I know, I know, we talk a lot about not labeling babies with the religious beliefs of their parents… but this shirt is kind of awesome and I want it: Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, responds to a statement we often hear: “You don’t act like an atheist!” 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
My friend Benjamin Corey, a preacher and fellow Patheos blogger, attempts to strike an enthusiastic blow for science in his latest post. Corey is a creationist, but not of the Ken Ham variety. He believes in science and in creation. My head would explode (disclosure: not actually scientifically likely), but Corey says the Bible is true, Ken Ham is mostly wrong, Bill Nye is somewhat right, and he’ll be rooting for Nye during the February 4 debate. Read more
In Searcy, Arkansas, home of (private Christian school) Harding University, there’s a cross sitting just outside the local Police Department that was supposedly put there by a local Methodist church last year. It’s a promotion of Christianity that Police Chief Jeremy Clark sees absolutely nothing wrong with: Read more
They were discussing the Satanic Temple’s proposed monument on Fox Business News a few days ago — because Fox doesn’t do business news correctly, either — when guest Bernard McGuirk said something crazy: “They should be able to put the statue up, and then they should be shot right next to it, and then we take it down.” Alan Colmes at least responded to that comment, though I felt he downplayed it, but the other panelists (and the host) just ignored it. (They were too busy complaining about how the monument is promoting “evil” and is somehow “anti-Christian” — both of which are untrue, according to every single article ever about the monument.) How could the panel and host just let a comment like that slide?! I guess they think Jesus approves of killing those who hold views with which you disagree. Read more
An Afghan man is probably the first atheist ever to receive asylum in the U.K. for religious reasons. The British Home Office agreed to let him stay indefinitely after it accepted that he could face persecution in Afghanistan for having abandoned his Islamic faith. From The Independent: Although he was brought up a Muslim, since living in the UK he has gradually turned away from it and is now an atheist. His lawyers argued that their client’s forced return to Afghanistan … could result in a death sentence under Sharia law as an “apostate” — someone who has abandoned their religious faith — unless he remained silent about his atheist beliefs. Read more
In a piece for the Guardian, James Harrington writes about he and his wife — both atheists — send their daughter to a local (French) Catholic school known for its high-quality education. They don’t mind the once-a-week catechism classes because, to them, the benefits of the school far outweigh the time their girl spends getting indoctrinated, but now there’s a slight problem: the daughter wants to get baptized. Here’s what I appreciate. They may be a bit taken aback by that, but they’re not going to stop her. In fact, they’re proud that she made such an important decision like that for herself: Read more
Just a heads up: I plan to close the fundraiser for Pastor Ryan Bell Friday night. You’ve already raised $27,000, which is just incredible. I’ll mail him the check next week. Bell has assured me he’ll be transparent with how he uses it and he’s deeply appreciative of the support he’s received from our community. In the meantime, CNN’s Daniel Burke asked several prominent atheists what they thought of Bell’s experiment to explore atheism for a year… and got a wide variety of responses about whether or not that was even possible: Read more
How many exceptions does it take before we discard the lazy theory altogether? (In response to this post) Read more
Last Friday, 28-year-old former Mobile, Alabama high school math teacher Alicia Gray was sentenced to five years of probation (after serving several months in prison) after being convicted of sleeping with one of her (allegedly) 14-year-old students: As a condition of the probation, Gray will no longer be allowed to be employed with minors, and was required to surrender her teaching certificate to the Alabama Department of Education at once. The former math teacher at Mary G. Montgomery [High School] surrendered to the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 25, 2013, and was charged with second-degree sodomy, second-degree sexual abuse and being a school employee who has had sexual contact with a student younger than 19. It was alleged that her victim was 14 years old at the time of the incident. I’m sure there will be a lot of discussion about the light sentence and the double-standard at work here (would the sentence have been the same if it were a male teacher and a female student?), but what really stands out is her apology. Read more
