On Monday night I visited parliament, where a group called Jesus for NZ had been invited by National MP Simon Bridges to hold a church service called the Power of One. Jesus for NZ is a loose ... (569 words)

On the news of Prince Philip's death, my thoughts go out not just to the British Royal Family, but also to the members of the Prince Philip Movement in Vanuatu. This movement, a very small religious ... (220 words)

On Thursday evening last week I visited Parliament to pray for the future of our country. Now I'm not a Christian, so I'm pretty sure my prayers aren't going to make a difference, but it's ... (383 words)

The Crimes Amendment Bill passed its second reading in parliament this week, and it now looks likely that our blasphemy law will be repealed in the near future. This is great news, and is being ... (160 words)

On Wednesday a group of us skeptics visited the Ark Man, Rod Walsh, who has been over in New Zealand from Australia on tour. Rod's schtick is that god told him in the ‘90s to build a scale model of ... (550 words)

The Ministry of Education are finally getting close to publishing guidelines for schools about allowing Religious Instruction classes. From what I've heard, the government first talked of releasing ... (562 words)

Asia Bibi, who has been on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy for nearly 10 years, has been acquitted this week. Unsurprisingly, this is far from the end of her troubles. Since her acquittal, ... (183 words)

There were hundreds of Christians at Parliament on Tuesday calling for the reinstatement of the name of Jesus in parliament's prayer. There were people wearing Make America Great Again hats, bikers ... (722 words)

Ireland has had a bit of a rocky history with its blasphemy law, with a complaint made against a local comedian for calling the Catholic communion wafer "haunted bread", and Stephen Fry being ... (250 words)

Pakistanis are threatening to strike nationwide if leniency is shown to Asia Bibi [Ah-seea Beebee], a woman who has been sentenced to death for a blasphemy charge. The charge was related to the fact ... (269 words)

Yesterday afternoon I met with a group of ex Jehovah's Witnesses. We talked a lot about what it's like being in the faith, and how it is to leave. You can either leave of your own accord ... (468 words)

At the end of last year I went along to an occult ceremony, the OTO's Gnostic Mass. I tried to return in June for the Winter Solstice, but the venue was changed on me at the last minute - apparently ... (555 words)

This morning I went along to two church services with a visiting academic, Hamed, who is over in New Zealand from Iran. He had never seen a Christian service before, and had been told to ask me about ... (420 words)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro released a report last week, detailing credible accusations of child abuse against over 300 priests in the state, with over 1,000 victims. Shapiro doesn't ... (201 words)

An upcoming edition of the Watchtower from the Jehovah's Witnesses is recommending that church members should consider staying with an abusive partner, even if they feel their life is in danger. Of ... (161 words)

On Friday afternoon I headed out to Khandallah School in Wellington as part of the Secular Education Network. SEN believes that schools should be secular, and that there is no place in our school ... (1080 words)

Source I've spent this weekend at the Jehovah's Witnesses convention, titled "Be Courageous", in Porirua. There were estimated to be 2,000 attendees. I ended up going this year because a couple of ... (1764 words)

This weekend was the Humanist Conference in Auckland, with some great international and local speakers. The day started off with Henare and Eru (the Heretical Hori) talking about how it is to be ... (750 words)

BBC Video Talking of superstition, a man in Ethiopia has been arrested for convincing a family to let him resurrect a dead family member. Getayawukal Ayele says that he is a prophet. He told the ... (239 words)

Stuff wrote an article today about the issues the Humanist Society have been having with international conference delegates and speakers visiting New Zealand next month. The local Wellington ... (391 words)

You may ask what blasphemy has to do with skepticism - often I've talked with people about the intersection of skepticism and religious belief. I feel that religion should never be above skeptical ... (861 words)

Dawkins has been talking to audiences in NZ, and a local pastor took to Stuff to complain about him in an article. Now, I'm not saying that Dawkins is without flaws - it's common knowledge that he ... (637 words)

Brittany Kara, from the US, is apparently a Christian author, NLP practitioner, hypnotherapist and nutrition coach. She's also an anti-vaxxer, and records herself speaking for a YouTube channel where ... (112 words)

