For some reason, the Kingsport Times-News (Tennessee) — the newspaper that recently published an editorial supporting the Boy Scouts of America’s separate-but-equal theory of dealing with gay people — published another appalling article. This time, it’s an opinion piece from local resident (and board member of the Rockford Institute) Mark Atkins, who thinks that the evidence shows that homosexuality is a disorder (The article is, not surprisingly, behind a paywall): [Click headline for more…] Read more
The Colorado Springs Gazette has a really great article profiling Becky Hale and Gary Betchan, the couple that runs EvolveFISH (Hale is also President of the American Humanist Association): They live in evangelical Christian mecca Colorado Springs and things haven’t easy for them as atheists: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Peter Boghossian, the author of the forthcoming book A Manual for Creating Atheists, recently spoke with Dan Shepard from the Portland State Vanguard newspaper about philosophy, rehabilitating prisoners, and how faith is not a virtue: If any moments stand out to you, please leave a timestamp/summary in the comments! Read more
The Western Wall, or the Wailing Wall, is the only remaining part of King Solomon’s Temple, built in 516 BCE and destroyed by the Romans in 73 CE. Located in Jerusalem, it is a spot of great meaning and importance to Jews around the world. Unfortunately, the wall and the plaza around it don’t belong to all Israelis or all Jews in Israel. It is controlled by a group of ultra-Orthodox Israelis, who, in accordance with Jewish law, mandate a separate section for men and women (guess which one is bigger?) and also restrict what women seeking to approach the wall are allowed to wear. Part of their rules are for modesty concerns; women must be covering their knees and elbows. But the religious restrictions don’t stop there. Women who wish to approach the wall wearing prayer shawls or carrying Torahs to read from are stopped from doing so. As the law states, “No religious ceremony shall be in held in the women’s section of the Western Wall.” [Click headline for more…] Read more
You may have seen rumors (like the one below) floating around on Facebook that A&E asked the family at the center of the show Duck Dynasty to stop praying on television after complaints from “liberals” and “atheists.” (And the family refused to listen! Aren’t they amazing?!) Of course, none of that’s true. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Earlier today, I posted about the Ten Commandments plaques that hang in every classroom in Muldrow High School (Oklahoma). As the story went, after an anonymous atheist student contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the FFRF contacted the school and the plaques will now almost certainly be taken down after the school board discusses the incident at Monday’s meeting. … During this whole debacle, which really picked up steam on Wednesday, the student who alerted the FFRF to the constitutional violation has been under the radar. Some commenters online have even insinuated that there was no student — that FFRF is just picking on them because they’re Christians. Well, let’s put that rumor to rest right now. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Pennsylvania legislators love their Bible. They love it so much, they declared 2012 “Year of the Bible.” Since that wasn’t enough, they declared October, 2012 “Prayer Month.” And that was after May 3, 2012, which we all obviously remember was a Day of Prayer. So what do they do for an encore? They declare it week “American Religious History Week”… [Click headline for more…] Read more
The classrooms in Muldrow High School in Oklahoma (right near the border by Arkansas) all have plaques of the Ten Commandments hanging on the walls. For some reason that probably have everything to do with Tradition and our Christian Heritage and “We Live In Merkuh.” Recently, a junior at the school contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation and they contacted the school without exposing the student. Somehow this has turned into a fight between Christians and the Constitution: [Click headline for more…] Read more
During a Capitol Hill prayer event this week, Michele Bachmann (R-MN) spoke about how 9/11 and the attack in Benghazi were the result of God’s judgment on our country: [Click headline for more…] Read more
