Do people in your church believe in God? Two graphs of America’s 43 largest faiths

From Religion News Service-

Nine out of ten Americans say they believe in God. But push a little bit and you’ll find there is quite a range of belief across the major churches and religions in America. Let’s look at two ways belief in God differs across religious groups: their certainty that God exists and whether God is a person.

Pew’s Religious Landscape survey asked people if they believed in God. Almost everyone who was in a theistic religion did, of course. But the survey followed with a question about this belief: “Are you absolutely certain, fairly certain, not too certain, or not at all certain?” Evangelicals, black Protestants, Mormons, and other theologically conservative groups had high levels of ccertainty– albeit less than their leaders probably expect from their members. Substantial minorities of Mainline denominations expressed less certain beliefs about God. 

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http://tobingrant.religionnews.com/2014/10/24/belief-god-atheists-graphs-churches-religions-faiths/#sthash.lWmhBY4w.dpuf

Pastor helps lead effort to support child-led orphanages in his war-torn homeland

From Sheboygan-

This story is one in an occasional series of articles about Sheboygan County residents who work to make Sheboygan and beyond a better place.

Rev. Samuel Nsengiyumva has served St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Sheboygan Falls as pastor for a decade, but he has not forgotten his homeland of Rwanda and the genocidal war that occurred there in the 1990s and which saw millions flee the country and left thousands of children as orphans.

And his parish hasn’t forgotten either.

This past July, three families, led by , traveled to East Africa. The trip was a homecoming for the Nsengiyumva and his wife, Rose, who left their country under very difficult circumstances in 1997. The trip also marked their 30th wedding anniversary.

More here-

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20130930/SHE0101/309300322/A-Better-Place-Pastor-helps-lead-effort-support-child-led-orphanages-his-war-torn-homeland-video-photos-

Richard Dawkins, the Atheist Who Isn't, but the Episcopal Bishop Who Might Be

From Christian Post-

Just as the atheist Richard Dawkins discloses he doubts God's non-existence, Richard Holloway, Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh, asserts his doubt in the Deity's existence.

The atheist and the bishop have wound up at the same place. In the case of the world's most outspoken non-believer, the step is progression, but in the case of the leader in the Scottish Episcopal Church, the step is regression.

"I can't be sure God does not exist," said Dawkins, crusader against belief in God, during a debate with the Archbishop of Canterbury February 24. The next day Holloway was quoted as saying he can't be sure God does exist.

The Scotsman carried a February 25 headline focusing on Holloway, one of Archbishop Rowan Williams' colleagues. The banner in the Scottish newspaper read, "There may be no God, 'but let us live as though there were,' says Bishop Richard Holloway."

More here-

http://www.christianpost.com/news/richard-dawkins-the-atheist-who-isnt-but-the-episcopal-bishop-who-might-be-70497/

Richard Dawkins: I can't be sure God does not exist

From The London Telegraph (And all this time I thought Richard Dawkins played Cpl. Newkirk on "Hogan's Heroes".)

He told the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, that he preferred to call himself an agnostic rather than an atheist.

The two men were taking part in a public “dialogue” at Oxford University at the end of a week which has seen bitter debate about the role of religion in public life in Britain.

Last week Baroness Warsi, the Tory party chairman, warned of a tide of “militant secularism” challenging the religious foundations of British society.

The discussion, in Sir Christopher Wren’s Sheldonian Theatre, attracted attention from around the world.

As well as being relayed to two other theatres, it was streamed live on the internet and promoted fierce debate on the Twitter social network.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9102740/Richard-Dawkins-I-cant-be-sure-God-does-not-exist.html

Are you there, God? It's him, Eric Weiner. Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11345/1195771-148.stm?cmpid=newspanel0#ixzz1gE8570hg

From The Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh)

I came to Eric Weiner's "Man Seeks God" looking for a fight. But in the end, I didn't find the fight I was looking for; instead, I found an affable, candid, deeply thoughtful, sometimes ironic and funny soul, with whom I shared certain similarities (among them, we've read many of the same authors and we're both prodigious underliners).

What accounts for the proverbial chip on my shoulder? The author bio describes Mr. Weiner as "an agnostic by default." And I, as one of those freaks of modern society who still believes the Bible is the inerrant and infallible word of God, have a major disagreement with that premise. The Bible says that all humans are theists by default, and instead of seeking God, most are running from Him, filling their lives with distractions from Him, and/or worshiping humanistic distortions of Him.

Mr. Weiner, erstwhile NPR correspondent and author of the 2008 New York Times bestseller "The Geography of Bliss," is a self-described "grump," "gastronomical Jew" and "Confusionist." That means "confused -- deeply and profoundly -- when it comes to question of God and religion."


Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11345/1195771-148.stm?cmpid=newspanel0#ixzz1gE7yZets