The Washington Post, via the Pew Research Center, presents an interesting chart. But watch that question: (The actual wording in the study is: “Which one of these women is dressed most appropriately for public places?” Maybe these results aren’t what they’re cracked up to be. After all, “appropriate” is a pretty ambiguous word, because it can refer to something that’s demanded by one’s social environment, or it can mean “that which an individual considers suitable and proper for herself.” Read more
This is Lady Theresa Thombs lamenting about an upcoming election: If she were a random conservative, few people would care, but this is someone running for a seat on the Texas State Board of Education. She thinks she can win the race with brilliant barbs like that one that she made at Monday night’s candidates forum. But things only got worse from there: Read more
While Chris Christie attempts to fire and flail his way out of his bridge scandal, something actually pretty encouraging is happening under the radar in New Jersey. The Garden State may soon allow secular civil celebrants to officiate marriages. The New Jersey State Senate voted 32-5 in a favor of that bill today. In March of 2012, a bill was introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula that adds to the list of those already authorized to solemnize marriages in New Jersey this amendment: Read more
There’s an interesting debate taking place at York University in Toronto. Here’s the scenario: A student emails his professor saying he can’t do a particular group project because his religion doesn’t allow him to interact with women. If you’re the professor, what do you do? Sociology Professor J. Paul Grayson did what I think I would’ve done in that situation: Grayson… received the request in September and denied it, arguing it would give tacit support to a negative view of… Read more
I thought I’d share a warm and fuzzy update in the renewed legislative fight of seven Democratic and three Republican lawmakers to have kids “enjoy” a daily prayer — sorry, I mean “a moment of silence” — in South Carolina public schools. As I noted in my previous post about the initiative, there can be no mistake about what this forced daily silence is intended to do. One of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Wendell Gilliard, stated that The essential part of the bill, the important part, is putting prayer back in school.” Read more
For almost a decade now, this has been the seal of Los Angeles County in California: There’s a lot going on there, but check out the center right image. That’s supposed to represent the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, a Catholic mission dating back hundreds of years. It’s conspicuously missing a cross because, from 1987-2009, the actual building didn’t have one (due to it being destroyed in an earthquake, then stolen). It wasn’t until 2009 that the cross was restored on the building. So now, some members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors want to change the seal to reflect that. Which is verrrrry convenient considering how often Christians try to get crosses on government seals… Read more
You may have heard that Bill Nye the Science Guy will be debating Creationist Ken Ham at the Creation Museum on February 4. The topic is “Is creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era?” and the tickets were sold out almost immediately. I’ve made it clear that I’m not a fan of the debate, and in the latest Humanist Network News, Brian Magee also explains why Nye is making a big mistake: Read more
Heina Dadabhoy at Skepchick asks a good question about why so many atheists have been eager to donate to the fundraiser about Ryan Bell, the pastor giving atheism a try, yet not nearly as enthusiastic to donate to the Women’s Leadership Project (WLP), a “feminist humanist mentoring and civic engagement program in South L.A. serving young women of color.” When I re-posted the link to the WLP project last night, I got responses that attempted to explain why it didn’t garner as much attention and raise as much money as the fundraiser for Ryan J. Bell. There were the “well, what did you expect?/Welcome to reality where page views and click-bait rule” type; these express a sense of capitulation and resignation to the status quo that I do not share. However, most of them were more along the lines of “Oh, I never heard of this so it must not have been promoted enough.” … One of my friends is a Christian minister and he jokes that every atheist in America must have at least 3 websites apiece. He is on-point in that we godless types tend to have strong Internet presences. It’s about time that we take a good, hard look at which causes and individuals we choose to follow, talk about, and promote using these platforms. A few thoughts on all of this: Read more
I think Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the finest writers working today. Hardly a day, a news story, a crisis, or a controversy goes by in which the people I respect online don’t say something akin to, “TNC nails it,” followed by a link to his take. And they’re usually right. Coates has recently been steeping himself in European history, which has included a couple of volumes on 20th century Europe in the midst of Hitler, Stalin, the Holocaust, and its struggles to repair, redeem, and unify. Considering the breadth and relentlessness of human violence and disorder, he figured something out: Read more
