Jim Gilliam gave one hell of an inspiring speech at the recent Personal Democracy Forum. He talks about growing up as a fundamentalist Christian, attending Liberty University, getting cancer, losing his faith, and then finding a new (much more powerful) religion. As I was prepping for the surgery, I wasn’t thinking about Jesus, or whether my heart would start beating again after they stopped it, or whether I would go to heaven if it didn’t. I was thinking about all… Read more
Did anyone else know there’s a public access show in Georgia called “Black Atheists of Atlanta”? Sounds freaking awesome, right? We always talk about the need for atheists to come out of the closet partly because it makes it easier for others to follow. That’s even more true for minority atheists. So I was excited just hearing the title of the show. But look at the company it keeps on this network… It airs on this channel that touts itself… Read more
When I heard that the Illinois Christian Home Educators’ annual convention was coming to town, I knew I wanted a first-hand account of what happens there — partly because I’m not Christian, and partly because I teach at a public school. Would it fit my stereotypes or would it defy them? When I saw that the Creation Museum’s founder Ken Ham was a speaker, that clinched the deal. But… since the bulk of the conference happened on a Thursday and… Read more
Con artist and “faith healer” Peter Popoff has been debunked by James Randi before: Popoff is one of those guys who disappears for a little while after an incident like that — when he’s called out on his bullshit — and then comes right back to pick up where he left off. (There’s money to be had! Why leave for good?) So when the folks at Centre for Inquiry Canada got 4 tickets from a secret source to an invite-only… Read more
Last year, Kate Holden of Cuddly Atheism had a stroke. That’s a scary thing to happen to anyone, but perhaps even more so for Kate because she’s only 30. She just updated her blog with a message indicating she’s back and she’s on the road to recovery — there are some stumbling blocks, of course, but overall, she’s doing better: I was kicked out of speech therapy for speaking too well. But then I fell a few pegs and now… Read more
