Seen in the New Zealand Herald: The study in question, published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, can be read here. (Thanks to Dave for the link!) Read more
No matter how much criticism he gets from his faithful, or how often his cardinals scramble to walk his statements back, Pope Francis just won’t stop offering atheists a chance at salvation. In recent months, newspaper editor and stalwart atheist Eugenio Scalfari has written two open letters to the pontiff, both of which were published in Scalfari’s Italian daily La Repubblica. Scalfari’s letters appear to have addressed some of the Pope’s reflections in his first encyclical, Lumen fidei. Any earlier pope would have likely ignored the communiqués, but that’s not Francis’ style. Instead he responded in a three-page-long letter that made the newspaper’s front page: [Click headline for more…] Read more
We already know Pastor Steven Anderson has gone from religious-based anti-women hate-rhetoric to just plain spiteful racist bigotry. Last week, he called Mecca a “Giant Black GameCube” and now, in a sermon mentioning the biblical character Barak, he went on a rant against the President: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Reader DeAnne was driving through Huber Heights, Ohio when she passed Free Methodist Church… and turned around to double check the sign… and turned around again just to get a picture. It was worth it. It’s not that often that a church takes a shot at science only to have it backfire this badly: They were good for the first two lines… until you realized what they were trying to do. And if anybody knows about clinging to sacred theories no matter what the evidence says, it’s the people in a church. Read more
This is the city seal of DeLand, Florida: There’s a heart, an anchor, and a cross. One of those is a problem. But until now, no one has ever taken serious action on it. Acting on a complaint from a local resident, Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a letter to city officials late last month asking them to reconsider their seal because of it’s endorsement of Christianity. They haven’t received a response yet, but the media and Christian Right are flipping out: [Click headline for more…] Read more
This is a page from a planner given out to the 3,000 students at Pieter Zandt, a Protestant reformatory school in the Netherlands (click to enlarge): See anything wrong with it? Check out that one guy’s shirt. With the peace sign on it. That’s the problem. Parents complained to the head of the school because they believed the symbol to be a sign of the Antichrist. Even worse, the school’s chairman agreed and destroyed all of the planners: [Click headline for more…] Read more
I absolutely love this promotion: In honor of the fact that same-sex spouses in the military will soon receive full benefits, members of the Humanist Society are offering to provide free wedding services to gay and lesbian couples: [Click headline for more…] Read more
You may recall that, back in August, there was a small explosion near the Mingus Park Vietnam War Memorial cross in Coos Bay, Oregon. No one was hurt, but the cross was slightly damaged. At the time, the fingers were pointing straight at atheist groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation: “We unfortunately are now to the point where explosive devices are being placed next to crosses,” said Hiram Sasser, director of litigation at the Liberty Institute. … “These people will stop at nothing to intimidate communities to tear down their veterans memorials,” Sasser told Fox News. “Now the crazies are trying to blow one up.” … Sasser called on the FFRF to stop “fanning the flames of hostility toward veterans memorials.” “There are consequences for fomenting hatred for what were once obscure veterans memorials,” he said. “The FFRF should immediately condemn this dangerous criminal act.” FFRF challenged the religious memorial on legal grounds, but we know they would never resort to tactics like this. Still, days later, just to set the record straight, FFRF condemned the actions: FFRF condemns this violent and reckless act. We are in fact not aware of any act of violence committed by a nonbeliever in the name of keeping religion out of government. We have had FFRF billboards and banners vandalized and stolen on occasion, and been the recipient of many threats of violence over the years, so we know how it feels. Dynamiting the Buddhas at Bamiyan or terrorizing abortion clinics are the tyrannical tactics of religious fanatics, not the Freedom From Religion Foundation. We have never, and will never, advocate or employ violence against those with whom we disagree. In the weeks to follow there was little development in the case, but yesterday, there was a strange breakthrough: All City Council members and The World (a newspaper serving the Coos Bay community) received a letter from the purported criminal(s). The writer appears to be a member of an atheist group. [Click headline for more…] Read more
The Tampa Bay Times frames the issue perfectly: There is no graver responsibility and act of state government than an execution. In Florida this week, a campaign fundraiser takes precedence. Attorney General Pam Bondi persuaded Gov. Rick Scott to postpone an execution scheduled for [Tuesday night] because it conflicted with her re-election kick-off reception. Good Christian folk, both, who care deeply about the sanctity of life. [Click headline for more…] Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: Why do atheists hate God? 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
