Five years ago, YouTuber MrRepzion was a Christian who made videos defending his faith. Today, he’s an atheist doing the exact opposite. He just released a video in which he talks to his then-16-year-old self… and it’s awesome: [Click headline for more…] Read more
My friend Ashley Paramore made a video talking about a skeptics’ conference she went to at which she was sexually assaulted. It’s hard to listen to, and not just because I know her personally. Please hear her story and understand that she’s one of the few women brave enough to speak up when sort of thing happens — there are undoubtedly many more who aren’t (or can’t): [Click headline for more…] Read more
Last fall, I published a book called The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide. While the target audience was pretty much everybody, it told the stories of young atheists and how all of us (parents, teachers, students, administrators, friends) could help them overcome some of the struggles they deal with. Normally, the book sells for $7.99 on Kindle, but for the next few days, we’re selling it for less than a dollar! After Wednesday, it’ll go up to $2.99 for a week, and then back to its normal price after that. [Click headline for more…] Read more
By now, you’ve probably seen the cringe-worthy interview of religious scholar Reza Aslan by FOX News Channel host Lauren Green. If you haven’t seen it… you need to because of how bad it gets: The entire interview revolves around the questions of whether a Muslim scholar can really write a historical book about Jesus… because surely he has some anti-Christian bias (implies Green). Anyway, it’s hard not to feel sympathy toward Aslan for having to go through all that. (BuzzFeed also points out that Green once interviewed a Christian scholar who wrote about Islam and never once questioned his potential bias.) Before atheists jump onto the Aslan bus, though, I just wanted to remind everyone of his 2010 article railing against the “Evangelical atheists”: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Daily Telegraph blogger Tim Stanley has a big problem with “atheist trolls” on Twitter. And by atheist trolls, he really just means atheists. Because they hurt his feelings when they say mean things about religion: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post has an incredible story of a Christian home-schooling family where the parents don’t want to send their children to the local public school, and the children, knowing they’re not getting a good education, are fighting back: [Son] Josh Powell wanted to go to school so badly that he pleaded with local officials to let him enroll. He didn’t know exactly what students were learning at Buckingham County High School, in rural central Virginia, but he had the sense that he was missing something fundamental. By the time he was 16, he had never written an essay. He didn’t know South Africa was a country. He couldn’t solve basic algebra problems. The article raises the question of what requirements must be in place when it comes to home-schooling. In Virginia, where this story takes place, there is no oversight whatsoever. If parents claim a religious exemption from public education, the state government doesn’t do anything to check in on them and make sure they’re doing a decent job. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Tony Anthony is the author of the bestselling, decade-old, freakishly-long-titled book Taming the Tiger from the Depths of Hell to the Heights of Glory: The Remarkable True Story of a Kung Fu World Champion. It a story about how Tony became a killer, went to prison, found Jesus, and soon became a free man in more ways than one: Anthony was a popular speaker on the Christian circuit, where his compelling story resonated with audiences: “In the line of duty as a bodyguard, I killed people,” Anthony would tell church audiences. “I have broken more arms and legs than I care to remember.” Later he recounted how he found God while in prison in Nicosia after being convicted of theft. The book was a phenomenon. It was translated into 25 languages and won the Christian Booksellers’ Convention Award in 2005. You can guess where this story is going… [Click headline for more…] Read more
There’s a really disturbing story at Christian Nightmares Too — a true story from his own life, says the creator of the site — that shows the damage that can happen when you’re brainwashed by religious fundamentalists: [Click headline for more…] Read more
I wanted to post one last call for the annual conference for Atheist Alliance of America! It takes place on Labor Day Weekend in Boston and you can get your tickets now. Kids are welcome, there’s a strong group of speakers, and the student discounts are terrific: If you haven’t attended an atheist convention before, this is one you’ll want to attend. Read more
