News of Interest to Deists
Below are news articles that are of interest to Deists because they are related to religions, religious ideas, religious states, etc. Unfortunately, currently there are not a lot of articles strictly about Deism. As Deism and the World Union of Deists continue to grow, that will change. If you know of a news article that would be of interest to Deists, please email a link to it to deism@deism.com Thank you! (This page is updated Monday thru Friday.)
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December
December 1, 2023
The truce between Israel and Hamas has sadly ended. Israel claims Hamas fired rockets into Israel that were intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile system. The Jewish state then launched over 200 bombings in Gaza killing 178 Palestinians and wounding dozens more. Israel is also blocking aid being sent to the people of Gaza via Egypt.
This thought-provoking and interesting article is about the 8,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are civilians including children and women, who are held in captivity by Israel. It points out that Israeli occupation forces have already taken into captivity more Palestinians than they released in the recent prisoner exchange with Hamas.
There are currently 1.1 billion people on Earth who are Catholic. This article from a Catholic publication points out that the majority of them do not believe Catholic Church doctrine and dogma, such as the belief in transubstantiation. This belief is that the real presence of Jesus is physically present during communion. Disbelief in transubstantiation is one of the things that caused the Roman Catholic Church to burn Giordano Bruno alive in 1600. Thank God and American Revolutionaries and the Deist Thomas Jefferson for separation of church and state! If separation of religion from government did not take place, according to Catholic Church beliefs, the majority of Catholics would have to meet the same painful and horrific fate as Giordano Bruno met.
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November
November 30, 2023
The Christian theocrats in the religious right consistently spread the lie that America was founded and created as a Christian nation. This interesting and informative article shows that the theocrats are factually incorrect. It also mentions the Deism of many of America's key Founders.
This important and insightful article is about why "Genocide Joe" Biden does not take a stand against Israel's slaughter of, so far, 14,329 Palestinians in Gaza, 6,150 of whom are children and 4,000 are women. The article points out the reason for Genocide Joe's cowardice is his fear of the wealthy and powerful Israel lobby.
The prisoner exchange going on between the Jewish state of Israel and Gaza/Hamas is in the news a lot. The vast majority of news stories about it focuses almost exclusively on the Jewish prisoners released by Hamas. Very little is shown of the Palestinian prisoners Israel is releasing as part of their prisoner exchange with Hamas. The majority of the Palestinian prisoners are children and women. About 80% of the Palestinian prisoners were in what Israel calls "administrative detention," whereby Israeli occupation troops kidnaps Palestinians in the occupied territories with no formal charges or evidence presented against them. This is state terrorism.
November 29, 2023
A new study shows that private schools in Arizona have greatly increased their tuition. The very probable reason for this is school vouchers. Arizona has a school voucher program that uses tax dollars to pay for tuition for students. The vast majority of the schools that receive the tax dollars are religious schools. This is a violation of the Jeffersonian principle of separation of religion from government.
The Jewish state of Israel passed a revised budget that will give money to religious schools and will also provide funding for additional illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. When questioned about using money for these purposes instead of using it in Israel's war against Gaza, Israeli PM Netanyahu said, "We have challenges ahead but because we have built a strong economy here, we are able to pass a budget to accommodate all needs of war.” I think he means US politicians from both parties will use billions of tax dollars they take from American taxpayers and give that money to the Jewish state for its war against Gaza. The US politicians are talking about giving Israel $14.3 billion American tax dollars for their war on Gaza.
Here's a thought-provoking and insightful article regarding how legitimate criticism of Israel is silenced by calling legitimate critics of the Jewish state anti-Semites. There should be no one and nothing that is beyond criticism.
November 28, 2023
Argentina's president-elect, Javier Milei, is a Roman Catholic. However, he feels deeply indebted to Judaism, probably because his "savior" Jesus was a religious Jew and Christianity sprang out of Judaism. On his first overseas visit he came to the US and visited the grave of a rabbi, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in Queens, New York. It is believed by the faithful that praying at the rabbi's grave give your prayers an increased chance of being answered.
Three Christian leaders from Bethlehem, Palestine have come to the US with a letter from Christian clergy in Bethlehem asking Joe Biden and US politicians to work to bring about a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians. Bethlehem, the alleged place of the birth of Jesus, is in the Palestinian West Bank which is currently brutally and illegally occupied by the Jewish state of Israel.
