A couple of weeks ago, Ginger Strivelli’s fifth-grade son came home from his school with a copy of the Bible. It was a shock to her since he attended a public school and she was a Pagan. Katherine wrote: The school denies any wrong-doing, noting the box of Bibles was dropped off by the Gideons, who weren’t allowed any contact with the children. The Bibles were kept in the office where students could stop by for one if they wanted,… Read more
This is an article by Sean Faircloth. Sean is author of Attack of the Theocrats: How the Religious Right Harms Us All and What We Can Do About It. Faircloth served ten years in the Maine legislature and is now Director of Strategy & Policy with the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science, US. … Des Moines has a beautiful retro bar called “High Life Lounge” decked out like a 1971 man cave: shag carpets from out of Scooby-Doo,… Read more
Rick Santorum gets asked why same-sex couples can’t get married. He responds by asking the questioner if it’s ok for multiple people to get married… because, you know, that’s the same thing: To quote a commenter at Joe. My. God.: It’s as if he tells me that he thinks capital punishment is good and I ask him to defend genocide instead of explaining why capital punishment is bad. Not that I’d be opposed to polygamy, but you have to love… Read more
Here’s a brief list of what to watch for regarding atheists and humanists in the military in the coming year: Godless Rallies — The Reason Rally will take place on March 24th in Washington, D.C. This will be the biggest nontheist event in history, with the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) as a sponsor. Bad Religion and Tim Minchin are already confirmed, with many more on the roster. Rock Beyond Belief at Ft. Bragg is scheduled for the… Read more
You know the Brick Testament, Brendan Smith’s wonderful and hilarious series of Bible stories told through carefully placed Lego pieces? The series that’s spawned several books? Well, Catholic Kathy Schiffer just made a remarkable discovery: The Brick Testament doesn’t make you want to become a Christian! Her article reads like someone who just found out The Onion isn’t an actual news source… At first glance, a Lego Bible seemed an enviably good idea. The Creation Story, the Sermon on the… Read more
This is a guest post by frequent commenter Claudia. … Yes, I know the prospect of yet another post on sexism within the atheist community, along with its accompanying civil and productive comments thread, fills you with joy and enthusiasm. So prepare to rejoice! In a previous post, Hemant mentioned women being frequently “propositioned for sex” within the movement. Of course, it was a part of a much larger point of women feeling devalued, or valued exclusively as sexual objects,… Read more
Two new bills have been introduced and referred to the House Education Committee tackling the science curriculum currently taught in public schools in New Hampshire. Rep. Jerry Bergevin is serving his first (and hopefully last) term and introduced the first bill, which would require schools to teach evolution as a theory, and would include “the theorists’ political and ideological viewpoints and their position on the concept of atheism.” I’m not sure why this would be relevant or anyone’s business, but… Read more
Ed Clint of the Illini Secular Student Alliance offers this helpful image: Now for someone to make the XKCD version… Read more
