After seeing Buzzfeed’s list of questions from Creationists following the Bill Nye/Ken Ham debate, YouTube-r Jaclyn Glenn asked her viewers to take pictures of their own questions for Creationists and she compiled them in this lovely video: Read more
The upcoming issue of the New Yorker includes a lengthy profile by Rebecca Mead of astrophysicist and host of the upcoming “Cosmos” reboot Neil deGrasse Tyson. Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall, but here are some of the more interesting nuggets of information I didn’t know (or didn’t think about) before reading the piece: Read more
Within hours of University of Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam, an NFL prospect, coming out as gay, Fox News’ Todd Starnes had an apology for his readers: Read more
Just before Christmas last year, the Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters produced and aired a half-hour documentary called “Atheist in the Bible Belt” that featured several local atheists talking about why they don’t believe in God (among other things). It’s worth noting that most of the speakers are atheists of color, which is a pretty nice change of pace. The video is now available online (with permission of the Black Nonbelievers). Check it out! Read more
Does Hollywood hate Jesus? In a fiery essay about movie makers’ supposed bias against religious values, conservative author Fay Voshell hangs her case on a recent kerfuffle over a Christian song that was eliminated from Oscar consideration because one of the songwriters hadn’t played by the nominating rules. Somehow, that’s evidence of anti-Christian bigotry. Voshell’s piece is interesting reading, which is not to say that it’s convincing, except to some of her commenters who say things like It is time for a total boycott on every new Hollywood product. These degenerate atheist-marxists worship $$$ and themselves. and It’s no accident that a major fault line runs from Hollywood to San Francisco. At an appointed day the wrath will come. God is just. For her part, Voshell reminisces a little too fondly about the infamous Hays Code, a set of binding moral censorship guidelines that ruled American movie-making from 1930 until 1968. Read more
For a few years now, Pastor Justin Vollmar has been releasing YouTube videos in which he explains biblical concepts and answers theological questions — all in sign language — as part of his “Virtual Deaf Church.” But his latest video came as a shock because of the secret he revealed: He’s now an atheist. Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: How should atheists eulogize religious family members?: 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
During Tuesday night’s debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye, the most popular image of the night — at least on Twitter and Reddit, where the debate was a major topic of discussion — may have been this cartoon: I thought it perfectly encapsulated what many of us saw as the major theme of the debate: Bill Nye talking about the heaps of evidence supporting evolution and Ken Ham making constant references to what the Bible said. The cartoonist behind that image is James MacLeod, a political cartoonist for the Evansville Courier and Press (in Indiana) since 2010. MacLeod told me he has drawn some popular cartoons, especially during election seasons, but that this image was probably his biggest hit to date. Read more
The Sunday Assembly (a.k.a. “atheist church”) in Nashville, Tennessee will have a special guest leading their upcoming services: Morgan Spurlock, the filmmaker behind the movie “Super Size Me.” Spurlock and Assembly co-founder Sanderson Jones recently spoke with The Tennessean: Read more
For the past few days, ever since I saw the photos of these Creationists and their questions (courtesy of Buzzfeed’s Matt Stopera), I’ve been thinking about what it means to be curious. As science journalist Philip Ball reminds us in his 2013 book Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything, people of faith have often had a fractured relationship with curiosity. Read more
