Page 37 - Atheism News Today

Many who opposed the soviet union because of its atheism now view russia as christianitys front line against the new civilizational enemy, islam. joining us, the washington bureau chief for "mother jones." what do you make of that, because vladimir putin has certain problems with islamic terrorism even within his realm, and because hes fighting that he is the friend of others who are fighting that. >> i think its ingenious but way unnecessarily complicated. i think you can explain how most repub...

Republican party doesnt see it that way. before trump, republican leaders generally described the united states as fighting an ideological struggle fwenls the enemies of freedom. now trump and his advisers describe fighting a struggle against the enemies of the west seen through the very different lens. muslims look more nefarious, and vladimir putin looks more benign. many who opposed the soviet union because of its atheism now view russia as christianitys front line against the new civilizatio...

The russians and syrians are alongside the americans who are providing assistance to the kurds, to take this place. but its a city. despite the fact that theres overwhelming force against isis, urban warfare is not easy. isis does very well in these environments. >> reporter: isis does very well in these environments, largely because of the large human civilian populations in cities. of its very difficult in any military operation to retake a city, especially when you are dealing with narrow str...

Liberty. >> so secretary of state john kerry, he expressed outrage and said quote these are heinous, evil, vialing as. those of us who can must do everything to fight back over an assault on our common humanity. the secretary spoke this morning from vienna. he is meeting with foreign minsters there on syria. he said, we are witnessing a kind of medeival and pass theism at the same time. which seeks to destroy and create chaos and disorder and fear and the only thing we can say to those people is...

Believe that. and of the gop candidates, as youll find out in a moment, almost none of them seem to believe it. i wanted to learn about evolution from one of the greatest scientific thinkers out there. richard dawkins is a long-time oxford professor who has written prolifically on science and atheism. he has a new memoir out. listen in. >> so if i look at the united states, currently, the republican presidential candidates, as far as i know, every single one of the declared candidates with the e...

>> i would still defend him. particularly if he had the same exact message, and, you know, but thats not what happened. what happened was that this is yet another christian in america, a country that was built on the foundation of christianity thats being under attack. i can tell you right now the atheists are on the rise, and the more they win, i feel the more america loses. andrea: it doesnt help their case as atheists if theyre trying to empower people to join their cause, atheism. its not so...

A series of revival type of events for children, teens and adults. >> were celebrating the summer, our 40th anniversary of the summer conferences. >> dr. scott hahn, a theology professor at san fris can university, as well as author of more than 40 books, believes were in a crisis. >> what seemed to be unthinkable 20 years ago, now feels like its unstoppable. and now traditional morality is considered weird. i mean, thats weird. >> this adult conference held in the last weekend in july was calle...

They feel welcomed in and engaged as they are. >> i think part of that. thats well said. i think part of it is, politics sometimes has a way of making big issues seem very small. and the politics can zoom us into things that feel very removed from the big questions. whatever your faith or lack of faith, your committed atheism, just to think about the big issues, its been wonderful in that respect. >> thanks. >> the main selling point has been that he will win for america. what happens if he star...

Humanity. and i think people respond to that. people respond to someone who is coming, the pope didnt pretend that he wasnt the head of the catholic church or that, you know, his beliefs didnt come from scripture and catholic social teaching, obviously, and because hes so honest about the core of his convictions. but then, open in the expression of those people, people dont feel manipulated. they feel welcomed in and engaged as they are. >> i think part of that. thats well said. i think part of ...

Americans are more reluctant to vote for an atheist than for a muslim. atheism is the only identity that couldnt get you -- that would prevent your election as a qualified member of your own party when people of your own party are polled. so, you know, we can play this victim card. we can worry about political bigotry. its a real problem. but it is visited upon atheists, it is visited upon other minorities. and what gets lost here and what dean, frankly, has been a scandalous pure vafer of -- >>...