While reading the Saturday Star, one article caught my eye. Apparently, the Royal Ontario Museum had some trouble finding sponsors for its new exhibit "Darwin: The Evolution Revolution". The vast majority of corporations approached balked at donating money fearing retaliation from conservative religious groups. But the ROM found two organizations that were eagerly willing to contribute.

More...

In the recent Ontario provincial election, the big reason for the loss of the Progressive Conservatives was their leader's support for full public funding of all religious schools in the province. Although they were clearly looking for the support of religious minorities, the strategy backfired spectacularly with people even calling for the withdrawal of public funding for separate Catholic schools.

More...

In Afghanistan, 41 year old Abdul Rahman is charged with converting from Islam to Christianity. Under Afghan law, that act is punishable by death. People of many different faiths find this unacceptable. After all, in a modern world, we all should have the freedom to choose our religion, right? But how much religious freedom do we really have? To start with, let's have a quick look at the history of Christianity.

More...

Professor Paul Mirecki, chairman of the Religious Studies department at the University of Kansas was beaten up along a rural road south of Lawrence. His attackers made reference to a graduate level course he was planning to teach called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism, and Other Religious Mythologies".

More...

Yesterdays Toronto Star had an interesting juxtaposition of articles. On page M7 was Tom Harpur's usual weekly column. On the opposite page was an article by Dave Haskell, professor of journalism at Conestoga College, which contained (among other things) a criticism of Tom Harpur's book, The Pagan Christ. Haskell argues that a historical Jesus and resurrection are the most believable of the various views put forward. But as Carl Sagan remarked "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", it's appropriate to quickly review the evidence for a historic Jesus.

More...

Terri Schiavo's body died a couple of days ago, 15 years after her brain died, ending a long ordeal for her loved ones. No doubt, some people who had trouble accepting the death of Terri's brain will choose to continue their own private torment, and will have trouble getting on with their lives. Most aspects of this story belong in the "Politics" file, but here I'd like to touch on a religious question: When did Terri reach Heaven?

More...