Next Friday and Saturday, the Society of Open-Minded Atheists & Agnostics at the University of Kansas will be hosting ReasonFest. Speakers include Annie Laurie Gaylor, Dan Barker, Darrel Ray, and James Underdown. Not a bad lineup for a student-run event! I’ll also be giving a talk on Saturday afternoon. I hear there will be some special uninvited guests, too… You silly college “scholars” are clueless, of your father the Devil and follow in the footsteps of the old heretic Robert… Read more
During the recent American Humanist Association conference in Boston, the Secular Student Alliance held a “Leadership Track” for students. One of the talks was on “Diversity in the Atheist Movement” and it featured Jen McCreight, Debbie Goddard, and Greta Christina — which is a female-friendly Holy Trinity of Heathens. Each of the women brings a different perspective to the table, so if you have some spare time, watch the video. It’s a long one, but it’s focuses on one of… Read more
Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. One of my little brothers is graduating high school this year and has been trying to figure out which school to attend. I’ve been trying to persuade him to leave this small town and go experience college life somewhere else. I just heard from my Mom that he is planning on going to a small non-accredited bible college in California. Obviously I think this is a terrible idea, not only… Read more
JT Eberhard is a Campus Organizer and High School Specialist for the Secular Student Alliance. He recently gave a talk at the American Humanist Association conference about the unique challenges facing high school atheists. It’s an incredible talk — JT’s a fantastic public speaker (and he’s available to speak to your group! And he wants to speak to your group!) — and it’s an issue you probably haven’t heard much about in our community. Bloggers don’t write much about it,… Read more
Ok, ok, so PZ won round one of the Camp Quest fundraiser. He raised $5,000 via his site faster than all us other bloggers combined. But the joke’s on him. The contest isn’t over yet! The *ahem* REVISED contest is: Whichever side raises the most money by June 1st wins! So help us out! We’re the underdogs! And you’re giving money to a fantastic organization 🙂 Read more
Hey, Americans, we need to catch up with Spain! Their demographics are looking better and better for non-religious people. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reports what people ages 15-29 said when they were surveyed about their religious preferences (forgive the rough translation): The number of young people practicing Catholicism has plummeted, from 29.2% in 2002 to 10.3% in 2010, according to the Youth Institute of Spain (Injuve). Also, the number of non-believers (19.1%) and atheists (9.6%) have increased nine points… Read more
Researcher Gregory Paul and professor Phil Zuckerman state what we all know is true in the Washington Post: … there is still a group that lots of Americans just don’t like much: atheists. Those who don’t believe in God are widely considered to be immoral, wicked and angry. They can’t join the Boy Scouts. Atheist soldiers are rated potentially deficient when they do not score as sufficiently “spiritual” in military psychological evaluations. Surveys find that most Americans refuse or are… Read more
If you’re getting married in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, it’s now legal to have an atheist conduct the ceremony! I know we have Humanist Celebrants who can do this already, but the Freedom From Religion Foundation has been approved as “the equivalent of an ordaining organization.” You don’t even need the Universal Life Church anymore… State law says marriages must be performed by a judge or retired judge, or by an ordained or authorized preacher, minister or priest, or other ecclesiastical… Read more
Wednesday night, my computer stopped booting up. Scared the hell out of me. (Well, I supposed it scared the hell in me first.) It went back to the Apple store on Thursday morning, and I just got it back last night. It looks like most of what I had on there is still there (*phew*)… but it never hurts to say these things again: — Make sure you back up your computer! (I had most of the material on an… Read more
My friend Ashley Paramore interviewed American Atheists President Dave Silverman at AA’s convention last weekend. It gets really good starting at the 2:08 mark. That’s when Dave defends the billboards that say “You KNOW It’s a Myth”: At the risk of sounding completely inappropriate, I *love* it when Dave gets really passionate. Read more
