I have no idea how I missed this when it came out, but comedian Dave Foley (you remember him from The Kids in the Hall) taped his first stand-up special “Relatively Well” not too long ago and part of his act riffs on religion. In the video below, he talks about atheism in politics, the problem with communion wafers, and Mormon posthumous baptisms: Read more
The Axis of Awesome explains the confusing concept of the Holy Trinity in a crystal-clear and hilarious way: Read more
I recently did an interview for Phil Ferguson’s Skeptic Money On Air podcast. You can listen to the full episode right here! Read more
This is a guest post written by Rogier van Bakel. … Last night, this blog published a post about Brandeis University’s decision to revoke Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s honorary doctorate in Social Justice. The university had belatedly decided that Hirsi Ali, a hard-bitten critic of Islam, does not represent the values Brandeis supposedly holds dear (more on that in a minute). I play a minor role in this fiasco. The successful student petition that preceded the snub contained some quotes from a Reason interview I did with Hirsi Ali in Washington back in 2007. Those quotes, without their context, sounded harsh, although they might have made some people blanch even within their context. Read more
I’d never been tempted to create a meme, but there’s a first time for everything: À propos this post. Read more
In what is being described as a “surprising achievement,” an “astonishing victory,” and a “stunning election upset,” the provincial Liberal Party won a majority government in Monday’s Quebec elections. This unexpected turn of events led to the resignation of Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois (below). While much of Canada has been focused on what this victory means for the separatist movement, and the implications of that for the country’s politics and economy — our dollar is stronger already! — the secular community in Canada and beyond has been more interested in the fate of Marois’ controversial Charter of Values, which was expected to lead to job loss for public-sector employees who wear religious head coverings such as the Sikh turban or Muslim hijab. Read more
Tomorrow marks the annual Focus on the Family-sponsored “Day of Dialogue” in which participants can tell their LGBT classmates why they’re going to hell. (It’s a Christian response to the Day of Silence which takes place this Friday.) This is the card they will be handing out this year: As I’ve posted before, Zach Moore created a fantastic parody of an older version of the card and I’m thrilled to repost it here: Read more
The Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon is a prison with nearly 2,000 inmates. Those inmates, upon arrival, can designate a religious preference — which is how we know the religious makeup of inmates who volunteer that information. The list of available religions, as you can see, doesn’t include Humanism. And now an inmate is suing to change that. Read more
After a judge told the Carroll County (Maryland) Board of Commissioners that they needed to stop their prayers to Jesus at meetings, they decided they didn’t give a damn what the law said. A day after the ruling, commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier said a religious prayer anyway (falsely attributing it to President George Washington). After the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center sent the commissioners’ lawyers a warning letter threatening a contempt charge if there was another attempt to defy the ruling, the board went ahead and invited a speaker who also said a prayer to Jesus. So the AHA demanded the court issue a heavy fine against the board — to the tune of $30,000 immediately and $10,000 for each additional violation of the court order. Read more
Cool story, bro. Family values Congressman is caught on security-camera footage French-kissing a staffer. She’s out of a job as soon as the affair comes to light… while he makes the usual feeble apologetic noises about having failed his wife and his five kids and his constituents… and gets to keep his position. Here’s the politician’s pitch before over-credulous voters sent him to Washington: Read more
