BILLIONAIRE televangelist Oral Roberts this week fell off the perch aged 91 – but his passing has generated a great deal more derision than sadness. The life of the preposterous old fraud was, to my mind, best summed on Gawker.com: Oral Roberts has finally been killed by God for not raising enough money. Oral Roberts [...]
A MISCHIEVOUS billboard about to be hoisted by an Auckland church has raised the ire of a fundamentalist Christian lobby group. Intended to provoke conversation about spiritual matters at Christmas, the billboard is far more likely to provoke smutty jibes about the hows and the whys of Mary’s encounter with a sizeable celestial penis – [...]
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ACTOR Sam Elliott has accused the Catholic Church of pressurising Hollywood producers to scrap the final parts of Philip Pullman’s classic fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials. Studio bosses have shelved plans to film the final two instalments of the fantasy, despite the success of the first movie, The Golden Compass, two years ago. According to [...]
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LILLIAN Ladele, the Christian registrar who was told to perform same-sex civil partnerships or face dismissal, has lost her religious discrimination case at the Court of Appeal. Lawyers acting for Ladele say she intends to fight on, and will appeal to the Supreme Court, the UK’s highest court. She originally won a religious discrimination case [...]
AN antiquated rule in North Carolina’s constitution that disqualifies people “who shall deny the being of Almighty God” from holding political office has been dredged up against Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell by Christian fundies. They are threatening to take the city to court for swearing in the 59-year-old atheist this week, even though the [...]
THE Church of England’s Bishop to the Forces has been forced to apologise for “incredibly insensitive” remarks he made in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. The Rt Rev Stephen Venner had warned against demonising the Taliban and argued that the attitude towards insurgents in the conflict-ravaged country had been ”too simplistic”. He told paper: [...]
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
