From Verbum et Ecclesia, Johannes van Oort (Utrecht): Manichaeism: Its Sources and Influences on Western Christianity; Trudie Stark (North-West): The “Jezebel spirit”: A Scholarly Inquiry; Rory du Plessis and Marinda Maree (Pretoria): Engendered Representations: Exploring Sexuality through Symbols and Myths; and Samuel Hill (Johannesburg): A Hermeneutics of Sexual Identity: A Challenge to Conservative Religious Discourse. Is atheism a belief? One of the most common accusations aimed at atheists is that atheism is an article of faith, a belief just like religion. William Pike on the Jesus Seminar: A 25 year quest for the irrelevant Jesus. An interview with Mary Warnock on Godless morality. Suppose someone who hasn't been keeping up with theology for the past 25 years now wants to read the most important books written during that time, what five titles would you suggest? Against humanism: Of course we should love, honour and cherish our species, says Mary Midgley, but should we have to worship it too? A review of Sin: A History by Gary Anderson. It's a standard piety that nothing should be sacred, and nothing above criticism, but it this desirable or even possible? An excerpt from John R. Shook's The God Debates: a 21st Century Guide for Atheists and Believers (and Everyone in Between). A review of Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years by Philip Jenkins. Friends like these: Attacks on New Atheism, especially from fellow atheists, are ill-advised, counter productive and play into the hands of the religion apologists. Was George W. Bush the last hippie? An interview with David Williams, author of Searching for God in the Sixties. Liturgy against the laws of physics: How does religious ritual preserve humanity from chaos and entropy? Social progress vs. endless war: Why do atheists and humanists disagree?
