***Update***: BMJ is known to write parody papers in their Christmas edition. So while the material below is plausible, take it with a grain of salt. It’s likely a hoax. (In a related study, 1% of women lie to researchers.) The headline’s serious, though it requires a little more explanation. A new report published in the Christmas edition of BMJ shows that 0.8% of women who became pregnant also claimed, at the time when the child would have been conceived, that they were not having sexual intercourse: Read more
Christians wanted and got a Nativity Scene in the Florida Capitol Building… and they’re getting loads of atheism-tinged displays in return. First, there was the Festivus Pole: You can see from the picture above that there’s also a sign from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. There are also two other signs from atheist groups: And now, adding to all that, comes an homage to the Flying Spaghetti Monster: Read more
The War on Christmas meme must not be going too well if you have to resort to making shit up. How about this wild tale: A San Francisco elementary school suspended a 9-year-old student the other week because he wished the homeroom teacher “Merry Christmas.” The teacher is an “outspoken Atheist”; obviously, therefore, the student’s insolent act of cheer and holiday spirit had to be punished. It’s not even remotely true, but the hoax went viral anyway. Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: Should atheists fight religious Christmas displays on public property?: 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
New York State Senator Andrew Lanza is outraged by American Atheists’ billboard in Times Square: He’s so outraged that he’s linking the sign to the Holocaust: Senator Lanza said, “Just as millions of Americans are preparing to celebrate Christmas, this intolerant and hateful group deliberately ridicules the solemn beliefs of millions of New Yorkers.” … “Not only do the people behind this group not believe in God but they obviously don’t believe in decency, civility and kindness to fellow human kind either. This is part of a continued “War on Christmas” and also upon the belief and value system of millions of Christian, Jewish and Muslim people who have faith in God. Religious persecution of the kind that similarly lead to the Holocaust began with small evil baby steps of ridicule and hatred of the religious beliefs of others.” Godwin’s law is still in effect. Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, discusses how all four Republican candidates to become the next Lieutenant Governor of Texas embrace Creationism: You can read more about how Texas is screwed if they elect any of these buffoons here. 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
This Harris poll — under the headline “Americans’ Belief in God, Miracles and Heaven Declines” — is a great holiday gift. It finds that … [W]hile a strong majority (74%) of U.S. adults do believe in God, this belief is in decline when compared to previous years as just over four in five (82%) expressed a belief in God in 2005, 2007 and 2009. Here are some other popular superstitions, according to the poll, along with their adherents. Read more
Christian Nightmares has a fascinating interview with Larry Pate, a gay, former Southern Baptist preacher who now speaks out against the faith. What caused him to change his mind? Seminary. Read more
Gallup released a poll yesterday marking the differences in levels of trust when compared to one’s political party. For example, 68% of Republicans trusted police officers, while only 44% of Democrats said the same. When it came to members of the clergy, there was a similar differential: Not too surprising, really. The Religious Right is intertwined with the GOP, so you would expect there to be a higher level of trust for clergy members in that party. But here’s where it got interesting. When you parsed the numbers by age, only a third of people 18-34 said they trusted the clergy: This is the effect of the Nones: Not only is faith in faith fading fast, but faith in the leaders of faith is dropping. Read more
Earlier this month, we learned that Pattison Outdoor Advertising, a billboard vendor in Vancouver, British Columbia, rejected atheist-themed signs without offering an explanation: It’s not hard to guess why they said no since owner Jim Pattison is an evangelical Christian. Read more
