It happened a couple weeks ago, but it’s worth a mention: The Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious group on microlending website Kiva have now loaned out over $3,000,000. It’s a fantastic accomplishment. (To be fair, it doesn’t mean they’ve given out a total of $3,000,000+. It means they’ve loaned the money, received some (or most) of it back, and then reloaned it.) It was just over a year ago when the Kiva Atheists were the first… Read more
In order to raise money for Skepticon 4 later this year, the team members there are creating handmade “Skepticards” for Valentine’s Day: As a math person, I really like the 95% one, though I would prefer the wording: “You’re more than three standard deviations above the mean in Awesomeness.” (By the way, they’ll also make custom cards with the message of your choice!) The cards are $5 each and the money’s going to a great cause, so act early and… Read more
In Brussels, Belgium, de-baptisms are becoming more popular. And, when you think about it, why wouldn’t they be? “When you don’t agree with an organisation that you never chose to join in the first place, the healthiest thing to do is to leave,” [de-baptized] Damien Spleeters told AFP. It is, and it worries the Catholic Church. That’s why they make it so hard to leave. If it was easy to leave, their “official” membership would drop precipitously. In practise, de-baptism… Read more
***Update***: American Atheists has issued a more official statement: … American Atheists does NOT support or condone any activity that results in vandalized property, either openly or secretly. We do not giggle about this under our breath or behind closed doors, because it’s not funny, it’s not clever, and it’s not cool. Freedom goes both ways. If we are to defend our right to free expression, we must do the same for others, even when they disagree. Also, commenter jenea… Read more