Jehovah's Witness has since 1920 required its faithful followers to keep track of the hours they spent trying to recruit new people into Jehovah's Witness. Recently, leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses have removed the hours-reporting requirement for the rank-and-file faithful.
November 27, 2023
In Paris, France six teens are going to trial for their involvement in the 2020 beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty. Paty was conducting a class about free expression and free speech. In one class session he showed cartoons of the founder of Islam, Mohammed. Many Muslims believe it is blasphemous to depict Mohammed in images. A Muslim came to the school to murder and behead Paty for showing the cartoons of Mohammed. Some of the students on trial showed the religious murderer where Paty was, which aided the killer in his Islamic brutality.
Three Palestinian college students were shot in Burlington, Vermont on Saturday night. They were in town visiting relatives for the Thanksgiving holiday. The man who shot them told the arresting police officers that he was "waiting" for them. It seems like he shot them because they were Palestinians. The investigation is still going on.
Here's a very insightful and interesting and thought-provoking article about the Israeli propaganda being promoted by the mainstream media regarding the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel.
November 24, 2023
Here's an interesting and well documented article about the history of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson's long efforts to work to destroy the Jeffersonian wall of separation of church and state. He is a delusional, yet dedicated, Christian theocrat who believes America was created by Christians to be a Christian nation.
Next month the British Parliament is scheduled a bill that would sever ties between the British government and the Church of England. This article points out that because the Church of England is the official state religion it is guaranteed "26 bishops are granted automatic seats in the House of Lords, and British monarchs carry the title “Defender of the Faith” and sit as the Supreme Governor of the Church."
Richard McGrath is a Roman Catholic priest in Joliet, Illinois. McGrath belongs to the Augustinian Catholic religious order. The order ran the Providence Catholic High School in Joliet and in the Diocese of Joliet. The order and the diocese have agreed to pay $2 million to a man who was a student at the school in the 1990s, Robert Krankvich. McGrath raped him and the order and diocese covered it up.
November 23, 2023
Democracy in action: A millionaire donor to the Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Linden Nelson, has offered Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Hill Harper $20 million to drop out of the Senate race and launch a challenge to Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) in Michigan’s 12th District. Tlaib is being targeted by the Israel lobby, which AIPAC is a leading part of, because of her opposition to US politicians giving BILLIONS of American tax dollars to the Jewish state of Israel and for her calls for a ceasefire in Israel's Gaza war. Harper has refused the money.
Spain is calling for the recognition of an independent Palestinian state "in the very short term." This would help to counter Israel's Hebrew Bible-based land theft of Palestinian land.
A new Jewish organization, Jews Against White Supremacy (JAWS), is calling on Jews to take a stand against the Jewish Zionist state of Israel and its ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
November 22, 2023
It looks like an agreement has finally been reached between Hamas and Israel regarding a temporary ceasefire and a prisoner exchange. Hamas is currently holding an estimated 240 Israeli men, women and children prisoner. Hamas gave a list of 300 Palestinian women and children who Israel is holding prisoner. It seems like it boils down to a prisoner exchange.
Here's an interesting article about Jewish author Deborah Feldman. Feldman escaped from the misogynistic Hasidic community in Brooklyn, New York and relocated the Berlin, Germany. She was in the television series Unorthodox and was welcomed to Berlin. Now she is openly speaking against Israel's slaughter of Palestinian children, women and men in Gaza. She is also openly critical of Germany for claiming that any criticism of Israel and anti-Semitic.
Rashida Tlaib is a Palestinian American and a member of the US House of Representatives. She is openly opposed to Israel's expanding and brutal occupation of Palestinian land. This article is from a Jewish publication that threatens Tlaib with death at the hands of God. Of course, they mean the genocidal and jealous Jewish god of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament.
November 21, 2023
In Madhya Pradesh, India, a mother and grandfather were concerned about their one-month-old son/grandson who was suffering from pneumonia. They took him to a faith healer. The faith healer branded the infant 40 times with hot bangles all over his body. Police have since arrested the mother, grandfather and the faith healer while the boy is being treated in a hospital. If people follow their innate God-given reason, they will be safe from religions/superstitions.
