This is a guest post by Seráh Blain. Seráh is the Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for Arizona. … At the heart of Humanism is the idea that human beings deserve to be treated with dignity, to have their autonomy respected, and to be regarded equally regardless of immaterial differences that have no bearing on one’s value — such as color, class, gender, and so forth. After several recent interactions with people experiencing homelessness in Phoenix, where temperatures are frequently well over 100 degrees, I have come to realize that homelessness is a vile affront to all of these principles — and as a result, with the help of my Humanist community, the Flagstaff Freethinkers, and several other collaborating organizations, I am spearheading a unique and provocative project to work toward ending homelessness in Arizona. [Click headline for more…] Read more
It’s hard, even for an angry, arrogant, militant new atheist like me, to not like Pope Francis. He seems to be saying all the right things for someone in his position, rhetorically easing off of gays, emphasizing the plight of the poor, and not being afraid to bring himself to the level of those in need, or those with whom he has little in common. It helps that he’s so grandfatherly, with a warm smile and those standard-issue old-man glasses, whereas Ratzinger was so comically villainous. Damon Linker, author of The Theocons and The Religious Test, wants progressives to temper their enthusiasm, however. Not because he sees Francis as nefarious, but rather he sees little evidence that a revolution of sorts is under way in the Church: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Some of you know Ray Comfort because of his latest movie “Evolution Vs. God.” Most of you know him better for his video “The Atheist’s Worst Nightmare”: Nearly four years ago, I interviewed him for this website and he was gracious enough to answer all the questions I asked. So, given the opportunity to do it again, and with some of your submitted questions in the mix, I asked Ray about everything from his selective-editing of videos to the infamous banana routine. His answers are reprinted below in their entirety. (I have edited the exchange only for grammar/clarity and added links to Ray’s responses when I felt they were helpful.) [Click headline for more…] Read more
Last year, I wrote about how, in Toronto, the Gideons wanted to distribute Bibles to fifth grade students and how the District School Board of Niagara was letting them do it. Rene and Anna Chouinard, who have three kids in the district, attempted to put a stop to that for years, beginning in 2009. They told the school board that if the Gideons could distribute Bibles to children, then they should be able to distribute copies of Dan Barker’s Just Pretend: A Free Thought Book for Children and Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist. That year, the school board ended up saying no to both kinds of books. The year after, the board changed their policy to allow for the distribution of all religious materials. The Chouinards said Fine! Let us distribute our atheist books!… and the school board said no. Huh?! The Bibles were okay, but the atheist books were not? What gives? Only last year did a court finally agree to look at the case. It took a year, but the Chouinards have finally prevailed! [Click headline for more…] Read more
The American Atheists’ 2014 Convention already features LGBT activist and NFL punter Chris Kluwe, Survivor: Philippines winner Denise Stapley, and Spin Doctors bass player Mark White: Today, they’re adding two more exciting names to their slate: [Click headline for more…] Read more
In March of 2012, former pastor Teresa MacBain came out as an atheist for the first time. Since then, she’s been about as public an atheist as you can get, holding positions as the Public Relations Director for American Atheists and the executive director of the Humanists of Florida Association: Now, she’ll begin the next step in her journey away from religious dogma as the brand new director of the Humanist Community Project at Harvard University, a position just announced by the Humanist Community at Harvard (HCH). Given Teresa’s background in building and leading churches, this is an ideal fit. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Remember 2012 GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain? Of course you remember Herman Cain. Everyone remembers Herman Cain. Well, that guy has responded to American Atheists’ recent victory in which they were able to donate atheist literature to Georgia state parks since the parks were already allowing in donated Bibles. Does he support the atheists or oppose them? It’s hard to tell. He refers to the lawsuit threat as “frivolous” while at the same time arguing that it’s the atheists’ right to place those books in the cabins. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Seven billboards saying “Don’t believe in God? Join the club!” just went up all across South Dakota: The billboards, which cost $11,148 and were funded by the United Coalition of Reason and an anonymous local donor, will be up through September 15. This is the 34th state (not including Washington, D.C.) to launch a United CoR billboard campaign. [Click headline for more…] Read more
The National Center for Science Education has just unveiled its new blog dedicated to “Defending the Teaching of Evolution & Climate Science.” It features Barbara Forrest and Eugenie Scott, which should be enough of an enticement, but just check out the logo: Science League of America for the win! You’re going to want to add this site to your RSS feed. Read more
Adam Lee points us to a passage written by Robert Green Ingersoll in which he advocates for divorce when it really is justifiable, even by many conservative standards — when there’s abuse, neglect, or just no love in the relationship anymore. What’s striking is that the piece was written in 1889: [Click headline for more…] Read more
