It’s another milestone for the just-under-two-years-old organization I work with. The Foundation Beyond Belief just topped $200,000 raised for worthwhile charities! (And we’re close to hitting the 1,000-member mark, too!) Just imagine how much more we could give if groups like the American Cancer Society weren’t so afraid to recognize atheists for their donations… Read more
As I write this, we’ve raised $2,989 of our $5,000 goal! 71 of you have made donations. And it’s only been a week 🙂 Excellent work, but we’re not done just yet… We’re raising the money for “drilling equipment that will bring clean water to people in Ethiopia.” It’s not too late to chip in! Remember: Friendly Atheists love H2O, too! Please consider making a donation 🙂 Read more
Part of me wonders whether anyone argued in favor of getting rid of science classes instead… but it looks like the tough economy has led to a reduction of Bible courses in Georgia public schools: Superintendents say interest has waned in the once-controversial classes and schools don’t have the money to pay for courses with only a few students enrolled. What’s more, budget cuts mean it now takes more students to fill up a class than ever before — some… Read more
The Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics at the University of Wisconsin – Madison took advantage of a program that allows them to send an email to the entire student population… for a price. (I remember doing something similar at my college to promote a debate on God’s existence my atheist group was holding. It worked. It got the word out to a *lot* of people and the attendance was in the hundreds.) Here’s the email they sent: Are you an atheist,… Read more
Reader Adam stayed in a hotel this weekend and — as all too many of us do — looked for the Gideon Bible hidden in the drawer. He was a bit surprised to open it up to find the following message inside: I think that last word is “celibate” 🙂 Turns out it was the most thought-provoking verse in the entire book. There was also a Freedom From Religion Foundation “Gideon Exposed” sticker inside the front cover as well as… Read more
Crommunist agrees that there’s nothing wrong with taking the best practices of churches and applying them in secular settings: Particularly in immigrant and black communities (and conceivably in Central American/hispanic ones as well), the church is the focal point of civil life. It is a resource not only for instrumental support like counselling and a financial safety net, but as an existential anchor. The prospect for many of “leaving the church” is not so simple as just getting to sleep… Read more
An excerpt from Walter Isaacson’s new biography about Steve Jobs: Even though they were not fervent about their faith, Jobs’s parents wanted him to have a religious upbringing, so they took him to the Lutheran church most Sundays. That came to an end when he was thirteen. In July 1968 “Life” magazine published a shocking cover showing a pair of starving children in Biafra. Jobs took it to Sunday school and confronted the church’s pastor. “If I raise my finger,… Read more
As if you needed another reason to fight against Creationism, I bring you the Flizbins: If you can make it to the 1:16 mark, you get to hear Christian Rapping… If you make it to the end, you deserve a cookie. By the way, that’s a real song from a real album by a real group… And you thought Christians were incapable of being cool. (via Christian Nightmares) Read more
In 2009, The God Virus author Darrel Ray began a group called Recovering from Religion to help people who wanted to leave their faith but needed emotional and social support to do it. Kind of like Alcoholics Anonymous for people breaking their religion addiction. In a sign that shows how the group is growing, Jerry DeWitt was just announced as the new Executive Director. Jerry DeWitt became an atheist after more than twenty-five years of Pentecostal ministry in his home… Read more