Here's an important article about how the powerful and wealthy Israel lobby, led by the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) buys US politicians from both parties. They do this to prevent any criticism of the Jewish state of Israel in the US Congress. Here is an informative and well documented book about this harmful and dangerous practice.
The United Methodist Church (UMC) has so far lost 7,000 congregations. Congregations are leaving the UMC because the UMC is not enforcing it rules against gay people. Since the UMC claims to be a Christian religion/sect, it should be aware that its "holy" book the Christian Bible, which includes the Hebrew Bible as the Old Testament, is violently anti-gay. Leviticus 20:13 claims God commanded, "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."
November 20, 2023
Here's an insightful and interesting article about the secularization of the US and Europe. The article claims that secular does not mean less religious. The author makes this claim based on the majority of people who are classified as nones still believe in God or a higher power. He's seems to be confusing God with religion.
One important reason America's Founders erected a wall of separation between religion and government is to prevent the religious violence and religious wars that had plagued Europe for centuries. This article shows how the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Christian theocrat Mike Johnson, is attempting to put his brand of Christianity above all others.
Israeli PM Netanyahu is often using cases of Jews committing genocide against Gentiles as told in the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament. He's doing this as justification for Israel bombing civilians in Gaza. As of this writing, over 5,000 Palestinian children have been killed by the American bombs Israel has dropped on them. This article points out that Netanyahu's promotion of Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament genocide by Jews against Gentiles is aimed not only at Jews, but also at Christians who believe God wants them to be supporters of the Jewish state of Israel.
November 17, 2023
Michael Zacharias, 56, is a Roman Catholic priest in Ohio. On Friday he "received concurrent life sentences for counts of sex trafficking a minor and sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud, or coercion. He received concurrent 20-year sentences for two counts of sex trafficking of an adult by force, fraud, or coercion and one of similarly trafficking a minor." The leverage members of the clergy have over people of faith, especially children, is very powerful. It's important to let people know, again, especially children, that the clergy are NOT representatives of God and do not know about God any more than anyone else does. This was made evident by one of the child victims of a Catholic priest in Boston, Massachusetts who said, "How do you say no to God?" If he was aware that the priest is not working for God, he would not have been a sexual victim of the priest. God gave us reason, not religion!
Here's an interesting article about the booming circumcision business in Kenya. Churches take in a lot of cash during circumcision season in Kenya!
A Palestinian Israeli and a Jewish Israeli are touring the US speaking to people about the need to end the religious violence in the Israel-Gaza war with empathy. They point out the fact that we're all people.
November 16, 2023
The Palestinian slogan, "From the river to the sea" is being painted as an anti-Jewish/anti-Semitic slogan. This insightful and interesting article explains what it means to most Palestinian people.
Recently many people who have made social media posts or who have spoken out about the Israel-Gaza war with posts or statements that are pro-Palestinian have lost their jobs. This interesting and thought-provoking article is about your limited rights regarding what you post online.
In the Jewish state of Israel and in the illegally and brutally Israeli occupied Palestinian West Bank and Palestinian East Jerusalem, people are being arrested for posts they make on social media that are pro-Palestinian. So much for democracy.
November 15, 2023
Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Christian theocrat Mike Johnson, claims the Jeffersonian principle of separation of church and state is a misnomer. I wonder how he can twist the statement in the US Treaty of Tripoli, which started in George Washington's administration and was unanimously ratified during the administration of John Adams, which states, "...the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."
House Speaker Mike Johnson is also talking about "depraved" America and the possibility that God is going to punish America and Americans for their sinful depravity.
The Vatican has confirmed the ban against Roman Catholics becoming Masons. Catholics who are Freemasons “are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.” One of the reasons the Catholic Church is opposed to the Freemasons is because of the Freemason's use of the "deistic concept of a 'Great Architect of the Universe.'”
November 14, 2023
Christian and Jewish theocrats in the US Congress are upset with the popular app TikTok because there are more pro-Palestine posts than there are pro-Israel posts. The theocratic politicians accused TikTok of manipulating its algorithms in an effort to brainwash the young people who are the primary users of the app. TikTok denies it and said since Israel's massive bombings of Gaza, more young people like the Palestinians over Israel.
