Atheist Ireland launched an important new initiative yesterday in which they will be “financing, developing, designing and piloting Ireland’s first primary school course about atheism.” As it stands, the grade levels that Americans would consider “elementary” already teach kids about religion. (Most schools are denominational, after all.) But atheism isn’t mentioned in the curriculum and it’s barely touched upon even when the kids get older. This project will help fill that void: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Pastor Mark Brewer of Crosspoint Wesleyan Church in Fredericton, New Brunswick had to deal with a potential crisis this past week. One of the finest members of his church, 20-year-old Colin Briggs, had been a camp counselor and church volunteer for a couple of years. He even went on a mission trip to Haiti in 2011. But he’s gay. And there was a chance that some of the older members of the congregation wouldn’t take that news very well if they ever found out. So Brewer met with Briggs a few days ago to let him know that, if the church members ever bothered him about his sexuality, Brewer would offer his support and defend Briggs’ character. That’s what their church’s mission was all about, after all: becoming “fully devoted followers of Jesus.” I’m just kidding. Of course I’m kidding. You know I’m kidding. [Click headline for more…] Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: What is the Cosmological Argument? 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
In a strange sort of anti-war, “Don’t be friends with other nations” sermon, Pastor Steven Anderson explained the history of World War I in a way that was supposed to show how the number of allied countries on both sides made things even worse (and, therefore, the U.S. should not make promises to defend its allies even if invaded). What’s striking about the short sermon isn’t the rhetoric, but the mishandling of the WWI facts. @VeritasKnight on Twitter was kind enough to listen to the sermon clip and provide analysis on where Anderson got things wrong. Turns out there’s a lot of misinformation, so I’ll just quote Anderson, then quote @VeritasKnight. [Click headline for more…] Read more
There’s a happy conclusion to last month’s story about Sanjay Salve, a public school teacher who was denied pay raises due to him because he refused to pray at a school function. Rather than folding his hands to pray, Salve would hold his hands behind his back, as he describes it, “wondering why I should pray to the god of a religion which I do not follow.” The headmaster was not happy, and Salve was denied regular pay raises. [Click headline for more…] Read more
You have to do something really awful to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church these days. In Melbourne, Australia, The Age notes that the only priests in the region who are no longer welcome to receive the Church’s sacraments are those who have been convicted of pedophilia. But now we can add (former) Father Greg Reynolds to that exile list. What did he do that was so awful? “I’ve come to this position because I’ve followed my conscience on women’s ordination and gay marriage.” [Click headline for more…] Read more
Brian Boyko is running for Texas State Representative in a Republican-held district and, while that seems like an uphill climb, there are still good reasons to support him. For one, he’s a self-described geek: Also, if you want to donate to his campaign, you have to give a Fibonacci number dollar amount: But here’s the kicker: He attended the Texas State Board of Education meeting this past week at which they were discussing which textbooks should be adopted by all… Read more
In Anderson County, Tennessee, the grandmother of an elementary school student is furious because she claims a teacher told her grandson’s class that there’s no God: The incident happened at North Clinton Elementary School last week. 6 News is not identifying the teacher because she is not being reprimanded for what she said. Lois Sanders says her grandson came home last Wednesday upset about what a teacher had said at school. “There wasn’t a God,” said Sanders. “They shouldn’t believe in him. It’s just a Greek myth.” … “Whether you believe in, or you don’t believe in it, you know, that’s your own personal belief, but don’t go and try to teach other parents’ children, grandchildren your beliefs,” said Sanders. “That’s no place in school for doing that.” Let’s get a few things straight. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Almost six in ten Americans believe the devil is real, and more than half think people can be possessed by demons. Those results are from a recent YouGov poll of 1,000 respondents, though it’s not clear how reliable the numbers are — I couldn’t find an explanation of the methodology. YouGov says its poll has a margin of error of three percent. When you drill down past the headline and summary, you can see which religious adherents are most likely to believe that Satan exists. To no one’s surprise, those who have had a “born-again” experience top the list at 86%. The Lord of Darkness is met with a lot more skepticism in non-Christian circles: only 17% of Jews and 25% of Muslims believe that he’s real, as do 20 percent of Nones. [Click headline for more…] Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, discusses the popularity of Pope Francis, even among some of the harshest critics of the Catholic Church: As I’ve said before, the one thing holding him back from being truly revolutionary… is his Catholicism. 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