In a setback for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), a school kid has been told that his rights at his school don't cover being able to wear a colander on his head for a school picture. ... (134 words)

Scientology has been trying to get the public to buy into its anti-psychiatry ideas in NZ recently. The religion's branch called the Citizens' Commission for Human Rights has been visiting shopping ... (236 words)

A friend recently contacted the OTO to ask about us attending one of their services, and last night we went to their Gnostic Mass in Wellington. The OTO - Ordo Templi Orientis (Order of Oriental ... (844 words)

Adding legitimacy to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the first citizenship has just taken place with a new citizen wearing a colander on his head. Bjorn Oback, from Germany, wore a ... (83 words)

Republican Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore has been accused of sexually assaulting a 14 girl when he was 14. He has a worrying track record - as well as other accusations of sexual harassment of ... (119 words)

My kids went out trick or treating the other day for halloween, and came back with more than just chocolate and lollies. Religious pamphlets were being handed out at some of the local houses, and my ... (390 words)

David Meade, who I spoke about last month as predicting the end of the world around the 20th of September, has given us all a reprieve. Obviously the world didn't end, but he now says that October ... (102 words)

It looks like the book has finally been closed on one of the most famous Satanic Panic cases in the US - that of the Kellers. Satanic Panic is the name given to a rash of convictions given to people ... (628 words)

Since I attended the opening of the new Scientology building in January, I have been called occasionally by a church member called Will who has been inviting me to Auckland Scientology events. ... (767 words)

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God has been handing out cross shaped vials of a "holy oil" which it says have been blessed in Jerusalem and can "activate people's faith" in order to treat ... (396 words)

The Jehovah's Witnesses came around for an hour or more yesterday, having previously chatted with me last week. I had been to a talk last Monday given by an ex JW, and so I was prepared with some ... (558 words)

After incidents with Stephen Fry and Jakarta's mayor, blasphemy made the news and there has finally been a push in government to repeal our archaic blasphemy law. Bill English expressed his surprise ... (157 words)

Last Sunday I went to church - not once, but twice. Arise is a large evangelical church that started in Wellington about 15 years ago, and has grown and spread to several other cities. The church ... (968 words)

Professor Jerry Coyne is in New Zealand at the moment, ticking our country off his bucket list. I talked with him in the pub a few nights ago, and he alerted me to a developing story in the US where ... (459 words)

The NZ Census asks a question of respondents about Religious Affiliation. Historically, the only response available for non-believers has been "No Religion". NZ Stats have now added several ... (120 words)

Six of us skeptics went along to Father John Rea's healing event on Tuesday in Tawa, Wellington. John is a well known healer in New Zealand, and he's appeared on my skeptical radar in the past for ... (852 words)

I was messaged this week by someone who works near the new Scientology centre in Auckland. They told me that there are lots of Scientologists out on the streets at the moment, including outside the ... (371 words)

This is an argument I've never heard before against an idea I occasionally hear - that belief in science is just like religion, because it requires faith. In fact, I last heard this argument only a ... (118 words)

Scientology are pushing to open new "Ideal Orgs" around the world, and Auckland's old Whitecliffe Art school building has been converted to a new Org. It was purchased in 2007 with a $10 million loan ... (427 words)

Obviously people around the world are painfully aware of the many crazy beliefs held by president-elect Donald Trump. However, what's less well known is the range of nonsense that Mike Pence, ... (208 words)

Chris Johnson created a coffee table book a few years ago, quoting atheists talking about their life without god. The book was titled A Better Life, and the strap line explains exactly what the book ... (225 words)

A leaflet has been shared in several british towns purporting to be from an unknown Muslim organisation, "For Public Purity", asking for locals to refrain from taking their dogs out in public as it ... (132 words)

Pokemon Go is a new game where people have to use their phones and walk around their neighbourhood catching Pokemon (little animals) and visiting pokestops. Many churches are pokestops, as places of ... (173 words)

