A few days ago, I mentioned that Trevor Boeckmann (of the University of Northern Iowa Freethinkers and Inquirers — UNIFI) wasn’t thrilled with A Week because it was confusing to those outside our movement (and even many in the movement). The point is to be open about your atheism, so why not show your face along with your message? No one outside of our movement knows what the “A” means. Yes, some people will look up what’s going on. Most… Read more
For over a decade, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference has fought to make “defamation of religion” a crime. They wanted to punish you for blaspheming God, Allah, Islam, or a whole host of other religious beliefs some group holds sacred. We already know how much chaos ensued over cartoons featuring Muhammad. So much for free speech. But a new resolution from the United Nations Human Rights Council rightly puts the focus on defending people instead of their beliefs: The… Read more
I have an aversion to reading academic journals… but there’s a new paper published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (April 2011 37: 543-556) that is a must-read for anyone who has access. It’s called “Finding the Faithless: Perceived Atheist Prevalence Reduces Anti-Atheist Prejudice.” The author, Will M. Gervais of the University of British Columbia, points out that, in most cases, the larger a group gets, the more prejudice there is against them: For example, anti-Black prejudice is… Read more
DarkMatter2525 brilliantly lays out example after example after example of the double standards regarding how people view Christians and atheists: This video contains some insane things I’ve heard. You can see how the ridiculousness of these double standards and assumptions glare when I arrange them side by side. Whatever trait you blame on atheism or attribute to religion, I can point to an abundance of examples to the contrary — and the excuses are usually quite laughable and transparent. Amazing… Read more
Jonathan Rosenberg’s Scenes From a Multiverse gets it just right when discussing just how useless prayer is in times of need: Damn Cornpocalypses. They ruin everything. Meanwhile, Foundation Beyond Belief is actually doing something to help the victims of the Japanese Tsunami/Earthquake. We’re raising money for the Japanese Red Cross and you can help by making a donation. So far we’ve collected over $18,000 from members and visitors! I can’t tell you how amazed our board and staff is about… Read more
