This post is from Mike Clawson, the occasional Christian contributor here at Friendly Atheist. I just wanted to highlight for you all an interesting article in the Huffington Post: Frequent Bible Reading Tied to Social Justice, Openness to Science. Aaron Franzen, a recent graduate from Baylor’s Masters program in sociology (I’m personally pursuing a PhD in Baylor’s Religion Department, but I’ve heard good things about their sociology program as well) found that increased Bible reading among Christians reading correlated positively… Read more
Thanks to the Missoula Area Secular Society, there’s now an atheist billboard in Montana: They’re excited about it, too! Jon Garvin, president of the Missoula Area Secular Society and organizer of the campaign said, “Our goal is to reach out to the thousands of secular humanists, atheists and agnostics living in this part of Montana. Such non-theists often don’t realize there’s a community for them because they’re bombarded with religious messages at every turn. We hope our message will serve… Read more
Every now and then, the On Faith section at the Washington Post asks a question about atheism and those of us in the fold can’t help but respond to it. Here’s the question posed to us: Atheist actor and writer Ricky Gervais is working on a new show, Afterlife , which features “an atheist who dies and goes to heaven.” If Gervais hopes to bring cultural acceptance of non-belief to mainstream America, he faces an uphill battle. Polls show that… Read more
Jennifer Ouellette’s take on how hard women have it in the science/skeptic universes is a must-read. Unlike some of the more polarizing commentaries people have offered in the wake of Elevatorgate, this one’s just hard to argue with. As a guy, it’s tough to read, too. Like this story about Linda Henneberg, a science communication intern at CERN: What she found equally bothersome is that because she’s a woman in education, not physics research, she simply isn’t taken seriously by… Read more
The Ting Ting’s “That’s Not My Name” is an annoying song to begin with, and Jesufying it only makes it worse: (via Christian Nightmares) Read more
In case you needed another reason to leave/despise the Catholic Church… A bishop from Toledo, Ohio will not allow parishes and parochial schools to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation (which helps fund the fight against breast cancer) because there’s a chance they may one day fund embryonic stem-cell research. Bishop Blair, in his letter sent over the weekend to all priests and parishes in the 19-county Toledo diocese, stated that “at present the Komen Foundation does not… Read more
Here’s the second part of The Tutor’s interviews at a midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2: The first part can be found here! (via HighpantsResistance) Read more
Looks like forced religion in public schools is a problem in India, too: Karnataka education minister Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has said that it the duty of every Indian to respect sacred Hindu text, Bhagavad Gita, else they should leave the country. “The Bhagavad Gita is like the Sun. I think that it is the duty of every Indian to respect the Bhagvad Gita like they respect other elements surrounding them. I strongly feel that if someone does not respect it,… Read more
Well, unfortunately, the organization is still around, but they’re officially changing their name: Campus Crusade for Christ in the U.S. is changing its name to Cru. The new name will be adopted in early 2012. The U.S. ministry hopes the new name will overcome existing barriers and perceptions inherent in the original name. … The name, selected from a pool of 1,600 potential names, has a track record within Campus Crusade for Christ. Since the mid-1990s, it has been used… Read more
I can’t believe none of my science professors ever taught me about the true evolution of the eyes: (via Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster) Read more