A couple of weeks ago Rachel Hoover from Illinois was allowed to use a photo with her wearing a colander for her driver's license, as it is the usual headgear for pastafarians. This week she has been ... (74 words)

Australian Ken Ham's Creation "Museum" has opened its newest attraction, the Ark Encounter, on Thursday. Of course, the "ark" would never float and has been built using modern methods and materials, ... (204 words)

Family first have confused correlation and causation in a recent report, and stated that unmarried couples are a major cause of child poverty. Charles Waldergrave from The Family Centre said the ... (264 words)

Rush Limbaugh, US radio talk show host, has used a conversation about Harambe the gorilla to argue that evolution does not work. Audio clip available above, from 1:48 to 2:33: "A lot of people think ... (183 words)

Family First may be de-registered as a charity soon. They have been sent a notice of de-registration from Charities Services, but plan to fight it in court. They have previously defended against an ... (107 words)

A Christian blogger has warned that mandalas in adult colouring in books could be dangerous. She suggests that the magical new age claims made about mandalas are true, that they have the ability to ... (150 words)

After the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster successfully applied for the ability to register marriage celebrants last year, their first celebrant has now been approved. Karen Martyn is willing ... (214 words)

I went to see Creation Ministries International speaker Jonathan Sarfati give a couple of talks in Wellington last week. Jonathan was brought up in New Zealand, and was once the national chess ... (249 words)

Rod Parsley of the World Harvest church isn't relying on his healing abilities to treat his throat cancer but is seeking actual medical treatments. Here he is on an advert asking for 'seeds' of ... (223 words)

A Bronx priest stole more than $1M from two NYC churches, and used the cash on a wild S&M romance with his beefy boyfriend Reverend Peter Miqueli is being sued by parishioners at his church in ... (123 words)

There has been a major end of the world prediction about every 100 years or so from 66AD onwards. Then from 1500AD (16th Century) every 10 years, then by the 1970s pretty much every year. The end of ... (720 words)

Shepherd Bushiri has claimed in a video that he is walking on air. This is one of many "proofs" of god offered, and fairly easy to spot how it's done. The video starts with the pastor walking down ... (171 words)

The NHS are advertising for a spiritual healer. We are seeking a Reiki Therapist/Spiritual Healer to work within the Breast Unit at St Margaret's Hospital Epping. The therapist will provide ... (199 words)

The Dalai Lama has spoken about his successor, and suggested that if it's a woman, they would have to be attractive. "If female Dalai Lama did come, then that female must be very attractive. ... (54 words)

Stuff published an article last week about Tamaha McDonald, from Blenheim, who is currently living in Mexico. Tamaha's wife, Jennifer, suffers from a lung condition which means that she needs a ... (98 words)

Dr Mason is currently touring in New Zealand: He is a nuclear physicist, whose PhD focussed on nuclear decay. He worked in electronics for the military for nearly 40 years, and argues that the earth ... (52 words)

On a recent visit to New Plymouth I was rather taken aback to see a billboard outside a central city church posing the question: "Evolution? How come we still have apes?" It wasn't so much surprise ... (410 words)

Non-custodial sentence inappropriate In delivering a non-custodial sentence in the Janet Moses makutu case, Justice Simon France noted that expert witnesses considered the perpetrators were not ... (160 words)

Although formal religion is continuing to decline in this country, belief in the supernatural remains high. That seems to be the main conclusion to be drawn from a recent survey of New Zealand ... (425 words)

Elephants in Loch Ness? Nessie's an elephant, says a leading British palaeontologist (Dominion Post, 7 March). Neil Clark, curator of palaeontology at Glasgow University's Hunterian Museum, spent two ... (1184 words)

Efficacy of Prayer - an update Since I wrote my piece (NZ Skeptic 75) based on Bruce Flamm's article in Skeptical Inquirer concerning a research paper on the efficacy of prayer, Dr Flamm has reported ... (1164 words)

A widely publicised trial which appeared to show prayer was effective in enhancing fertility now appears to have been fraudulent. In 2001 an extraordinary paper, from the highly regarded Columbia ... (908 words)