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The new Bill Maher documentary Religulous rolls into theaters this weekend.

The film is broadly critical of religion and no one can blame Maher for singling out one group -- he traveled the world to ask all sorts of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and...a few things I can't identify on sight... why they believe what they believe and how religious belief affects the world.

And make jokes, of course.

Here Maher talks about his beliefs and his hopes for the film:

Gov. Sarah Palin is blessed by Kenyan bishop a few years ago. See it with your own eyes.

Man, Christian pop music in this country has come a long way.

Then:

Now:

Debate night for Palin and Biden: What would you ask each about his or her faith, and why?

UPDATE: The Indyweek site has an article which describes the Raleigh exhibit as giving 'lip service?' to the secular theory. See http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:262024

On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal website has an article on the New York Jewish Museum's scrolls exhibit (which opened last week).

UPDATE: "So what I would like to know is, does this exhibit tell the truth?"
Dead Sea Scrolls student

See never-before-exhibited fragments of Genesis and Deuteronomy in an exhibit created specifically for N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

Young voters seem to define their faith and values in significantly different ways than previous generations. A 2008 Harvard University poll found that 37 percent of young voters said that religion is a very important part of their lives, and it identified a group called "religious centrists" -- those who say they care deeply about the moral direction of the country -- as 25 percent of college-age voters.
While their parents were likely to be more concerned with abortion, same-sex marriage and stem cell issues, today’' young voters of faith are more likely to list poverty, the Iraq war and universal health care as key moral issues. How do you think this will affect the winner's priorities in office?

If the Beagley case goes to trial, it is likely to draw national attention, said Marci A. Hamilton, a law professor and author of the book "God vs. the Gavel," which explores conflicts between society and the laws intended to protect religious freedoms.

"Increasingly, prosecutors and grand juries are becoming less willing to turn a blind eye to child suffering or death when it is religiously motivated," said Hamilton, who teaches at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. "We are in the midst of a coming civil rights movement for children. The willingness to prosecute for the death of a child in a religious circumstance is part and parcel of that."

Four in 10 Americans believe that religious leaders should be permitted to endorse political candidates from the pulpit without risking their organization's tax-exempt status, a survey by the First Amendment Center shows.

Know of anything similar for McCain? I'll post that, too.

Sarah Silverman's got humor (expletive warning):
"The Great Schlep aims to have Jewish grandchildren visit their grandparents in Florida, educate them about Obama, and therefore swing the crucial Florida vote in his favor. Don't have grandparents in Florida? Not Jewish? No problem! You can still become a schlepper and make change happen in 2008, simply by talking to your relatives about Obama."

"Twenty dollars to fill up?" one of the manager of the company said. "These people needed to have a conscience and ... had to know that was wrong. Some of them had probably just come home from church."

Anybody check this out this weekend?

Her legs were severed below the knee and she was thrown some 15 feet onto the roadway when she was hit by an oncoming car while tending to an accident victim. She says God must have plans for her. How many of us would have responded this way?

If you had to measure a political candidate by their ads, or the speeches they give (and not just presidential candidates), how closely would any match up with the moral values supposedly undergirding their particular faiths? Or, do you give them a pass during election season?

Is this over the line -- and if so, how far?

Also...is this guy under the impression that "Hindu" is a deity or spiritual figure that belongs on a list with Buddha and Allah, or does he just know nothing about Hinduism?

New Scientist has an interesting piece about the resurrection of Cartesian Dualism as a weapon in the fight over creationism.

From the story:

"Schwartz and Beauregard are part of a growing "non-material neuroscience" movement. They are attempting to resurrect Cartesian dualism - the idea that brain and mind are two fundamentally different kinds of things, material and immaterial - in the hope that it will make room in science both for supernatural forces and for a soul. The two have signed the "Scientific dissent from Darwinism" petition, spearheaded by the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, headquarters of the intelligent design movement. ID argues that biological life is too complex to have arisen through evolution.

In August, the Discovery Institute ran its 2008 Insider's Briefing on Intelligent Design, at which Schwartz and Michael Egnor, a neurosurgeon at Stony Brook University in New York, were invited to speak. When two of the five main speakers at an ID meeting are neuroscientists, something is up. Could the next battleground in the ID movement's war on science be the brain? "

The suggestions?

"I'll be surprised if we don't have a record turnout this time," seminary president Daniel Akin, said of evangelicals. "I think they're going to hold their noses and pull the lever one way or the other."

I recently spoke to an American Muslim woman who wears traditional covering who said she almost didn't volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign because she thought it would bring him unwanted attention. It is interesting and unfortunate what they've gone through this election.

That was part of a press release in an e-mail I received at the office just a few minutes ago regarding an upcoming appearance by Rev. Michael Dowd, author of the new book "Thank God for Evolution."

Scheduled appearances include the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greensboro in Jamestown on Nov. 16.

"Grounded in mainstream science and preached with pentecostal fervor, the former anti-evolution fundamentalist turned evolutionary missionary shares a Gods eye view of everything from microbiology to supernovas," according to the press release. "His provocative program is inspiring evolutionary epiphanies among believers and non-believers alike, and liberating literalists left, right, and center."

Of course that is from a press release so take it for what it's worth, meaning this is his spin of course. I had never even heard of him, although I don't follow trends in religion that closely.

So what do you make of it? This guy the real deal, and, if so, do you buy what he's selling?