Weekly Round-Up

1. President Obama Tells Terry Moran of ABC News His Spirituality

2. Brad Pitt Doesn’t Believe in God – honestly, who cares? Here’s the original interview in Bild Magazine.

3. I’m Spiritual, Not Religious by Rich Heffern of National Catholic Reporter

4. One heli of a spiritual sensation by Robin Esrock – Toronto Star. How to mix yoga and helicopters for a spiritual experience. Hmm.

5. Movie Star Religion Quiz by Beliefnet. Dumb, but entertaining for a few minutes.

6. Should a judge’s religious tradition and faith inform their rulings? by Wayne Slater – Dallas Morning News

7. Washington’s C Street: where scandal meets spirituality by Lisa Lerer & Kathryn McGarr – Politico

8. Docs feel spiritual goes well with medical by Aditya Dev – The Times of India

9. Spiritual Outlook Can Affect Mental Health in Breast Cancer

10. Buddhism Wins Best Religion in the World Award – LOL

1. Ireland Makes it Illegal to Criticize Religion by Mark Pogue
2. Commercialism of Spirituality in India by Balvinder Kumar
3. Believer, Beware “Gets” The Funny (And Poignant) Side of Religion by Frank Schaeffer, Huffington Post
4. Can You Develop Your Spirituality Without Visiting India? by Christine Garvin, Brave New Traveler
5. Personal Transformations in the Internet Age – Marina Gorbis, Boing Boing
6. Are Your a Spiritual Pioneer by Janice Hunter, Write to Done
7. God Abroad: Defending Your Spirituality To The Locals by Allison Cross, Brave New Traveler
8. Science versus religion: The debate comes to the NIH by D.M. Murdock, Examiner
9. Why we no longer need religion by Dan Dennett, Guardian UK
10. Darwin biopic will open Toronto Film Festival

1. Confessions Of An (Almost) Religious Hitman – Governments aren’t the only ones using secret agents these days.

2. Scientology takes over the web with ads. Soon CoS “Stress Tests” to be administered by sticking a finger in a USB slot.

3. Mega-pastor Rick Warren reaches out the Muslim community – the author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” addressed a packed house at the 46th annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an event which regularly draws 30,000 attendees.

4. Iranian Clerical Leaders Turn on the Ayatollah. Call Election Fraud. – This actually pretty huge news. The Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum (Iran’s academy of clerics), defied the Supreme Leader in a very public act.

5. Buddhism thrives as China relaxes religious policy

6. New Friendship Between Two Ancient Religions – I dare you to guess which ones.

7. Non-constitutional arguments for separation of church and state

8. Religious Plurality Within Families

9. Costa Rica Ranked As World’s Happiest Country

10. Burger King Denigrates Goddess Lakshmi – ah, is there nothing the BK Lounge can’t patronize?

1. Review of Derek Jeffreys Spirituality and the Ethics of Torture by Christopher Sampson of the University of Wisconsin. From Sampson’s review:

“[Jeffreys] joins the current debate on torture by carefully defining the term, asserting that torture is a spiritual assault on the person…”.

Looks pretty interesting. Read the full description on Amazon.

2. How Confucianism could curb global warming – by James Miller (Christian Science Monitor)

Now here’s a curveball to secular Western policy experts: China’s intellectuals are openly debating the role of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in promoting the Communist Party’s vision of a harmonious society and ecologically sustainable economic development.

3. Twitter as Spiritual Practice by Christine Sine of Godspace

4. The End of Christian America by Jon Meacham of Newsweek. This came out a couple of months ago, but I figured I’d include it. Interesting article about the changing views of the average American, and how Meacham sees the future of Christianity in the U.S. Love it or hate it, its a very in-depth piece.

5. Revolutionary Freedom of Religion by by Michael Kessler of The Washington Post.

Independence Day is a good opportunity to take a moment to ponder how some of our forebears envisioned religious freedom–one of our most fundamental liberties.

6. More pursue careers as spiritual advisers by Lesley Wright of the Arizona Republic.

7. Spirituality isn’t against modern-living by K Balakumar of News Today (India). A Q&A with Swami Dayanandha Saraswathi. An interesting POV.

8. The God Choice by Barbara Bradley Hagerty of USA Today.

Armed with new technology, scientists are peering into the brain to better understand human spirituality. What if, they say, God isn’t some figment of our imagination? Instead, perhaps brain chemistry simply reflects an encounter with the divine.

9. Confessions of a Late Bloomer by Scott Barry Kaufman of Psychology Today.

We have fixed notions about the time course of success and the nature of talent that encourage us to write off the very people who are most likely to (eventually) change the world.

So stop crying that your best years are behind you or that you missed the boat by not being a roaring success in your 20s. I really loved this article!

10. Ever wanted know what Jesus might look like if he lived and died in the U.S.? What Would Jesus Weigh…if American?

Mark Pogue from ProudAtheists gives up a funny glimpse.