If you were to go skiing at Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana, a resort on land owned by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), you might come across a statue known as “Big Mountain Jesus”: The reason that statue is allowed to be on the property is because the USFS gave the Knights of Columbus a “Special Use Permit” in 1953 to build and maintain a memorial to honor WWII veterans. However, the Knights decided to build Big Mountain Jesus because “veterans from the 10th Mountain Division… wanted to commemorate their fallen comrades with a statue that evoked memories of the many religious shrines and statues they had seen in the mountain communities of Europe.” Isn’t that convenient… [Click headline for more…] Read more
From the Christian Post: Sam Rohrer, president of the Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network, stated that he was “stunned at this decision today to take a 360-degree turn away from the biblical definition of marriage.” Huh. I figured he’d be pretty excited about that… Read more
Michael Vines, a St. Louis Cardinals fan, recently noticed that there were Christian symbols on the mound when Adam Wainwright was pitching: For what it’s worth, while that symbol near the bottom left looks like a Jesus Fish, it’s actually the number 6, in honor of Cardinals legend Stan Musial. But there’s no doubt about that cross. [Click headline for more…] Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, answers the question: What Happens When Pastors Become Atheists? 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
Adam Average and Jamie Imtheman take on the Law of Attraction: Busted! Maybe. I think… (via Skeptics Society) Read more
The Bertelsmann Stiftung is a German non-profit that researches, publishes, and “stimulates debate” on a variety of societal issues. They just released the results of their 2013 Religion Monitor in which they analyzed responses to a 100-question survey regarding religion/politics completed by 14,000 individuals in 13 countries. What did they find? Here are the most interesting results found in the report (PDF): The U.S. loves religion and spirituality… but not as much as Turkey: [Click headline for more…] Read more
If you don’t remember Florida Atlantic University Professor Deandre Poole’s name, you probably do remember what he became known for: The conservative Christian media claimed he forced his students to stomp on paper with the word “JESUS” written on it: There’s finally some good news to report on this issue: Dr. Poole has been reinstated by FAU… but he’s not back in the classroom just yet: [Click headline for more…] Read more
SuperCynthesizer uploaded a recent Watchtower Society propaganda video designed to make you and keep you a JW for good: It’s a 90-minute movie but here are a few highlights: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Just a week after Girlguiding UK announced a revision to their Promise, allowing openly non-religious girls to join without a problem, another organization is following in their footsteps. The UK-based Scout Association looks like they’re reversing course as well… kind of: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Since the long-gone days of the Burma-Shave billboard, the art of putting up ever-changing public messages on roadside signs has been largely left to churches. Church signs frequently display aphorisms, quotes, and announcements, and some of them can be pretty funny. I can’t help reading them whenever I pass by. But why give churches the monopoly on entertaining signs? What’s preventing you or me from putting up a sign with our message of the day? That’s what Ayden Byle thought. A couple of months ago, he was a newcomer to Toronto’s Cedarvale neighborhood. He didn’t know anyone there. But he made friends quickly after he got noticed by a lot of people who walked or drove by his house. It was because of his sign. [Click headline for more…] Read more
