We may not go to church, but we still need the rituals of Christianity

People have always needed a place to go to give solace. And when my sister died, that place was a church

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/25/church-rituals-christianity-uk

Full-face veils aren't barbaric – but our response can be | Maleiha Malik | Comment is free | The Guardian

Full-face veils aren't barbaric – but our response can be | Maleiha Malik | Comment is free | The Guardian

France's headscarf war: 'It's an attack on freedom' | World news | The Guardian

France's headscarf war: 'It's an attack on freedom' | World news | The Guardian

The six types of atheist | Andrew Brown | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

The six types of atheist | Andrew Brown | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Healthy scepticism

Are Believers Really Happier Than Atheists? [Preview]
Who is better off: the religious or atheists? Cultural values determine the answer

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=healthy-skepticism

• Being religious is often linked with greater well-being. New research suggests that the effect is culture-specific.
• A strong predictor of a person’s religiosity is the condition of the society in which he or she lives.
• Finding communities and social groups that align with your beliefs can improve life satisfaction.

Religion without the supernatural?

Does Buddhism need the supernatural stuff? | Andrew Brown | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Gay marriage: three key factors behind voting for bans

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/10/gay-marriage-three-key-factors-voting-bans

• wanted to examine whether the percentage of religious adherents, taken from the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), within a state could explain county-to-county variance in support of marriage bans. I also added variables for partisanship (as measured by Obama's 2008 vote percentage) and for educational attainment (as measured by the percentage of voters within each county with at least a bachelor's degree, according to census figures).
• What I found many would call predictable: 89-93.5% of the variation in vote for same-sex marriage amendments could simply be accounted for these three variables. One of the more interesting pieces of data is that the variable with the least impact is religion. For every extra percentage point of a county's population that is religiously adherent, there is only a 0.1-point change we would see in support for marriage bans.
• Education, it turns out, is far more important at accounting for the differences between county votes in favor of same sex marriage bans. When holding religious adherence and Obama support constant, we would expect that the percentage of support for same-sex marriage bans to drop by 0.8-0.9 of a point for every extra 1% of a county's population that has at least a bachelor's degree.

Religious not necessarily conservative

Religious people are more likely to be leftwing, says thinktank Demos | World news | The Observer
new research suggests they would have been preaching to the converted: people with faith are far more likely to take left-of-centre positions on a range of issues, including immigration and equality.
The research, revealed in a new report by the thinktank Demos, undermines the widely held view that members of religious groups are more likely to have conservative tendencies.

A heathen manifesto for Atheists

Atheists are too often portrayed as bishop-bashing extremists and any meaningful debate with the religious becomes impossible. How can this be remedied? At the Guardian Open Weekend, Julian Baggini presented his 12 rules for heathens
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/25/atheists-please-read-heathen-manifesto

Atheism - it's not because it's funny, it's because it's true.

Julian Baggini on Atheism : 

"Atheists have seemed rather keen in recent years to stress their jolly side.... Stressing the jolly side of atheism not only glosses over its harsher truths, it also disguises its unique selling point. The reason to be an atheist is not that it makes us feel better or gives us a more rewarding life. The reason to be an atheist is simply that there is no God and we would prefer to live in full recognition of that, accepting the consequences, even if it makes us less happy.""
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/09/life-without-god-bleak-atheism
Guess it goes back to the old Woody Allen question as to whether would rather be happy or right. The problem is of course those who just by their nature cannot see the universe otherwise don't really have this choice. But that doesn't mean we can't be happy and right. And since many people can obviously be miserable and wrong, at least we've got a head start, since (I'm sure!) are already halfway there...

To debate religion, we must first find out what people believe

 Julian Baggini is doing an interesting series of articles in the Guardian's CiF (comment is free) belief section, and this one raises a very important point, namely that a lot of debate invokes the kind of believer/non-believer out there, with very little empirical evidence to back it up. This raises the risk of stereotypes and anecdotes being treated as fact, and with movements being epitomised by their more vocal , radical (and hence less representative) members.

His full article is :  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/nov/14/debate-religion-what-people-believe?INTCMP=SRCH