Atheists ‘more successful at online dating’

September 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Sept 16 (ANI): People who don’t believe in god are more likely to achieve success at online dating, according to a new study of opening messages.

Self-effacing men are also more likely to get a reply to their approaches, while nothing turns off potential dates more than textspeak like “ur” and “luv”.

The researchers analysed 500,000 “first contacts” sent by users of OkCupid, the leading US dating website, and found that nearly 42 per cent of messages, which included the word “atheist”, received replies, significantly higher than the average response rate of 32 per cent.

The study also showed that references to “Christian”, “Jewish” and “Muslim” only had a marginal success rate, reports the Telegraph.

Moreover, mentioning “god” in a first approach actually discouraged people from replying.

The research also suggests online daters to avoid making personal compliments too early like “sexy” and “beautiful”, which reduced response rate.

It showed that people who used the words “good taste” or “you mention” in their messages pushed their response rates close to 50 per cent.

In addition, dreary greetings such as “hi”, “hey” and “hello” are far less successful than sparkier openings like “how’s it going” and “what’s up”.

The results of the analysis were published on OkTrends, the dating website’s official blog. (ANI)

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Critics urge Obama to turn down Boy Scout’s honorary presidency

March 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar. 4 (ANI): Charging the ‘Boy Scouts of America’ with discrimination, critics have urged President Barack Obama to reject the title of honorary president of the Scouts.

President Obama, however, says that he wants to be president of all people.

Outraged that the group is allowed to exclude gays and atheists while receiving federal funding, critics now want Obama to turn down the honorary presidency, a designation bestowed on every US president since William Howard Taft in 1910.

“I’m hoping and praying he turns down the honorary presidency. No way should he be involved with a discriminatory group. The best thing that could happen if he said, ‘You discriminate too much for me. I can’t be your honorary president.’ I think that might begin to change a few things,” said Howard Menzer, president of Scouting for All.

A Boy Scouts spokesman said Obama, during his meeting with a delegation of the Boy Scouts, has indicated he will accept the title of honorary president.

“We’re a voluntary, private organization for families that share our values. While many may disagree with our policies, there’s no question that we’re part of the common good and have been for 100 years,” Deron Smith, a spokesman for BSA said.

In January, the American Humanist Association, along with 18 other non-theistic, atheist and agnostic organizations had sent a letter to Obama urging him to reject the title of honorary president.

“The BSA has elected to set itself apart as a private organization that may discriminate in ways contrary to the laws and practices required of local, state, and federal authorities,” the letter said.

In 2000, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Scouts could bar homosexuals from being troop leaders. (ANI)

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Catholic Church blocks plans of atheist bus adverts in Italy

January 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Jan 19 (ANI): Plans of putting atheist slogans on buses in Italy, like the ones in Britain, have been blocked by the Roman Catholic Church.

The adverts reading ‘The bad news is that God doesn’t exist. The good news is that you don’t need him’ were supposed to appear on vehicles on the streets of Genoa.

The city had been chosen because it is home to the head of the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, an outspoken opponent of artificial insemination and gay marriage.

The plan infuriated Cardinal Bagnasco, who told his officials to write to the bus company and advertising firm in charge of the 13,000 pounds campaign, to express their opposition.

Bagnasco is said to have been delighted when the campaign was cancelled, though the decision did not rest well with the Italian Union of Atheists and Rationalist Agnostics, which had organised the campaign.

“It appears that buses can carry campaigns for underwear and holidays with no problem but if you ask for space to say God doesn’t exist then you are denied,” the Telegraph quoted their spokesman as saying. (ANI)

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Pope orders bishops to investigate claims of seeing Jesus, Virgin Mary’s visions

January 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Jan 13 (ANI): The Pope has ordered his bishops to thoroughly investigate claims by some people that they have seen visions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church plans to help his bishops in distinguishing between true and false claims of visions of messages, stigmata, weeping and bleeding statues and Eucharistic miracles.
Benedict XVI hopes to be able to cut down on an explosion in the number of bogus heavenly apparitions with new guidelines to help his bishops to root out frauds, reports the Telegraph.

The guidelines will come in a “vademecum”, or handbook, which is in its final stages, will be published soon by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Pope is said to be deeply concerned by the explosion in the number of pseudo-mystics who, claiming a direct line to God, set themselves against the bishops and lure the Catholic faithful out of the Church and into disobedient cults.

When a claim of heavenly apparitions occurs, the local bishop will need to set up a commission of psychiatrists, psychologists, theologians and priests who will investigate the claims systematically.

The first step will be to impose silence on the alleged visionaries, and if they refuse to obey, this will be taken as a sign that their claims are false.

The visionaries will next be visited by psychiatrists, either atheists or Catholics, to certify their mental health, and to verify whether they are suffering from conditions of a hysterical or hallucinatory character or from delusions of leadership.

The third step will be to investigate the person’s level of education and to determine whether they have had access to material that could be used to falsely support their claims.

The new document will also instruct the bishops to see if the visionaries and their associates stand to gain financially from making their claims.

The content of any heavenly messages will also be scrutinised to see if it is harmony with the teachings of the Church.

If the visionary is considered credible they will ultimately be questioned by one or more demonologists and exorcists to exclude the possibility that Satan is hiding behind the apparitions in order to deceive the faithful.

The Pope decided to act because instances of private revelations continue to multiply, with new cases reported around the world every year. (ANI)

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