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October 2nd, 2012
04:04 PM ET
Your Take: Author who calls 'spiritual but not religious' a cop-out responds to comments
Editor’s note: Alan Miller is director of The New York Salon and co-founder of London's Old Truman Brewery. He is speaking at The Battle of Ideas at London's Barbican in October. By Alan Miller, Special to CNN I wrote a Belief Blog piece on Sunday called "My Take: 'I'm spiritual but not religious' is a cop-out," which has received more than 8,000 comments, many taking up key points I raised. My assessment is that the wider disorientation of Western society, the decreasing respect for many institutions and the disdain for humans alongside what Christopher Lasch has termed a "culture of narcissism" has played out both among the "spiritual but not religious" identifiers as well as among many "new atheists." Lots of the comments bear that out. Some commenters accused me of outdated and dangerous dogmatism in sticking up for traditional religion. A commenter whose handle is spectraprism spoke to this view:  Does religion have a place in the movement to change public education?
October 2nd, 2012
09:00 AM ET
Faith leaders sound off on role of church in public educationBy Tomeka Jones, CNN Dozens of faith leaders from across the country recently gathered to attend The Stand Up Education Policy Summit in Atlanta, Georgia, to talk education reform. The daylong conference was hosted by education organzations StudentsFirst, founded by Michelle Rhee and Stand Up, led by her husband, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. The purpose of the event was a call for action for clergy to take part in the national movement to transform public education. CNN spoke with some prominent religious leaders in the African-American community to find out their views on the role faith institutions should play in public education. Rev. DeForest Soaries, Jr., a senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey, laid out what he believes are three roles of the church in education.  Pope Benedict XVI waves as he stands in his popemobile with his butler Paolo Gabriele, center seated.
October 2nd, 2012
05:57 AM ET
The pope's former butler to testify in 'Vatileaks' trialBy Hada Messia, CNN ROME (CNN) - Paolo Gabriele, former butler to Pope Benedict XVI, will take the stand in his own trial Tuesday to answer to criminal charges of stealing hundreds of secret papers from the pope's personal apartment and leaking them to an Italian journalist. Corruption claims resulting from the publication of a book based on the leaked documents rocked the Catholic Church hierarchy and could even affect who becomes the next pope. FULL STORY A prominent Pakistani is offering a six-figure bounty to anyone who kills the man who produced "Innocence of Muslims."
October 2nd, 2012
05:54 AM ET
Now 2 bounties on producer of anti-Islamic filmBy Nasir Habib Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) - For the second time in less than two weeks, a prominent Pakistani is offering a six-figure bounty to anyone who kills the man who produced "Innocence of Muslims," a film that has offended many Muslims throughout the world. Former Pakistani lawmaker Ikramullah Shahid told demonstrators protesting the movie in Peshawar on Monday that he'd pay $200,000 to anyone who kills the filmmaker, according to Siraj Ul Haq, a senior leader of the religious group that organized the rally. FULL STORY
October 2nd, 2012
05:29 AM ET
Belief Blog's Morning Speed Read for Tuesday, October 02
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 Explainer: Pakistan's blasphemy laws CNN: Setback for Pakistani teen facing blasphemy charges |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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By Alan Miller, Special to CNN
