You may recall how Jim McCune, the Pierce County Council member (in Washington state), made a push last week to give Child Evangelism Fellowship $7,000 in funding. CEF is a Christian group whose mission involves proselytizing to and converting elementary school students via their Good News Clubs. What made McCune’s budget amendment even more appalling was how he defended his decision: McCune said Friday night Child Evangelism Fellowship is non-denominational, and the money would not go towards religious items. “Yes, (CEF) may come from a certain book (the Bible), but it’s not a so-called religious foundation. Completely separate,” McCune explained. Riiiiiiiight. Yesterday, Pierce County held the final meeting to approve the budget — and the $271,000,000 bill passed unanimously. However, McCune’s future-lawsuit-bait wasn’t part of that final budget: Read more
Sylvia Browne, the “psychic” whose appearances on talk shows like “Montel” and “Larry King Live” made her a well-known celebrity despite her not-even-close-to-the-truth predictions, died earlier today at the age of 77. Read more
It’s not strange at all that Harlem, Georgia Police Chief Gary Jones would use a Facebook page to keep citizens informed of local crime sprees, offer them some safety advice, and remind them of classes offered by the Harlem Dept. of Public Safety. But it’s not hard to see how Jones crossed the line with this recent Facebook post (on the Department’s page): There are many kids that have been raised in Godly homes that have went astray at no fault of the parent(s); however, too many have went astray due to parents failing to discipline and get involved in their children’s lives. The Police cannot raise your kids. Parents must become the disciplinarian and impose and enforce rules. The law does not prohibit a parent or guardian from spanking their children. The law says that parents may administer reasonable corporal punishment. No, it is not reasonable to strike a child with a bat or other object, but you can use a belt and strike their rear-ends. This may offend some parents that do not believe in spanking, and to you I say statistics are against you. Parents be nosy, check behind your kids and never assume that they will always be truthful. Doing these very things just may save the life of your child. Fathers you are the head of the home and God will hold you accountable. Get your children in church and teach them about the one and only true Saviour…Jesus Christ. Apparently, Jones thinks that his government agency’s Facebook page is the appropriate place to offer his opinions on spanking and Jesus. As if we need another advocate for the kind of loving abuse featured in Michael and Debi Pearl’s To Train Up a Child… Read more
For those who don’t know, Quora is a question-and-answer web platform where anyone can log in, ask any question to the community, and potentially have it answered. It’s kind of a Wikipedia for Q&A. The questions can be on any topic, from the highly technical, to the superfluous, to the hilarious (see my posts on Quora questions regarding Starbucks on the Death Star and the geopolitics of Super Mario). As on platforms like Reddit, users can upvote and downvote both questions and answers to better curate the content. It’s a great way to get yourself lost for hours on end and destroy your productivity. Anyway, this question came up anonymously about Quora itself, and it’s relevant to our little skepto-atheist community: Are there any Quora policies regarding pseudoscience? If not, should there be one? Let’s discuss. . . . this question is directed towards a Quora moderation perspective. Wow, what a great question. Quora can’t and doesn’t make any claims to hosting “definitive” answers to anything, but it’s true that an open platform like this easily provides those who shill nonsense, from homeopathy to the paranormal, with a soapbox and with an air of legitimacy. Read more
This is a guest post by Luis Granados. Granados is the director of Humanist Press. … Last week was a banner one for “War on Christmas” books. First we had Sarah Palin’s Good Tidings and Great Joy, emphatically on the “put Christ back in politician-run Christmas” side. Then came John G. Rodwan Jr.’s Holidays and Other Disasters, a wistful plea for a world where Christmas and other holidays are not rammed down people’s throats. (Disclosure: Rodwan’s book was published by Humanist Press, for which I serve as director.) Rodwan complains at length about God experts co-opting holidays, even those as non-religious as Labor Day. If he’d been able to read Palin’s book first, though, he surely would have had something insightful to say about has-been politicians trying to resurrect their own careers by forcing their religious beliefs on the rest of us. Read more
This is just a reminder that your atheism doesn’t give you license to be an asshole at work. In other words, don’t be like Portland Parks & Recreation worker Theresa Lareau who told her Christian co-worker KellyMarie Griffin the following: Read more
One (almost) down, a bunch more to go. The Church of England is “one generation away from extinction”, the former Archbishop of Canterbury has warned. Lord Carey, 78, said churchgoers should be “ashamed” of themselves for failing to invest more in young people and called for urgent action before it’s too late. The outspoken Lord said that unless more was done to attract new worshipers, every one of the 43 CofE dioceses across the world could be wiped out within 25 years. He also expressed fears that the modern church was too old fashioned and “not the most exciting place to meet new people”. Read more
In a case that’s lasted more than five years, there’s finally a happy resolution in the legal battle between Creationist teacher John Freshwater and the Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education. A quick refresher: In 2008, school board members voted 5-0 to fire Freshwater, a Mount Vernon Middle School science teacher, after learning that he had preached Creationism to the students, handed out flyers in class urging kids to attend a presentation by the “Answers in Genesis” ministry, left the Bible out on his desk during class even after being told to stop, hung a Ten Commandments sign in his classroom, offered extra credit to students who watched the Ben Stein pro-Intelligent Design movie Expelled, and burned a student in the arm with a Tesla coil… in the shape of a cross: That set off a long appeals process that culminated with a 4-3 decision by the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday in favor of the district. The Court said the district was right to fire Freshwater for his insubordination. The decision holds little back: Read more
To cap the Year of Faith, the Vatican has decided to put some almost 2,000-year-old bone fragments on display that the Church says are St. Peter’s. Per the Guardian, The decision to exhibit is controversial. No pontiff has ever said the bones are without doubt those of Saint Peter, and some within archaeological circles are fairly sure they are not. But Catholics are taking it on — what else? — faith. The remains, discovered in 1950, have a checkered history, about which the paper goes into some detail. In his book The Vatican Diaries, longtime observer John Thavis calls the affair “an embarrassment” for the church. “The supposed bones of Saint Peter had been surreptitiously dug up by a meddling monsignor when the archaeologists weren’t looking; then they were thrown into a box and forgotten for more than a decade; then they were rediscovered by accident and became the focus of a feud between church experts,” he writes. “The whole affair did not inspire confidence in the Vatican’s ability to exhume its own history, and it is little wonder that none of it is mentioned in the Vatican guidebooks.” Read more
Things that will help you in the event of an impending tornado: Getting the hell out of wherever you are (if time permits). Going into an underground bunker or basement. Moving to a windowless area. Things that will not help you in the event of an impending tornado: Praying to God, as Anthony Khoury did over the weekend when a tornado hit his area in central Illinois: Read more
