I am a graduate of medicine and theology with a Ph.D in medical ethics. I tutor in medical ethics at the University of Melbourne, am an (occasional) adjunct Lecturer in Ethics at Ridley Melbourne, and a voluntary researcher with Ethos. I am also a Fellow of ISCAST and a past chair of the Melbourne Chapter of Christians for Biblical Equality. I have special interests in professional ethics, sexual ethics and the ethics of virtue.
I hear that Bill Donohue has a new book coming out. Miranda Hale has a nice piece on Examiner.com about it, and by nice I mean it trashes his very purpose and goal in life. She mentions his crazy outbursts – and even links to my story here on FriendlyAtheist about laughing at his accusations. But she brings up something important to remember: As Galef says in his account, it’s almost impossible to do anything but laugh when faced with… Read more
Here at the Secular Coalition for America one of our primary goals is to increase the visibility of and respect for nontheists. Getting Rep. Pete Stark to become the first openly nontheistic member of congress was a big step for our visibility. But while that was part of a top-down approach, the bottom-up strategy is vital too. As there are more and more of us in the country, our voice and our presence will be stronger and more noticeable. And… Read more
Hemant has been urging me to tell this story, and with the recent mentions of Bill Donohue, it seems like a good time to bring this up: Yes, I’m laughing at Bill Donohue on Fox News. (Here’s a link) This happened was while I worked for the American Humanist Association, when we had put up the “controversial” bus ads stating “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.” We got so much attention the next day that… Read more
Yesterday, Hemant put up a video of Patton Oswalt doing stand up “Sky Cake”. I thought it was ok, but I much prefer Jim Gaffigan: “I don’t know much about the bible myself. I haven’t read it. ‘Cause I don’t have to. ‘Cause I’m a Catholic. And to show that Cake is a recurring theme in religious talk: “An apple? Have you ever been tempted by an apple? I would have been like, ‘cover it in caramel and come back… Read more
It looks like the blatantly unconstitutional law in Kentucky was struck down today. Took a while. Check it out: Judge: Homeland Security can’t require dependence on God: A judge on Wednesday struck down a 2006 state law that required the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to stress “dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the commonwealth.” Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate ruled that the law violated the First Amendment’s protection against the establishment of a state… Read more