More than 400 political appointees and staff members representing some 40 government agencies sent a letter to Joe Biden questioning is unthinking and unconditional support of Israel in its war against Gaza. So far, Israel's bombings of Gaza have killed over 11,000 Palestinian civilians including thousands of children. The authors of the letter probably don't experience the direct pressure of Israel's lobby as Biden and the other US politicians do.
In Virginia, an 82-year-old woman who died in August was finally allowed to be buried in here church's cemetery. The pastor of the First Baptist Church Hollins, refused to let her family bury her in the church's cemetery due to a disagreement regarding tithes!
November 13, 2023
The "holy land" is overflowing with deadly, ungodly and horrific religious violence. This article explains why it is religiously impossible to have lasting peace in the "holy land".
Here's an interesting and informative article about the Jeffersonian principle of separation of religion from government. The article also mentions that many of America's key Founders were not Christians, they were Deists.
Joe Biden claims he wants to protect the civilian children, women and men in Gaza. IF that was true, he would not be sending weapons and ammunition to the Jewish state of Israel for their war against Gaza.
November 10, 2023
Here's an interesting article about the internet and the decline in "revealed" religions. Since the "revealed" religions cannot successfully defend themselves from our innate God-given reason, the information on the internet is helping to bring a much needed end to the "revealed" religions.
The Christian theocrat and Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has a flag up outside of his office that the religious theocrats use as a Christian battle flag. It is white with a green pine tree and the words "An Appeal to Heaven" written on it. The flag was used during the American Revolution. The Christian theocrats falsely believe it was used in the American Revolution because America's Founders were creating a Christian nation. They either are ignorant of or are ignoring the fact that the phrase on the flag is from a writing of the Enlightenment leader John Locke. Locke wrote it, not as a call for a Christian government, but to point out the natural rights people have to be free and against the divine right of kings.
In the Palestinian West Bank, Jewish squatters, who the mainstream media refer to as settlers, are increasing their physical violent attacks and murders on and of Palestinians whose land they are stealing. The Biden administration is asking the Israeli government to "curtail" these religious-based violent attacks. I wonder of Biden will be labeled anti-Semitic for this.
November 9, 2023
Texas is starting a new program that allows religious chaplains to be school counselors in public schools. Some of them will be volunteers while others will be paid staff. This is a clear violation of the US Constitution's First Amendment.
Since the foolish (Hamas should only have attacked the Israeli military and Israeli politicians, not civilians) and vile attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7th, the Jewish state of Israel, via bombing with American bombs and missiles and using American attack aircraft, has killed 10,341 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, 4,324 of whom are children. Their slaughter continues.
The Group of Seven leading industrial democracies are calling for "urgent action" to be taken to help the over two million Palestinian civilians who are under deadly attacks by Israel.
November 8, 2023
Here's an interesting and informative article about Christian Zionists and the Christian Zionist Mike Johnson who is the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives. To show how US politicians from both parties are deep in the pockets of Israel's powerful and wealthy Israel lobby, Joe Biden also says he is a Zionist.
American Baptist Churches USA has named a woman, Gina Jacobs-Strain, as the Christian organization's new leader. This makes clear how Christians pick and choose which teachings in their Christian Bible they will follow and which they will ignore. According to the "good book," women are not to be in leadership roles and must remain silent. For example, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 teaches, "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." Why any self-respecting woman, or any man who appreciates women, would want to be a Christian, or a Jew or a Muslim or a Mormon is beyond reason. All of the man-made Abrahamic "revealed" religions are deeply misogynistic.
Springtide Research Institute’s “The State of Religion & Young People 2023: Exploring the Sacred” shows that the majority of young people between the ages of 13 - 25 find sacred moments more often in nature than they do in a church. Many of these people are probably Deists but just don't realize it. We need to do all we can to educate people about Deism!
November 7, 2023
In Turkey, the Ankara Institute released a study that shows nearly 6 percent of the population in Turkey are Deists or Atheists. 3.2 percent of people in Turkey identify as Deists, "who believe in God but not religion," and 2.7 percent identify as Atheists, "who don't believe in God." Due to Turkey being such a strict Islamic nation, the numbers of Deists and Atheists are probably higher due to fear of reprisals.
