Over the weekend, reader Larry Mathys’s brother and sister-in-law found something disturbing in their son’s bed: That’s a card their son signed when a group called The Real Deal of Saline County visited his public school back in February. Larry points to the logo — which not-so-subtlely resembles a cross. Notice the expiration date on that pledge: “My Wedding Night.” (Apparently, after you get married, you can have all the illegal drugs and porn you want…?) Without asking for parental… Read more
Catholic media are not giving a “Hail Mary” to Pamela Anderson’s casting as the Virgin Mary in the upcoming “A Russell Peters Christmas Special” featuring the Canadian comedian. Anderson will play Mary in a sketch during the special, holding baby Jesus in her arms with Peters as Joseph at her side. Maybe I’m being presumptuous, but I’m guessing Catholics are offended about Mary’s casting because Anderson is no virgin. She’s famous for running on beaches in “Baywatch,” various nude Playboy… Read more
North Carolina has decided to compete with Georgia in the license plate arena. The North Carolina legislature approved a license plate which would read “Choose Life.”* Yesterday, a federal judge put a stop to this nonsense with a preliminary injunction. Katherine Lewis Parker, Legal Director of the ACLU North Carolina Legal Foundation (which argued against the North Carolina DMV) previously said in a press release: “This is a basic issue of freedom of speech and fairness. It is a fundamental… Read more
Remember when the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted held an online poll to decide which “I voted” sticker would be given out to voters this November? Two of the stickers mentioned God, but your votes helped another sticker rise to the top! Now, Governor John Kasich is using an online poll to help decide the slogans that will appear in the background on the state’s new license plates and drivers licenses. And, wouldn’t you know it, one of the… Read more
Back in July, I promoted a contest at GiveBack.org that promised $50,000 to the person who received the most votes. An atheist named Chris McCoy asked other users on Reddit to vote for him and he quickly took over the top spot, eventually winning the money: I was partly excited because it showed how powerful atheists could be when we worked toward specific goals and partly (ok, more than partly) excited because Chris said he wanted to support several secular… Read more
in case you’re looking for a Christmas gift for that special heathen, American Atheists is selling snuggies: It might be comfortable, but holy crap does that picture freak me out… In any case, at least you don’t have to go shopping anymore! (You’re welcome.) Read more
Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania — affiliated with the Presbyterian Church — could be the next home to a Secular Student Alliance group… but there’s still work to be done. A recent article suggests that the group is already official: Those not practicing religion are not excluded on campus. A new organization has recently been created. The Secular Student Alliance is for students who consider themselves atheist, agnostic, skeptics, and humanists to express what they believe in a nonjudgmental… Read more
This is a guest post by Jason Torpy. Jason is the President of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF). … FOX News Channel recently invited Master Sergeant Kathleen Johnson of American Atheists and Jordan Sekulow of the Christian advocacy group ACLJ to comment on the recent removal of a 6-foot cross on an Army chapel in Afghanistan. An Army chaplain posted this cross in direct violation of Army Regulation 165-1 (PDF), which governs Army chaplain operations. The regulation… Read more
I experienced grave disappointment while watching Community recently. In the third episode of the current season, Britta Perry (played by Gillian Jacobs) reacts to a a photo of a child eating a cupcake by saying, “Do you know sugar is like baby meth? That’s what my homeopath says.” Britta had been one of my favorite atheist characters on TV up to that point. There have been several prominent TV atheists in the past decade, but their lack of… Read more
A number of you have sent me this article as a wonderful example of a Christian getting it right when it comes to homosexuality, adding that we ought to give credit where it’s due. It’s a three-part post written by Dan Pearce in which he admits he’s hurt people despite trying to act “Christian”: My friend [Jacob] hesitated. “Dan, you are the only friend I have that knows I’m gay. The only freaking one,” he said. “What do you mean?… Read more
