In 2012, singer-songwriter Rusty Cage released a video for his song “Gospel (There Isn’t Any God).” You can (and should) listen to it here. Nice voice. Catchy music. Interesting lyrics: There isn’t any God and when you die you’re just dead And heaven’s just a fairy tale to put you to bed Sometimes I think about the chance that I’m wrong But then I close my eyes and sing the words to this song There isn’t any God and when you die you’re just dead And heaven’s just a fairy tale to put you to bed There aint nobody watching us cause nobody cares and In the end we’re living all alone Recently, he released a new version of that video — this time, including YouTube comments from the old version… I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. Read more
Creationist Ken Ham, a man many Christians accuse of misinterpreting the Bible, recently panned the movie Noah for being too “unbiblical.” Now, capitalizing on the movie’s popularity, Ham is launching a new ad campaign — including digital ads near both Times Square and Hollywood — that suggests people can find out about the “real” Noah by visiting the Creation Museum: Read more
Generally speaking, Canadians like to fancy ourselves decent, tolerant people, (mostly) accepting of cultural diversity in a live-and-let-live sort of way, and openly enthusiastic when it comes to having plenty of restaurant choices for dining out. So when Quebec’s Parti Quebecois acknowledged that its Charter of Values will lead to job loss for people who wear turbans, kippahs, and Islamic head coverings — particularly after Montreal PQ candidate Évelyne Abitbol said explicitly that, following a transition period, those who refuse to comply with the Charter will be fired from public-service positions — PQ leader Pauline Marois understandably felt that a little damage control was needed. Read more
In response to the Fort Hood shooting this week, Texas Republican Congressman Pete Olson took to Twitter to express his thoughts about what to do: Well… whatever happened, prayer sure as hell won’t fix anything. And one of Olson’s followers replied back with that precise sentiment: We don’t need prayers. We need cowardly Congressmen to stand up to the gun industry’s @NRA & pass sensible gun laws. @OlsonPressShop That would certainly be more effective. You’d think the story ends there. But it didn’t. Read more
There are a few factors that have a strong association with religious affiliation, like whether your parents were religious and how much formal education you have, but Professor Allen B. Downey of the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts says there’s another factor that has more influence than either of those options: The Internet. … it is easy to imagine at least two ways Internet use could contribute to disaffiliation. For people living in homogenous communities, the Internet provides opportunities to find information about people of other religions (and none), and to interact with them personally. Also, for people with religious doubt, the Internet provides access to people in similar circumstances all over the world. Conversely, it is harder (but not impossible) to imagine plausible reasons why disaffiliation might cause increased Internet use. Read more
Last month, Minnesota State Representative Phyllis Kahn introduced a bill (HF 2966) that would allow atheists and Humanists to officiate wedding ceremonies, something currently reserved only for religious leaders: Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: Does religion deserve respect?: We’d love to hear your thoughts on the project — more videos will be posted soon — and we’d also appreciate your suggestions as to which questions we ought to tackle next! And if you like what you’re seeing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon. Read more
Over the next few weekends, I’ll be giving some talks in the midwest. All the details are below! Read more
I thought this story was over. It’s clearly not. A quick recap: Earlier this year, a third grader wrote to her state representatives asking them to make the Wooly Mammoth South Carolina’s official state fossil. After a couple of holdups, it looked like there were no objections and the bill would go through… but the version of the bill that looks like it’ll be signed into law contains a ridiculous amendment: Read more
With the Vatican’s blessing — pun intended — Italy’s bishops have adopted a new policy pertaining to their obligations to report child molestation to the police. Specifically, the policy advises that bishops have no official obligation to report the sexual abuse of children to any legal authorities outside of the Catholic Church. According to the Italian Bishops’ Conference, these new guidelines reflect directives from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the very same Vatican office responsible for investigating cases of sexual abuse (allegedly) perpetrated by priests. Rather than requiring all abusers to confront the criminal justice system, these guidelines call on bishops to consider their “moral duty to contribute to the common good,” as they understand it, in deciding how to approach a given case. This allows plenty of leeway for bishops to make the exact same moral calculation that inspired sex-abuse cover-ups in the first place: better to see a few abusers go unpunished than to blemish the reputation of Holy Mother Church. Read more
