Internet

Twitter is a free messaging and micro-blogging service - think of a combination of a blog, a messaging service, and a social network. See www.twitter.com for more info. More people all the time are joining Twitter to take advantage of quick, informal messages, the exchange of ideas and links, or maybe just daft comments about what's going on in the news.

The third of our stories since the new year to end with a question mark - over at Edge, some of our leading thinkers and scientists were asked the question what will change everything?. Answers range from the discovery of intelligent life from somewhere else through our ability to conquer death to superintelligence, universal translation, climate change and human-chimpanzee hybrids.

Since the Atheist Bus Campaign has made the headlines around the world, Christian organisations have been responding to its “There probably is no god” message. The Rev. Evan Cockshaw of the Evangelism and Outreach Team of Lichfield Diocese set up a new website, There Probably is a God, inviting believers to contribute their “stories of normal everyday people who aren't stupid, and haven't been brainwashed, but will talk honestly and openly about their experiences of the true and living God!”

Among others, P Z Myers, the biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, whose popular Pharyngula science blog frequently mocks religious nonsense of one sort or another, prompted hoots of derision by pointing out the silliness of these stories. It isn’t difficult. For example, the “evidence” includes such gems as “I believe in God because god is real, god makes a difference, god changes lives,” and “I believe in God because ... He's answered my prayers to the specifics countless number of times. I talked with Him this morning! God is an incredible promise keeper. He has kept all His promises to me.” (I wonder what they were?)

Read the latest International Humanist & Ethical Union News on their website. It includes plans for an East African Humanist Convention in Kampala next February, the appointment of Matt Cherry (who used to be with the BHA) as the IHEU’s international representative, and more on the Islamic States attempts to limit Freedom of Expression after their victory in the Human Rights Council.

Sign up for a regular IHEU newsletter here.

In Slate Magazine, Christopher Hitchens (author of ‘God is Not Great’) attacks the Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, for her ignorance, which she regards as a virtue, and her religious fanaticism.

Note: GOP means ‘Grand Old Party’, or the Republican Party.

If you order ‘God is Not Great’ via the Amazon link on this website, we get commission.

Gay & Lesbian Humanist, the magazine that suspended publication amid controversy in 2005, is to return online.

The new web version takes over from the print version, which had been publishing quarterly since 1981.

In a statement today, the magazine’s editors say: "Many people will remember G&LH. Some may remember why it suspended publication following a protracted dispute about content."

Pity the poor faith schools. According to a pamphlet published today by the Centre for Policy Studies, penned by Cristina Odone, they are under threat as never before from "a government … aligning itself with a stridently secularist lobby". Few apart from than Odone can have noticed this dangerous development.