Most church scandals, when they come to light, are sharply delineated events — a pastor raped a child, a priest got caught stealing from the collection plate, et cetera. What officials of the influential Salem Baptist Church in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania did to contractor Walter Logan is more longterm and insidious. But the gist of it, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, is this: The church’s lawyers accused Logan of a crime they knew he didn’t commit. Then, well-connected church members used their power and political pull to see to it that Logan got arrested, cuffed, and perp-walked. They carried out this dishonesty and venality in an effort to gain the legal upper hand in a contractual dispute between Salem Baptist and Logan. Walter Logan’s company had been hired by Salem to build a family center, but the church unexpectedly pulled out of the agreement in 2007, triggering a “groundless termination” lawsuit from the contractor, who claimed Salem Baptist still owned him more than $200,000. Read more
Yesterday was the late Carl Sagan’s birthday and the folks at Mad Art Lab put together this really nice compilation of people reciting Sagan’s famous passage about that pale blue dot on which we all live. (I’m in the mix, too.) Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, discusses what happens when atheist arguments sound convincing but you still can’t shake your faith: 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
Rocky Mountain Mike created this lovely ballad you can begin singing any day now: (Thanks to Jessica for the link!) Read more
Did you know? Child-abusing priests were just trying to spread some love. Another Polish cleric has claimed that broken homes are a catalyst for paedophilia. Father Ireneusz Bochynski, from the city of Piotrkow Trybunalski in Central Poland, has said he knows of 10-year-old children who “went to bed with adults, wanting to be fulfilled, and it was the choice of the child.” Read more
As we speak, the people of the Philippines are suffering the after-effects of Super Typhoon Haiyan. A day after Super Typhoon Haiyan roared into the Philippines, officials predicted that the death toll could reach 1,200 or more. “We estimate 1,000 people were killed in Tacloban and 200 in Samar province,” Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross, said of two coastal areas where Haiyan hit first as it began its march Friday across the archipelago. That’s just what we know right now. The devastation by the time you read this is likely much, much higher. It has been described as the most powerful storm in recorded history and we need to take action immediately to help those who are struggling in its wake. The Foundation Beyond Belief is asking atheists (and anyone else who would like to join us) to help with the relief efforts: Read more
Congressman Sam Johnson (R-TX) thinks atheists in the military should be forced to acknowledge God and swear a pledge to the Almighty. He’s even introduced a bill to make that happen. Johnson’s initiative is a response to the U.S. Air Force top command’s recent decision to make saying “So help me God” optional when cadets pledge they’ll abide by the military code of honor. In other words, cadets who want to say that phrase may just say that, as before; those who don’t will swear the oath just the same, but without the deity reference. Sound reasonable? Not to Johnson it doesn’t. On his blog, he writes: Read more
Back in August, Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX) — the guy who believes fetuses can masturbate — set up a town hall meeting and a college student confronted him about the two times he voted to deny non-religious people like Jason Heap from joining the military chaplaincy. That young man was Daniel Moran: In their exchange, Burgess completely laughed off the idea of atheist chaplains, calling it a “dumb idea”: Read more
In the past month, I’ve sent three separate emails to the company that’s publishing Sarah Palin’s upcoming book Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas hoping to get a preview copy. No one’s written back to me yet, not even to say, “Not a chance in Hell.” (I guess being on the same blog network as Palin’ daughter Bristol earned me no goodwill.) But New York Magazine got ahold of the audiobook in advance of Tuesday’s book release and they posted a few choice excerpts, revealing to everyone what we already knew. Palin is like a lazy undergrad: Incapable of doing the slightest bit of research, fully confident in her overblown rhetoric, and unable to experience reality: Read more
I don’t care if atheists aren’t supposed to celebrate Christmas. I’m getting this, anyway: (via The Morning Heresy) Read more
