When Danielle Powell fell in love with the woman she would marry, it ended up costing her nearly $6,000 — and her education. Powell was finishing her psychology degree at Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska, when she started openly dating Michelle Rogers. Unfortunately for her, Grace isn’t your ordinary college, but a private Christian school that requires its students uphold a rigid code of “moral” conduct: [Click headline for more…] Read more
As I said yesterday, I’m working on a project with a local professor called The Atheist Voice in which I tackle some burning question people often ask atheists. The video below answers the question: What happens when we die? 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
Who would Jesus fire? Catholic Holy Trinity School in El Cajon, California told second-grade teacher Carie Charlesworth she is out of a job. Charlesworth’s infraction? Funny story: There isn’t one. She is a victim of a stalker who happens to be her ex-husband. The school has decided that Charlesworth is too unsafe to be allowed back in school, not because of anything she did, but because of the behavior of her former spouse. Back in January, the man, who has a history of inflicting domestic abuse, showed up in the school’s parking lot and, in a likely overreaction, put the school into lockdown mode. Charlesworth, who is just now coming forward, was put on indefinite leave for three months, then fired. [Click headline for more…] Read more
I’m working on a project with a local professor called The Atheist Voice in which I tackle some burning question people often ask atheists… It’s more or less off-the-cuff, so you’ll have to forgive me if I missed saying something totally obvious or repeated myself, but we’re experimenting with this so you can be the judge of whether or not it’s useful. The video below answers the question: How do you tell your parents you’re an atheist? 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
Florida resident Karen Lee-Duffell has two young kids, and a wife with whom she’s been together for 12 years. The four of them love the Jacksonville Hands-On Children’s Museum. Well, make that loved. You see, when Lee-Duffell wanted to renew her family membership recently, museum staff unexpectedly balked when she put a woman’s name on the form in the section marked “dad.” “They noticed the female name in the ‘dad’ space and told me that I would need to pay extra to add her as a ‘substitution’ because she is not a dad,” Lee-Duffell said. “I was confused for a second, but quickly realized what was going on. It sends a clear message that they are not interested in fairness to certain kinds of families. I don’t think that’s right, no matter what the proprietors’ personal beliefs are.” Lee-Duffell claims that the museum’s refusal to qualify her partner for inclusion in the family rate “is no different than charging someone extra for their T-shirt because they are meat eaters and the store owner is vegetarian.” [Click headline for more…] Read more
We knew this was going to happen weeks ago but it’s finally official: You won’t be punished in Texas if you say “Merry Christmas” (everyone can breathe out now): The bill, signed into law Thursday by Governor Rick Perry, promises that teachers and students can say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah” or “happy holidays” without repercussion. Even though no one was ever stopping them from doing that… Religious holiday displays will also be allowed, as long as they don’t overtly promote one particular religion (tough loopholes are everywhere): [Click headline for more…] Read more
On Thursday, I received an email from Chris Johnson, familiar to readers of this site because he’s been working on a multimedia book about atheists and what gives them joy and meaning in life. It turned out his 64-year-old stepmother was applying to become an official U.S. citizen after living here for more than 30 years. Part of the application asked her if she would “take up arms in defense of the United States” — join the military, in essence — and she responded, in part, like this: … The truth is that I would not be willing to bear arms. Since my youth I have had a firm, fixed and sincere objection to participation in war in any form or in the bearing of arms. I deeply and sincerely believe that it is not moral or ethical to take another person’s life, and my lifelong spiritual/religious beliefs impose on me a duty of conscience not to contribute to warfare by taking up arms… my beliefs are as strong and deeply held as those who possess traditional religious beliefs and who believe in God… That bit at the end is what caught the eye of someone at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). They told her that if she had a “conscientious objection,” it had to be on religious grounds, not moral ones. Her atheism wasn’t good enough. [Click headline for more…] Read more
David Hayward is on a roll with his list of reasons to be scared of atheists: 4. There are some atheists out there who would challenge your beliefs and question your assumptions, even respectfully, which can make for a very difficult conversation. … 6. There are some atheists who are actually good people and because of this will really complicate your tidy categories of who’s in and who’s out. … 8. There are some atheists who, because of their quality of intelligence and character, will upset your faith and make you wonder why your God should punish such a person. Turns out we’re scary because we’re not scary at all. Read more
Just a quick reminder that I’ll be speaking in North and South Carolina this weekend! All the events are free (donations accepted!), kids are welcome to attend, and I might dance at one of the talks. Maybe. Details are below: Group: Charlotte Atheists City: Charlotte, NC Location: University of North Carolina at Charlotte main campus, Cone Center, 3rd floor, Lucas Room Date: Saturday, June 15 Time: 3:00p Group: Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry City: Charleston, SC Location: Gage Hall, 4 Archdale Street Date: Sunday, June 16 Time: 4:00p Group: Triangle Freethought Society City: Raleigh, NC Location: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh, Founders Hall, 3313 Wade Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27607 Date: Monday, June 17 Time: 6:30p Read more
Mary Elizabeth Williams, writing for Salon, thinks that atheists are “just as obnoxious as Christians.” She lowers us to their level because atheists recently fought to be treated like Christians in a Florida school district. Atheists aren’t being “obnoxious” when we force government officials to treat us like they do Christians — we’re being strategic under the rules of the law. And it works. [Click headline for more…] Read more
