Last year, the International Humanist and Ethical Union published “Freedom of Thought 2012: A Global Report on Discrimination Against Humanists, Atheists and the Non-religious” (PDF): [Click headline for more…] Read more
The New York Times asked Penn Jillette about his reading habits and he managed to squeeze in more atheist references than I thought humanly possible in the paper of record: [Click headline for more…] Read more
One more from Pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona: At 43:38: Now who here agrees that the Book of Mormon’s written by Satan? [Looks around.] Alright, pretty much the whole room. [Click headline for more…] Read more
In Dutch philosopher Floris Van Den Berg’s new book Philosophy for a Better World (Prometheus Books, 2013), he “charges individuals to reimagine society from the position of one at the political and ethical control board.” In other words, it’s full of a lot of interesting thought experiments that involve you putting yourself in the shoes of others (including animals in a fascinating section on vegetarianism/veganism). In the excerpt below, reprinted with permission of the publishers, Van Den Berg discusses “A New Golden Rule.” (Keep reading afterwards for your chance to win a copy of the book!) [Click headline for more…] Read more
Laci Green explains why guys shouldn’t fear the foreskin — and why parents shouldn’t cut off their child’s foreskin before he’s old enough to give consent: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Right Wing Watch’s Kyle Mantyla reports on a conversation Ray Comfort had on pseudo-historian David Barton’s radio show … in which Barton claims “atheists get angry because they do know that God exists” and wonders why atheists get upset when evolution is challenged since he never gets upset when people claim Bigfoot is real: You challenge what they believe about evolution and they get angry. And you ask them questions they can’t answer about their own belief, they get angry. And I was thinking too, you know, they do that in so many areas, including faith areas. … Why is it that atheists get mad? If they don’t believe in God, then why do they care if we do. And yet they go out there, working so hard and they’re so angry to shut down every expression. There’s groups that I don’t agree with and I don’t believe with, but I’m not angry at them and I’m not looking to shut down their existence. [Click headline for more…] Read more
I’m a huge fan of bloggers who function as community watchdogs, making sure things like church/state separation are being respected in areas that larger media outlets may not be paying much attention to. For months now, Randall Hayes has been tracking House Bill 660 in Louisiana, a bill sponsored by Democrat Katrina R. Jackson (below), that would have required all the state’s elementary and high schools to recite the Lord’s Prayer. Last we heard, that bill had been renamed House Bill 724 and gutted to the point that no formal prayers would be allowed in school and no students would be required to participate. On Tuesday, however, Randall noticed something strange in the Bastrop Enterprise newspaper: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Franklin Graham, the son of Reverend Billy Graham, has done everything in his power to tarnish his father’s legacy by associating his family’s name with homophobia. Last year, he used his dad’s image and name to urge North Carolinians to vote against same-sex marriage. Earlier this year, he told an interviewer that “there’s no way you can have a family with two females or two males”: When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay rights recently, Graham expressed his disappointment about that, too: It was God who created and defined marriage, and any person or institution that attempts to redefine it is ultimately challenging Him. So what do you do when he plans a huge festival in your city? Well, a group of pro-LGBT-rights protesters in Reykjavik, Iceland — where gay marriage has been legal for a few years now — have come up with a brilliant way to fight back against his event there next month: [Click headline for more…] Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: Are atheists liberal or conservative? 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 Ireland, where atheism is already on the rise as are godless funerals, a new study — being touted on multiple websites and by Richard Dawkins — seems to show that the percentage of young Irish atheists is pretty high, too: A student survey has uncovered some very interesting statistics regarding Irish students and their changing attitudes towards religion. … Shockingly, while less than 60% of respondents considered themselves Catholic; the second group to top the scale were Atheists at 20%. That’s not the only shocker: Only a third of Irish Catholic students said they believe communion wafers are the physical body of Christ. Which I thought was one of the items on the Catholic Checklist. And there’s this: According to the survey, students regard ‘looking good’ (5th) as being more important than ‘religious beliefs’ (6th), with friends and family topping the list of importance. Lots of interesting stuff. But I’m not accepting any of it yet. Neither should you. [Click headline for more…] Read more
