For all the non-atheists out there: Do you believe in the God of the Old Testament or the New Testament? A vengeful God who must be feared or a loving God who wants what’s best for you? According to psychology researchers Azim F. Shariff (University of Oregon) and Ara Norenzayan (University of British Columbia), your answers to those questions could tell us whether or not you’re likely to cheat on a test. “Taken together, our findings demonstrate, at least in… Read more
If you’re looking for an internship this summer that gives you practical skills without taking away all your vacation time, the Foundation Beyond Belief could use you. We’re looking for volunteer interns who could commit about 15 hours a week for three months. You can do all the work from home and you’d be working for a wonderful organization — one that encourages atheists to give to a variety of charities: Interns will gain experience in all major Foundation operations… Read more
Dear Richard, How do atheists absolve themselves of guilt? I’m an atheist who is very comfortable in my beliefs and/or non-beliefs. I try to be a good, charitable person. I try to make moral decisions and take responsibility when I’ve wronged or unintentionally offended someone. However, like every other human being, I’m not perfect and I make mistakes. When situations like that arise, I do my best to take ownership and do what is necessary to make things right. But… Read more
Nickelodeon, a channel for children, recently aired a faith-focused episode of Nick News. Host Linda Ellerbee did a fantastic job of introducing kids to what a variety of people believe — and debunking the falsehoods we often hear (like the notion that we’re in any way a “Christian nation”). It’s almost too balanced — they have Pat Robertson spewing bullshit, but at least they also interview Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State to set the… Read more
In Lady Lake, Florida, there’s another city council reciting another “pre-meeting” prayer. One atheist, Bill Calhoun, is rightfully complaining about it, but he may be alone in the fight: Commissioner Paul Hannan questioned why Calhoun would even bring the issue up. “It confuses me and others why you would want to burden Lady Lake taxpayers with this,” Hannan said. … “Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you have the right,” said Pamela Dahl of Lady Lake, president of the Tri-County… Read more
There are so many Christians out there who get easily offended by people who criticize their faith or even make jokes about it that we ought to commend a church that takes the jokes and spits them right back. St Matthew-in-the-City church in Auckland, New Zealand is responsible for these memorable ads: They’re GLBT friendly, too: I bring them up because, recently, local eatery Hell Pizza put up this billboard: But St Matthew-in-the-City came back with a billboard of its… Read more
by Jesse Galef – It doesn’t matter if you’re an atheist firebrand or a diplomat. Some interfaith projects are worth joining. It’s particularly relevant right now, since secular students were included by name in the President’s Interfaith and Community Service Challenge. It’s the political thing to do. It’s the humanitarian thing to do. It’s the clever Machiavellian thing to do. And concerns about the label “interfaith” can actually be used to our advantage. I won’t defend all interfaith, but I… Read more
Senator Chuck Grassley has formed a “Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations” to keep a watchful eye “on the financial practices of high-profile religious organizations.” After releasing the findings of his three-year inquiry of six media-based Christian ministries, the senator asked [Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability] to spearhead an independent national effort to review and provide input on major accountability and policy issues affecting such organizations. Fantastic! We need a group like that — An independent watchdog that… Read more
This chart comes via OkCupid Trends. So many questions… Is this evidence that non-theists are more honest than some religious counterparts? Is this evidence that a small percentage of atheists and agnostics are liars? 🙂 What’s the difference between the Protestants and the Catholics? Evangelicals and merely cultural Christians? Right now, they’re all lumped together… How many users were “surveyed” in each category? (When a Jewish friend saw the chart, her reaction was that the number of Jewish women surveyed… Read more
I was reading (newly-named Pulitzer Prize winner) Siddhartha Mukherjee’s excellent article about whether or not cell phones cause cancer in the New York Times and one passage caught my eye… To give you some background, Mukherjee is talking about how rare cancers sometimes become associated with things we’re all exposed to (like cell phones), and he offers another example of a dubious link between problem and cause: … when patients with brain tumors happen to share a common exposure –… Read more
