Spirituality Group at NewsCloud.com

Einstein Letter: Belief In God

Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.

Jesus Made Me Puke : Rolling Stone

Matt Taibbi Undercover with the Christian Right

The Pope's Holy War Against Liberation Theology

The recent election of former Bishop Fernando Lugo as President of Paraguay poses a sticky dilemma for the Vatican and underscores the hostile political environment facing incoming Pope Benedict XVI in South America. Lugo, who was known to his constituents as the "Bishop of the Poor" for his support of landless peasants, advocates so-called Liberation Theology, a school of thought which took shape in Latin America in the 1960s.

John Cleese visits Laughing Club in India - Boing Boing

Actor John Cleese went to India to visit a doctor who has started a laughing club. The people meet each morning and do silly things to make each other laugh. Laughter has many health benefits, says the doctor.

Soldier Sues Army, Saying His Atheism Led to Threats

Religious right is still a force in the military.

The pope's US visit: Media, White House, Congress embrace spokesman for religious obscurantism

It is a measure of the profound decay of American democracy that when the president of the United States welcomed the Roman Catholic pontiff to Washington last week, a major concern was that the representative of a 2,000-year-old religious institution, steeped in reaction and hostility to science and human progress, might seem to criticize the US government from the left.

China Said to Arrest 100 Protesting Monks

As many as 100 Tibetans were arrested in northwest China on Thursday after they demonstrated against the earlier detention of monks from a nearby monastery, witnesses and a Tibetan human rights group said Friday. Local residents reached by telephone on Friday said that the police beat and arrested people at an open-air market in Tongren, a town in Qinghai, a western province bordering Tibet, after they refused orders to leave.

Mysterious Switzerland - Alpine Goddess

An Alpine Goddess, who once lived in complete harmony with nature, is the subject of an ancient song in Switzerland's fourth language, Romansh. The Saint Margriata song is interpreted by Corin Curschellas.(The Mysterious Switzerland series is produced by SRG SSR idée suisse.)

Georgia Republican instructs House on proper Pledge of Allegiance technique

The pledge had no reference to a diety until 1954, when Cold War fever saw its inclusion to separate Americans from "godless Communists." The Supreme Court dismissed a case arguing that the phrase violated the First Amendment's guarantees of freedom of religion because the plaintiff had no standing to argue the case, not because of any inherent legal justification for the phrase.

Bring on Lama-Palooza

Lama-Palooza's man behind the curtain is a driven entrepreneur named Dan Kranzler, a Charles Foster Kane for children and early learning (better that than, say, politics or yellow journalism). Kranzler is a Bellevue-based wireless executive who founded Mforma, a mobile-entertainment company, in 2001.

Baby with 2 faces born in north India

A baby with two faces was born in a northern Indian village, where she is doing well and is being worshipped as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess, her father said Tuesday. I find it amusing that MSNBC put this in their Kids & Parenting section.

Film legend Charlton Heston dead at 84

Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.

Church of Scientology\\\\\\'s \\\\\\'Operating Thetan\\\\\\' documents leaked online - Wikinews,

Wikinews has obtained \\\\\\'Operating Thetan\\\\\\' (OT) documents of the Church of Scientology which were leaked via Wikileaks. Although some portions of the manual have been leaked previously, this is believed to be the first time the full unedited version has been leaked.

Prophets Don't Speak the Language of Politics

Pastors who preach in the prophetic tradition aren't speaking as political figures who must find accomodation and compromise to achieve attainable goals. They're speaking about a different and more exacting standard, God's expectations. And parishioners know the difference.

God-talk in the presidential election (or why evangelicals are voting for Barack)

Evangelicals are not fundamentalists; many would resist the idea that they want to impose their worldviews on others. Many are now struggling to figure out how to live in a religiously and culturally plural culture, and Obama’s message not only resonates with their sense of integrity, but it also appeals to their desire to find ways to live together less divisively. I don’t think Barack has a prayer with the fundamentalists. But I think he’s definitely striking a chord among evangelicals.