Progressing away from God

"Progressive believers" encourage "New Atheists" that they are really on the same side against Christians, and should join forces:

Progressive believers, on the other hand, demonstrate that faith and reason can coexist peacefully in modern societies; that is something the New Atheists do not want to admit, as it denies them the moral high ground and turns their case against God into an intellectual argument with little social or political significance.

Instead of attacking religious progressives, the New Atheists should seek ways to cooperate with them in order to advance science, reason, and progressive values.

via Religion Dispatches

What do unions do?

This article about the research that has been done to examine whether unions really protect jobs, increase wages, etc is a long one, but well worth reading. Talking points from the article:

• Unions function as labor cartels, restricting
the number of workers in a company or
industry to drive up the remaining workers’
wages just as OPEC attempts to cut the supply
of oil to raise its price.
• Unions benefit their members but hurt consumers
generally, and especially workers
who are denied job opportunities.
• Unions decrease the number of jobs available
in the economy. The vast majority of manufacturing
jobs lost over the past three decades
have been among union members; nonunion
manufacturing employment has risen.
• On balance, unionizing raises wages between
0 percent and 10 percent, but at a steep economic
cost. Unions have the same effect on
business investment as does a 33 percentage
point corporate income tax increase.
• Congress should remember that union cartels
retard economic growth and delay recovery
when considering legislation, such as EFCA,
that would force workers to join unions.

via Heritage.org