How does The Onion always know what to put down for my horoscope?! (Thanks to Alan for the link) Read more
As you know, Saudi Arabia doesn’t want women to drive because… ovaries. Which was the motivation for this simplistic and downright-catchy song: Read more
Perhaps because you can’t say Dixon without saying dick, the local Christian Scientists in Dixon, Illinois, decided to build a church in the shape of a cock and balls. The architectural drawings must have been hawt — and now, thanks to Google Earth, we can all enjoy the borderline X-rated view from above: Read more
Blogger and Oklahoma State Representative Rebecca Hamilton doesn’t understand why non-Catholics want the Catholic Church to change its teachings: Read more
Remember how American Legion Post 311 refused to attend a Veterans Day ceremony at a local public high school in Pennsylvania after the district’s superintendent told them he would not allow their chaplain say a prayer at the event? Now, another American Legion group is punishing a public institution for not catering to their juvenile demands. Morton Grove (Illinois) Park District Commissioner Dan Ashta is someone who doesn’t stand for the Pledge of Allegiance at board meetings for good reason: “I’m not entirely sure it’s accurate to say this is a personal choice, but more of a duty. I have an obligation as an elected official to uphold the constitution,” Ashta said. “I have a sincere, serious relationship with the law. I study law and constitutional law is of particular interest to me. I think the Constitution is what makes this country great and worth making sacrifices for. Countries with weak constitutions usually don’t last… I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. I have no objections to people who do stand for the pledge.” Sounds like a perfectly respectable position for a city official to take. But American Legion Post 134 refuses to give any more money to the park district unless Ashta stands up and pledges allegiance to a nation “under God”: Read more
Last Sunday morning, at a time when Christians across America were shuffling into their church pews, I also thought about God. More specifically, my thoughts centered on the senselessness and pain surrounding the death of Maria Kislo, a 12-year-old Polish girl who, the U.K. Mirror reported, recently hanged herself to get into heaven. According to the British newspaper, Maria (or Marysia, as her name is rendered in the Polish press) missed her father, who had died in 2009. Allegedly, she left the following suicide note: Dear Mom. Please don’t be sad. I just miss Daddy so much, I want to see him again. As I should have done, some readers doubted the story I relayed, pointing out that it was unsourced and published in a tabloid, a genre known for sensationalism, spin, and shortcuts. I used to think that even tabloids didn’t descend into outright fabrications. In retrospect, that’s pretty naïve. It appears that over in England, making stuff up out of whole cloth is not unheard of among the writers and editors practicing tabloid journalism. How else to explain that, most crucially, neither the existence of the suicide note nor Marysia’s belief in heaven can be corroborated? I want to be clear about this lest I err in the other direction: It’s possible that the story as reported in the Mirror (and the Daily Mail) is correct. But absent any actual evidence, I now consider that possibility remote. Read more
David Hayward shows us that anyone and everyone can use the Bible to justify their claims: But which group represents the True ChristiansTM? Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: What is Deism?: 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
If you need to catch up on the story, please read this and this. In the past week, readers of this site have really come through for Pastor Norman Hayes after he was beaten up by a “Militant Atheist” (who would arguably be better described as a thug with a criminal past). You all pitched in thousands of dollars to Hayes’ recovery fund, which is currently over $5,000. His son Andy wrote this note to supporters last night: Read more
This story is tough to verify, but it wouldn’t be very surprising if it were true. According to the English version of the Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Ahram, a 20-year-old (unnamed) student at Suez Canal University was arrested for committing an awful crime against religion: He formed a Facebook group about atheism. Read more
