance of the World Cup, due to take place in South Africa this June. Working from Church House, Westminster, as part of the “rapid response prayer unit”, three prayers have been created to cater for all. Entitled … Continue reading →

NEWS: The Texas Education Massacre?

Chris McGreat of The Guardian has recently reported some worrying news that the Texas school board is believed to changing their state education curriculum to one based on religious indoctrination and revisionist versions of American history. At the centre of this story is Cynthia Dunbar, a ‘conservative Texas lawyer’ who has’ likened sending children to … Continue reading →

Development in Case of American Missionary Held in Haiti, Part Three

On Thursday, May 13, the first day of court proceedings, Haitian prosecutor Sonel Jean-Francois requested a six-month prison sentence for Laura Silsby, the only remaining American missionary detained in Haiti on kidnapping charges. Ten Americans, most of them Baptists from Idaho, came to Haiti soon after the January 12 earthquake and maintained they were on … Continue reading →

NEWS: The Burqa and the Economy

Given the polemical nature of much discourse which often surrounds the burqa, Matthew Campbell of the Sunday Times identifies another layer to the debate.  There has been a great deal of discussion across Europe as to whether or not women choose to wear the burqa or alternatively if it is something forced upon them. With … Continue reading →

BOOKS: Meaning and Mystery: What it Means to Believe in God

We recently caught up with David Holley, author of Meaning and Mystery: What it Means to Believe in God. David talks about his motivations for writing, and something unusual about his writing style… Why did you decide to write Meaning and Mystery: What it Means to Believe in God? David Holley: The beginnings of the … Continue reading →