An atheist dropped in the heart of the Christian publishing world - Nashville, Tennessee. I'm trying my best to keep a good attitude and friendly disposition while being surrounded by people with imaginary friends.
It seems that Ken Ham didn’t like the Newsweek story published over the weekend about his Noah’s Ark theme park, Ark Encounter, and how it’s being funded. He lashed out on his website, criticizing both the magazine and the reporter who wrote the piece, Lindsay Tucker. His frustration and the magazine’s coverage involves his desperate attempt to hide and distract the public from knowing the truth behind his park’s finances. Ham’s blog post with its dad-joke title, Newsweek or “News-Weak”?, is misguided when you consider the substance that makes a story weak or solid. That substance is what Ham publicly denounces — it’s evidence, and Tucker has it. The first half of his rant, which came two days after the Newsweek story was published, was an attempt to strip the “US media” of its credibility, comparing it to sensationalist British tabloids, and dismissing Tucker, who holds a Masters degree in publishing and magazine writing from Emerson College, as nothing more than a “commentator.” Read more
As many of you have probably experienced, there are a lot of things Christians say — out of “love,” they always claim — that are supposed to help you find God. Instead, they often do the opposite, reminding you of just how messed up religion can be. Telling me that I might spend an eternity burning in Hell, for example, isn’t going to make me magically accept a fairy tale as historical truth. A lot of people on Twitter have been sharing some of the worst things they’ve heard from religious people using the hashtag #ThingsTheGodlySay. And in a salute to Jack Handey, we decided to put some of our favorites on a pleasant background… to remind you that even the worst faith-based ideas can be said with a smile. Read more
A Memphis pastor was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty on a charge of receiving child pornography. Demarcus Smith, 32, was a pastor at Oak Hill Missionary Baptist Church in South Memphis at the time the inappropriate correspondence with a minor occurred. Between August 2014 and April 2015, Smith exchanged sexually explicit messages with a teenage boy through Facebook, requesting the boy send pornographic images of himself. Read more
Sorry, people, but that viral photo of what looks like an illuminated cross on the horizon isn’t a sign from Jesus. Like most things attributed to the supernatural, it can be explained using science. Mechaele Loraff of Buchanan, Michigan took the photo of the sunrise Wednesday morning and posted it to her Facebook page with the caption: I had to pull over this morning on my way to work to take this picture of an amazing sunrise! I took the picture because of the beam coming straight up off the sun and only saw the cross after I took the picture! This was taken in Buchanan. Read more
Fox will broadcast a live two-hour musical rendition of The Passion — about the final hours leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus — on Palm Sunday, March 20th. The production has multiple tiers of weirdness, partly because it has to appeal to practically everyone. Not only is it being aired live, it’s being partially performed on a mile-long stretch of a public street in downtown New Orleans, where Jesus will be dragging a 20-foot illuminated cross. What could possibly go wrong when a blood-soaked Jesus, followed by lights, cameras, and cracking whips is paraded around a city known for drunken lewdness? Anything. Which is why they’ve got my attention. Read more
