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