Evangelical Christians are mobilizing to assist Israel's in the Israeli war against the Palestinians in Gaza. This is because the evangelical Christians believe the creation of the Jewish state of Israel in 1948 was fulfillment of biblical prophecy and they believe what the ancient Jewish clergymen who wrote the Bible said that God said he would bless people who bless the Jewish and Israel and that he would curse people who curse the Jews and Israel.
Christian clergyman/con-man Steven Flockhart appeared on American Idol and The Voice. He also appeared in the Shelby County, Tennessee jail for a mugshot. He was arrested for identity theft and theft of merchandise.
November 6, 2023
Here's an interesting article examining the beliefs of the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson. The article points out that many of America's key Founders were not Christians, they were Deists, contrary to what Mike Johnson says. One thing the author of the article gets wrong is that America's Deist Founders did not believe that The Supreme Intelligence/Nature's God never intervenes in human affairs. Since there is no man-made dogma in Deism, some Deists believe God never intervenes, some believe God does intervene and some are not sure. The Deist George Washington believed Nature's God intervenes via inscrutable Providence.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland announced it is closing a church in southwest Baltimore, St. Benedict Church. The reason is because the priest who ran the church, Paschal Morlino, was paying a man to keep quiet about their sexual relationship. Since fewer and fewer people are becoming Catholic priests, the archdiocese does not have a priest to replace Morlino.
Queen of Jordan, Rania Al-Abdullah, said that being pro-Palestinian is not being pro-terrorist nor anti-Semitic. She also made an important point when she said, “I want to absolutely and wholeheartedly condemn antisemitism and Islamophobia…but I also want to remind everyone that Israel does not represent all the Jewish people around the world. Israel is a state and is alone is responsible for its own crimes.”
November 3, 2023
The new Speaker of the US House of Representatives, the Christian theocrat Mike Johnson, said his worldview is the Christian Bible. This article lists some of the very harmful and dangerous things that would bring about if the biblical worldview was forced upon the world.
The Biden administration is trying to pressure Israel to allow a pause in their bombing of Gaza for humanitarian reasons. So far Israel has killed 9,200 Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Israel refuses saying it won't stop bombing Palestinians in Gaza until the Israeli prisoners Hamas captured are returned. Israel has been holding thousands of Palestinian children, women and men prisoner in Israeli prisons for years. Israel should do a prisoner swap with Hamas. The ancient Jewish clergymen who wrote the Bible often wrote that God commanded the Jews to show no mercy to Gentiles whose land they were stealing.
Here's an interesting and informative article about religious exemptions for children in regards to immunization. The article points out why it's very important for children to be immunized against diseases such as measles, mumps, etc. Religious superstitions should never put children and society at risk. Religious exemptions to medical care for children too often results in injury and even death to the helpless, priceless and innocent children. God gave us reason, not religion.
November 2, 2023
While Gaza is the focus of attention of most of the world, Jewish settlers/squatters with the aid of the Israeli government are forcing Palestinians in the Palestinian West Bank out of their homes and off of their land. Human rights organizations also report that the Jewish squatters along with Israeli occupation troops beat and tortured Palestinians.
The Christian theocrats in the US House of Representatives and under the leadership of their fellow Christian theocrat the new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson have passed a bill to give the Jewish state of Israel $14.3 BILLION in US tax dollars for their war against the Palestinians in Gaza. This is in addition to the $3.8 BILLION in US tax dollars US politicians from both parties take from American taxpayers and give to Israel.
Christian America is a religious left organization. They focus on the nice things written in the Christian Bible and ignore the evil things in the Christian Bible. They are promoting a petition that denounces the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Christian religious right theocrat Mike Johnson.
November 1, 2023
Here's an interesting article about the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives, the Christian theocrat Mike Johnson. Johnson says his the Christian Bible is his worldview. The article points out how dangerous this is because as a US government official he should be promoting the US Constitution, not the Christian Bible. The article also points out that most key American Founders were not Christians, they were Deists.
Three more people have sued the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). They are suing the Mormon Church because they said the thousands of dollars they gave as tithes were not used for what the Mormon Church said they would be used for, such as for charity work, but were instead used as financial investments.
This article gives a different perspective on the current Israel Hamas war than what you'll see in the mainstream media. It points out facts about the Jewish state of Israel's abuse of Palestinians and the stealing of their land through the Hebrew Bible-based expanding and cruel occupation.
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