Joanna Clark is a part-time calligrapher and full-time assistant language teacher in Japan. She’s been there for almost three years, and plans to return to the United States this summer. When she does, she’s going to be reminded how different the countries are in how they practice their respective religions. Home from college on a break, she wanted new reading glasses, so off to the optometrist she went. Joanna happened to be carrying a Tokidoki LeSportSac whose two sides represent heaven and hell. Here’s a close look at a similar Tokidoki purse: After allowing a technician to put a solution in her eyes to dilate her pupils in preparation for a vision test, Joanna was asked to wait. Magazines soon became too blurry too read, but she noticed a Rubik’s Cube adorned with a picture of Jesus and started fiddling with it. Soon, the technician returned with a colleague and the optometrist, and the trio sweetly asked to see her bag. Joanna, not suspecting what was about to come, held it up for them. Then this happened: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Comedian Doug Stanhope’s Indiegogo campaign to raise money for Rebecca Vitsmun (whose exchange with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer went viral) has more than doubled it’s target goal, raking in over $100,000. Vitsmun has pledged to donate the funds she doesn’t need to a non-profit organization that will benefit other victims. But what about everybody else who needs help? [Click headline for more…] Read more
Last week, the fifth graders at E.J. Moss Intermediate school in Texas were supposed to put on their school play. And you know what grade school plays look like: Cute kids, happy songs, innocuous themes. But for some reason, the play that was chosen was “In God We Trust” by Chris and Diane Machen, a play about the “Christian history” of our country written by two Christian musicians. When you read some of the lines from the school’s adaptation of the script, obtained by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, it’s incredibly obvious that this production had no business being put on in a public school: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Mention Pope John Paul II to people who are possessed by evil spirits, and sometimes they’ll literally froth at the mouth in fury. That’s because the late pontiff was a first-class exorcist whose God-given powers are still feared in Satan’s dark realm. How do we know this? It comes from Italian priest Gabriele Amorth, the founder and honorary president of the International Association of Exorcists. [Click headline for more…] Read more
According to Bachmann, God spoke to her directly after many days of intense prayer and ultimately told the exiting Congresswoman that there is no reason she should only make $174,000 per year when she could easily earn up to eight times that amount in the private sector. … “God also wants me to make a lot of money on the speaking circuit,” Bachmann added. (via A totally legitimate news source) Read more
Last we heard from the London-based Sunday Assembly (a.k.a. Atheist Church), they were being evicted from their home: Unfortunately, they may have to find permanent space sooner than they expected. Trustees from the Steiner School (housed in the same church) have kicked them out of the building. While the trustees cited safety reasons (too many people in the building), Jones contends there’s a less benevolent reason for the eviction. He said that some of the trustees found The Sunday Assembly to be “antithetical to their own ethos.” You can decide for yourself whether it was the living better, helping often, or wondering more that upset them the most. In fact, The Sunday Assembly has complied with all safety regulations, including turning people away at the door if the crowds were getting too large. There’s some good news on this front, though: This June, the Sunday Assembly will begin holding services at the 1,200 seat York Hall in Bethnal Green: [Click headline for more…] Read more
About a year ago, Community Men’s Fellowship (a Christian group) gave the city of Bradford County, Florida the gift of a Ten Commandments monument to put outside the county courthouse: At the time, American Atheists filed a lawsuit against the county. County officials were ready to take down the monument… but the Community Men’s Fellowship refused to remove it. In fact, God told them not to: … Community Men’s Fellowship wrote back: “We have prayerfully considered your request and have determined that we will not comply with the County’s order.” How’s that for brazenness? We broke the law, but we’re not going to fix the situation. So what could the city do? [Click headline for more…] Read more
The author of a book about life as a gay Catholic priest has officially come out about his true identity. Father Gary Meier (pictured above), a priest for the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, wrote a book in 2011 called Hidden Voices: Reflections of a Gay, Catholic Priest, but published it anonymously. Earlier this month, he released a statement announcing the book would be released a second time under his own name and explaining the decision: [Click headline for more…] Read more
A new Gallup poll out today says that Americans believe religion is losing its influence on society: Over three-quarters of Americans (77%) say religion is losing its influence on American life, while 20% say religion’s influence is increasing. These represent Americans’ most negative evaluations of the impact of religion since 1970, although similar to the views measured in recent years. What’s interesting is that it doesn’t seem to matter how often you attend church or how personally religious you are, you still think religion is losing power. Victory is ours!… … or not. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Earlier this month, the Kountze High School cheerleaders won a lawsuit that said they could hold up banners with Bible verses on them to support the football team: You may recall that the cheerleaders were actually fighting their school district in court (not some atheist group) because then-Superintendent Kevin Weldon had told them to stop with the banners. So when Judge Steve Thomas ruled in favor of the cheerleaders, he was simultaneously telling the district it couldn’t stop them from being all preachy on the football field. Thomas wrote in his decision (PDF). There are two big problems with this ruling. One: It makes no sense at all. How could any reasonable person see cheerleaders in school uniforms hoisting banners with Bible verses on them and not see a link between the school district and Christianity? Two: The decision isn’t very clear about what is allowed. Judge Thomas wrote that no law “requires Kountze I.S.D. to prohibit the inclusion of religious-themed banners”… which means the district doesn’t have to put a stop to the students’ banners. [Click headline for more…] Read more
