Church and State

"This coming November, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
will exhibit a cut-and-paste Bible of a mere 86 pages. Were it the work of
David Wojnarowicz (the artist behind the crucifix video) or Andres Serrano
(of 'Piss Christ' fame), this Bible would doubtless stir up a hornet's nest.
But in fact, it was created by Thomas Jefferson. During the election of
1800, Jefferson was denounced as a 'howling atheist' and 'a confirmed
infidel' known for 'vilifying the divine word, and preaching insurrection
against God.'...He unequivocally rejected the Nicene Creed, which has
defined orthodoxy for most Christians since 381. And he was contemptuous of
the doctrine of the Trinity, calling it 'mere Abracadabra' and 'hocus-pocus
phantasm.'" [Stephen Prothero, WSJ op-ed]

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"Organized religion will all but vanish eventually from nine Western-style
democracies, a team of mathematicians predict in a new paper based on census
data stretching back 100 years...The paper, by Abrams, Wiener and Haley A.
Yaple, is called 'A mathematical model of social group competition with
application to the growth of religious non-affiliation.' They presented it
this week at the Dallas meeting of the American Physical Society." [article]

"Religion has not only continued through the course of human history but
thrived in a variety of cultural contexts. Clearly, the social group
competition idea could not explain early Christian history and other
episodes over the centuries where religious minorities - even persecuted
minorities - have continued to attract adherents and grow dramatically. And
in modern societies, Islam is rapidly growing across the globe, and
worldwide Pentecostal membership is surging." [Heritage Foundation]

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"Young, religiously active people are more likely than their non-religious
counterparts to become obese in middle age, according to new research. In
fact, frequent religious involvement appears to almost double the risk of
obesity compared with little or no involvement...The new research, presented
at an American Heart Association conference dedicated to physical activity,
metabolism and cardiovascular disease, involved 2,433 people enrolled in the
Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study." [CNN]

(Nod to Kevin Lewis)