By Arielle Hawkins, CNN
Here's the Belief Blog’s morning rundown of the top faith-angle stories from around the United States and around the world. Click the headlines for the full stories.
From the Blog:
CNN: Dolan to pray at Democratic National Convention
Cardinal Timothy Dolan has accepted an invitation to give the closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, next week, which will also feature a nun in a speaking role. Dolan, the archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also will give the closing benediction at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday.
CNN: 5 faithy players to watch at the Republican National Convention
The speakers at this week's Republican National Convention include prayer givers, Mormon leaders and politicians famous for their appeal to religious voters. Here are five faithy players circulating in Tampa, Florida, this week, including those with prominent speaking roles and others who are organizing behind the scenes…
Tweet of the Day:
[tweet https://twitter.com/jbarooah/status/240713746085986305%5D
Enlightening Reads:
Reuters: Suicide bomber kills Muslim cleric as Putin urges unity
A woman suicide bomber killed an influential Islamic cleric and six of his followers in Russia's southern Dagestan region on Tuesday as President Vladimir Putin visited another mainly Muslim province and called for an end to religious violence.
JTA: Michigan St. Jewish student, police differ on whether attack was hate crime
A Jewish student at Michigan State University said he was attacked at an off-campus party in what he is calling a hate crime. Zach Tennen, 19, said that just before Sunday's assault, his attackers asked him if he was Jewish and that he answered in the affirmative, according to reports. Tennen, a resident of suburban Detroit and a sophomore at the university, told WDIV-TV in Detroit that his attackers also "were making Nazi and Hitler symbols and they said they were part of the KKK."
Haaretz: Israel Police may probe group warning Arab men not to date Jewish women
Police are examining the possibility of opening a criminal investigation into a group distributing flyers warning Arab males they could get hurt if they go to downtown Jerusalem or to the capital's Malcha Mall to pick up Jewish women. "Just like you would do anything to prevent a Jew from dating your sister, so too would we," reads the flyer being distributed by the Lehava group, a Hebrew acronym for "For Preventing Assimilation in the Holy Land."
New York Times: Lawyers Say Amish Acted Out of Compassion
Seeking to counter federal hate crime charges, defense lawyers for 16 Amish men and women on trial here said Tuesday that their clients had cut the beards and hair of perceived enemies out of compassion — trying, with admittedly misguided methods, to help them repent and see the true Amish way. “He was motivated purely by good intentions,” J. Dean Carro, the lawyer for Lester M. Miller, said of his client, in a statement echoed by several other lawyers.
Opinions of the Day:
CNN: Your Take: 5 reactions to Bill Nye's creationism critique
Bill Nye does not think that children should be taught to deny evolution, and a YouTube video of him explaining why has gone viral. The CNN Belief Blog's report on the video has generated around 10,000 comments and thousands of Facebook shares since Monday.
Join the conversation…
CNN: Atheist group removes billboards targeting presidential candidates' religious faith
An atheist group that raised a pair of billboards taking aim at the presidential candidates’ religion at the site of next month’s Democratic National Convention has pulled the signs after what the group called a “large volume of threats.” The billboards, sponsored by American Atheists, took aim at Mormonism and Christianity and went up this month in Charlotte, North Carolina, which will play host to the Democratic convention.
I love being told that "Atheism is a religion"
Well, sure...if 'not smoking' is a habit.
You do not believe in god(s).
You believe in no god(s).
1+1=2
1-(-1)=2
Atheism is a religion.
Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.
Ned...don't be obtuse.
And not collection stamps IS a hobby......
This sentence is false.
I have se'xdaily. Dyslexia. Fcuk.
Ned is absolutely correct here. Atheism is a FAITH based on the assumption that there is no Creator and that the world we all live in came into existence all by itself from nothing.
Saying atheism is a religion is like saying "off" is a TV channel.
@ Ned
So you are of the religion of non-Zeus believers? How much faith does it take for you to not believe in Zeus?
Atheism isn't a religion – but stating that "God is not real" is a logic fallacy known as the 'argument from ignorance'.
b4bigbang, I think you need to look up "arguing from ignorance" before you show your massive ignorance here any more.
http://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/ARTB/k/1186/Gnosticism-False-Knowledge.htm
I see someone is on his period and spamming us with worthless links.
Time to shove a dozen tampons down his throat I guess.
If it were true their would be no need to post it over and over, you would just pray that everyone knew it. But you know that won't work so here you are, oh ye of little faith.
The statement saying that TWO AND TWO EQUALS FOUR was repeated many billions of times throughout the history of this planet and nonetheless it still is true.
Very well said!
I was speaking to Huebert not the idiot who can barely think.
false analogy thinker.
Did you guys disagree with something I've said? If so WHAT WAS IT? By the way, insulting your opponent is a clear sign that you have nothing better to say.
It's called false equivalency, fool. LOOK IT UP!!!!
More signs that the hyper-religious faction of the republican party (I'd like to believe there are still some republicans who are just fiscally conservative and legitamately prefer lmited government) has gone way off the deep-end. A congressional candidate from Pennsylvania (Tom Smith) compared ra-pe to having a child out of wedlock by saying they were both difficult scenarios for a father to face; and Paul Ryan (yes, the Republican candidate for VP) called ra-pe a method of conception, which is just shallow and dismissive.
Surprised there aren't articles here yet but who knows, the day is young, and I doubt there will be any shortage of stupid things people say to point out.
For their frequent repeti/tion of a monosyllabic response to virtually all statements in both moniker and message content, I hereby award @nope the illustrious Award of Redundancy Award.
@doc vestibullsh it
nope
Prayer is talking to your self.
becomes atheism
becomes me.
stupid followed to its logical conclusion wrote: "becomes me."
EX ENLIGHTENED FORTUNE COOKIE WRITE ALERT!
stupid followed to its logical conclusion
becomes atheism
EX ENLIGHTENED FORTUNE COOKIE WRITER ALERT!!
My god is so dumb that he doesn't know that when an atheist says :
"oh ok, I really don't believe, but I'm afraid of the mean god, and hell, so I better say 'I believe',
even though I don't", he won't know the difference.
Thought changes things.
@skep
nope
nope is a dope without a hope
Prayer changes things
Please don't feed it.
Translation of the troll alert
If the Truth gets out there will be hell to pay. I am afraid, so afraid of the Truth that I will go to any lengths to stop it.
@tbt
If it were true their would be no need to post it over and over, you would just pray that everyone knew it. But you know that won't work so here you are.
And you for one still don't get it. When you acknowledge the Truths given you and all the other 7 billion people on the planet hear the Truth the job will be done. Sorry Hubie it isn't all about you. God bless
So why don't you just pray that everyone on this planet acknowledges your truth?
Start us off hubie
I pray every day that atheists will respond to this. Every day my prayers are answered. It is amazing.
@tbt
Why? You are the one that believes that "prayer changes things".
Well then hubie you see the need to repeat until you get it. Rocks will catch on before you do.
Atheists are defeated and doomed.
Huebert... and you're the one who believes that prayer DOES NOT change things. Neither you nor your opponent can PROVE your assumptions by objective facts. He does not know how the world would go if he DID NOT pray and YOU do not know how the world would go is you DID pray.
"When you acknowledge the Truths given you and all the other 7 billion people on the planet hear the Truth the job will be done. Sorry Hubie it isn't all about you. God bless"
Except the "truth" you refer to is only truth in your mind. There is nothing supporting your claims. Sorry Justsayin, its not all about you. Santa bless.