A few days ago, Rachel Held Evans wrote on CNN’s Belief Blog about why millennial Christians (like her) were leaving the church: … When I read her piece, though, I felt she only covered half the story. Yes, churches are pushing young people away, but atheists are also pulling those young people closer to our side. CNN has now posted my piece in which I address what our side is doing right: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Ensign Sean A. Cruz is an active-duty officer who graduated last year from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. He likes the place so much that he asked for permission to get married there. To be precise, he would like to tie the knot in the Naval Academy’s Main Chapel: The Chapel’s wedding coordinator, Claire MacCallum, asked Cruz to submit an application, and eight weeks after he did, she turned him down. The reason? Cruz, his name notwithstanding, is not a Christian. He had told MacCallum that he had chosen Jason Torpy to do the ceremony; Torpy is the president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and a registered Humanist celebrant in Maryland (as well as an occasional contributor to this site). Cruz is also a MAAF member and a Humanist, so the request makes a lot of sense. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Salon, which has a habit of publishing pieces that treat atheists unfavorably, posted an article entitled “Five Reasons There Aren’t More Women in Atheism” by Soraya Chemaly (who is on the Secular Woman Advisory Council — way to go, Salon!) As a “woman in atheism,” there were two thoughts going through my mind as I read the piece: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Over the weekend, Pastor John Hagee railed against Harry Potter readers, Ouija board users, and rock music listeners because they’re all heading away from Jesus and toward Satan: Here’s the truly horrific part: He’s not joking. People like him exist! And there are thousands of people listening to him in that church, presumably agreeing with him. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Gallup released a poll yesterday regarding nationwide support for same-sex marriage and the headlines are all about how 52% of Americans would support it on election day, given the chance. It’s more than half?! Wow! But there was something else notable when you looked at the demographic breakdown: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Benjamin Corey would like to remind his fellow Christians of the difference between real and imagined persection: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Charisma News, an online news resource for “passionate, Spirit-filled Christians,” recently published an article about how women need to stop tempting men in church with their cleavage: Here’s Shawn A. Akers: “Any man who says he isn’t at least slightly affected by a scantily dressed woman… is either a eunuch, gay or someone who isn’t telling the truth.” Victim blaming? Check. [Click headline for more…] Read more
I teach at a public high school and the visitor policy works like this: If you’re not a student or staff member, you must sign in at the front desk, show identification, and declare the intent of your visit. Even if a parent is just dropping off lunch for his child, those are the rules. They apply immediately before, during, and immediately after school. I hope it’s obvious that this is all for the safety of the people in the building. Concord High School in New Hampshire has a similar policy, but one parent was coming on school grounds every morning this past spring (from February onward), was in contact with students as they entered the building, and no one did anything about it. In fact, the principal allowed her to do it. Why did that happen? Because the mother, Lizarda Urena, wanted to pray for everybody: [Click headline for more…] Read more
“We’re all mentally ill,” declared megachurch pastor Rick Warren this past weekend, when he returned to the pulpit 16 weeks after his 27-year-old son Matthew, who had mental-health problems, fatally shot himself. In his sermon, aimed at lessening the stigma of mental illness, Warren said, In any other organ of your body there’s no shame or stigma if it breaks down… But if your brain doesn’t work, why are you ashamed of that? Why should there by any stigma attached to that? It’s just as much a part of your body as your heart and your liver. Quite. I fell prey to clinical depression myself in 2006, an ordeal I won’t soon forget. Despite the patience and support of my wife and the sweet presence of our four-year-old daughter, I existed in bleakness and misery — laboring under a heavy, oppressive miasma that wouldn’t lift until, nine months in, physicians got my brain chemistry under control with medication that worked, in doses that provided permanent (?) relief from thoughts of suicide. As a former depression sufferer, I applaud Warren’s words as true and well-spoken. But he probably didn’t do the cause any favors when he explained what he meant by “We’re all mentally ill.” This is how he followed that remark: [Click headline for more…] Read more
I was out of town yesterday, so I missed out on most of the hoopla surrounding the Pope’s comments. But having had a chance to see the raw footage and how people are reacting, I wanted to put it in context, if for no other reason than to sort it out myself. Early in the video, Pope Francis says (in Spanish): If a gay person is a person of good will who seeks God, who am I to judge? Those remarks, seemingly friendlier to the gay community than anything a Pope has said in the past, struck a nerve with a lot of people. [Click headline for more…] Read more
