Irish drag artist Miss Panti Bliss (a.k.a. Rory O’Neill) went on national TV late last month, and called people who actively campaign against gay rights “homophobes.” That would be unremarkable in most of the developed world, and a legally protected opinion to boot. But in Ireland, not so much. [O’Neill] was threatened with legal action for defamation by the writer John Waters …, by the [conservative Catholic] Iona Institute, who made the video [that O’Neill had criticized], and by Breda O’Brien, an Irish Times columnist. And then, RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster, went through the looking glass. In a matter of weeks, it paid Waters €40,000 ($54,000) in damages. O’Brien and the Iona Institute received €45,000 ($61,000) between them. RTÉ also decided to issue an apology for O’Neill’s comments. Read more
I didn’t watch the HBO documentary “Questioning Darwin” the other night, but it’s okay because Dusty Smith rage-watched it for all of us (NSFW language): Read more
Yesterday, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) took to the House floor to speak in honor of Charles Darwin in honor of his 205th birthday — just weeks after introducing H. Res. 467 (viewable here) recognizing today as Darwin Day: Read more
Suppose that you were religious when you got married but you eventually began to question your faith… What if, years down the line, you had a conversation like this with your still-religious partner? “Could you see yourself still being married to me if I were no longer a Christian?” I asked. After a brief stunned silence, she replied: “Well, I don’t know how to answer that because that wouldn’t be you.” Gulp. I ventured a little further. “Well, what if it were me? What if I weren’t a believer anymore? Could you still see us together?” After a long thoughtful pause, she answered: “But that’s not the man I married. That wouldn’t be you.” Neil Carter had that experience and it led to him and his wife visiting a counselor… from their church. Which didn’t exactly work out: Read more
Mike Lee created this (parody) music video of Christians mocking atheists… even though it was made by an atheist… who’s mocking Christians… okay, my head hurts. But I still laughed my way through the whole thing (NSFW images/language): Read more
In the following video rant, Pastor Steven Anderson explains how he refuses to perform wedding ceremonies for couples if either of the people involved has gotten a divorce. Because “Divorce + Remarriage = Adultery”: He offers this rage-filled response to anyone who doesn’t want to abide by his rules: Read more
Remember the posters of the Flying Spaghetti Monster going missing from a freshers’ fair at London’s South Bank University? It was all a misunderstanding caused by an undertrained, overzealous staff member, says the student union responsible from the removal. This afternoon, the union released a letter of apology. Read more
The spread of rational thinking appears unstoppable, evidenced by how secularization in the United States and Western Europe is continuing at encouraging speeds. But by some other metrics, things aren’t really going our way. According to data from the National Science Foundation’s just-released 2014 Science and Engineering Indicators study … the percentage of Americans who think astrology is “not at all scientific” declined from 62 percent in 2010 to just 55 percent in 2012 (the last year for which data is available). As a result, NSF reports that Americans are apparently less skeptical of astrology than they have been at any time since 1983. Read more
This is the kind of place where Durga Buda spends four miserable nights every month. In her case, it’s a backyard shed that the locals call a goth, erected from bamboo and straw, with walls made of mud and dung. It’s four feet wide, four feet tall, and dangerous. Buda is afraid of wild animals, including snakes, and also leery of drunk villagers who may disrespect or even attack her. Were it up to Buda, she’d sleep in the main house, the one that’s made of bricks, where her family of eight resides, including her in-laws. But she’s not allowed to when she has her period. During that time, she’s dirty, and everything she touches becomes dirty too. Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: Should scientists debate Creationists?: 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! Read more
