A few days ago, I posted the audio from an interview Seth Andrews (The Thinking Atheist) did with Richard Dawkins about his new memoir An Appetite for Wonder. Video of the interview is now available (in case you’d rather watch people’s mouths move instead of a still frame): As always, if you hear anything especially worthwhile, please leave the timestamp and summary in the comments! Read more
Finally, a snack food company recognizes the enormous buying power (and appetite for human infants) of the atheist market. Behold, baby-flavored Goldfish crackers! Thank you, Pepperidge Farm. You must share your recipe! (Thanks to my pal David for the photo!) Read more
After a year away from YouTube, Scott Clifton (a.k.a. TheoreticalBullshit), a former Daytime Emmy Award winner, jumps right back into the fray, going after William Lane Craig and his “metaphysical cherry-picking”: If any moments stand out to you, please leave the timestamp and summary in the comments! Read more
Somehow, I missed this when it happened in July, but it’s too good to pass up. Daniel Sottomaior, president of the Brazilian Association of Atheists and Agnostics (ATEA), organized mock “de-baptisms” (complete with a hair dryer) as a way to protest his government spending $50,000,000 to accommodate Pope Francis’ summer visit: Read more
This is a guest post by Richard Wilson. Rich is a human being who tries and feels he mostly succeeds in living a moral life without help from any gods. … Last Saturday, October 12, I attended “The Great Debate,” an event hosted by Adventure Christian Church (a mega-church in Roseville, California) and sponsored by William Jessup University. The question at hand was: “What provides a better foundation for civil society: Christianity or Secular Humanism?” Arguing for Christianity was Dr. David Marshall, founder of the Kuai Mu Institute for Christianity and World Cultures. Arguing for Secular Humanism was Dr. Phil Zuckerman, Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College and author of numerous books on secularism. Since the debate was being professionally recorded, I assumed it would be made available online (or at least for purchase), and I intended to simply add a few comments of my own if Hemant blogged about it. So I kept watching the church’s Vimeo site for the upload… and it never went up. Instead, three “rebuttal” videos were posted, responding to arguments made during the course of the debate, but the full debate is still nowhere to be found. Furthermore, those three videos featured pastors from the church, not even Marshall himself. Read more
Sanal Edamaruku is the Indian skeptic who found himself at the center of a firestorm last year after he was called in to explain how a statue of Jesus was “miraculously” dripping water. After debunking the “miracle” claim, he was charged with blasphemy and faced jailtime. Over the summer, he spoke about his experiences at The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas, and video of his talk has now been released: Read more
Here’s some exciting news: The Ex-Muslims of North America — yep, they exist — have launched a new blog network featuring writers who left Islam: Read more
Gemma Arrowsmith explains the impervious logic of pseudoscience believers in this fantastic sketch: (via Boing Boing) Read more
Last week, I posted about how the Franklin County School Board in Tennessee was debating whether or not the Parent-Teacher Organization should be praying at meetings: The school board’s attorney suggested that a moment of silence would be okay, but a prayer crossed the line — Since the PTO was a school-sponsored group, it was violating the law. Well, the school board has finally figured out how to handle this. Oh, they’re still allowing the prayers. But they’re also telling teachers that they can’t be on the board of the Parent-Teacher group: Read more
The American Humanist Association announced last night that former Congressman Barney Frank would receive its 2014 “Humanist of the Year” award: … In 1987, Frank became the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as openly gay, and in 2012 he married his longtime partner, becoming the nation’s first congressman in a same-sex marriage while in office. After sixteen terms in Congress, Frank’s legacy as a champion of civil rights and financial reform, as well as his ability to simplify any issue at hand in a clever and witty way, will be sorely missed. What the description notably leaves out — even though it’s probably why Frank was chosen to receive this award at all — was that he came out as an atheist this past August. The way in which he did it, though, makes me wonder whether he truly deserves this particular honor. Read more
