I went in to this interview with Peter Boghossian sincerely not knowing what to expect. He’s a professor of philosophy at Portland State College, and my entire knowledge of philosophy comes from a single class I took freshman year of college which, to be frank, did not go well. But I loved Peter’s take on why philosophy is important and how it can actually be applied to help society at large. [Click headline for more…] Read more
There’s a Supreme Court case that will be heard this October involving prayer at government meetings and I plan to post something far more thorough about it very soon. But one update really needs to be mentioned now. The Obama administration, on Thursday, weighed in on the case with an amicus brief (PDF), intended to urge the Supreme Court to act in a certain way. The brief says very clearly that the administration, led by Solicitor General Don Verrilli, is on the side of allowing invocation prayers: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX) — the guy who believes fetuses can masturbate — is one of the representatives who voted (twice) to deny non-religious people like Jason Heap from joining the military chaplaincy. Daniel Moran attended a town hall event with Burgess yesterday and asked him about those votes. Instead of offering a rational explanation as to why he voted that way, Burgess essentially dismissed the idea of non-religious chaplains, showing in the process a complete lack of understanding as to why they’re needed: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Alison Green runs a website called Ask a Manager. It’s pretty self-explanatory — she gets a lot of questions from all sorts of employers and employees and she answers them as best she can. She recently responded to this dilemma from someone looking for a job: I’m a job-hunting recent grad, and I’m applying for jobs all over the place. One of the more interesting openings I’ve seen is at a science museum working as an educator. I’m a communications major, not a scientist, but I think I’d do well at the job and I’m hoping I’ll get an interview. The problem comes from my educational background. I’m a graduate of a decently-sized Christian university that puts heavy emphasis on a literal 6-day creation week. These are the sorts of folks who believe that the earth is no more than 8,000 years old, that fossils are the result of a catastrophic world-wide flood, and that evolution only happened on a small scale — like wolves and dogs, but no further than that. The fact that all their professors agree to teach this is a big selling point for the school, and it’s advertised quite prominently. Anyone who googles my university will realize this within about three minutes. My high school and elementary school (the application asked for those as well) are much the same. [Click headline for more…] Read more
This is a guest post by Emily. A native Texan, Emily writes on issues of atheism, Humanism, state secularism, egalitarianism, and free-expression. She is an aspiring speaker, avid reader, and strives to spread awareness of these issues, online and in person. … This past weekend in Houston, Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham was the keynote speaker at the Texas Home School Coalition’s convention, pandering the hogwash of dinosaurs and humans living at the same time. After many refused attempts… Read more
Crossing Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee is just about to finish construction on three massive crosses, one that’s 125 feet tall and two that are 100 feet tall. The project only cost them $700,000… which, I guess, is the going price for insecurity: [Click headline for more…] Read more
I frequently get complaints from Christians who read this site that I spend too much time focusing on the “wrong kind” of Christians. If only I would listen to their pastors or consider their idea of who God is, I would have a very different impression of Christianity. That’s the same sort of argument Tiffany Gee Lewis makes in a horrible article for the Guardian, the subtitle of which is “I wish I could invite the world into my church meetings, especially those who find little redeeming value in religion.” Lewis writes: [Click headline for more…] Read more
You may recall Herbert and Catherine Schaible, faith-healing-practicing parents who let both of their children die, separately, from preventable causes because they believed prayer would help them instead of doctors. If you need a (sad) reminder of their crimes, read this post. They have seven other children — thankfully in foster care right now. On Wednesday, there was finally a bit of justice in this case: [Click headline for more…] Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: Can atheists date Christians? 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
