CNN’s John Blake has a controversial article up about the strange idea that Christians may constitute a “hated minority.” It’s a strange idea because Christians (as a whole) aren’t hated and they’re in no way a minority. What’s Blake’s referring to is the Martyr Complex Mentality displayed by conservative evangelicals like Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, a group that routinely disparages homosexuals, spreads lies about them, and prevents them from getting equal rights. They say they’re hated because people disagree with them and say so out loud! [Click headline for more…] Read more
Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped and raped for nearly a year when she was 14, never thought about running away from her captor despite having opportunities to do it, and part of the reason had to do with her religious upbringing. The 25-year-old said as much as at a recent forum about human trafficking at Johns Hopkins University: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Even atheists will tell you they have no legal problem with students and teachers who pray during school. As long as its on their own time, it’s not disruptive, and there’s no coercion from adults involved, it’s usually not an issue at all. But what happened at Lumpkin County High School (Georgia) last Wednesday appears to be a very clear violation of school policy (the highlight for me comes at the 1:28 mark below, for totally stereotypical reasons…): Controversy is brewing in a northern Georgia community after about 50 students prayed together Wednesday morning when school officials said they should have been in class. The spontaneous prayer at Lumpkin County High School has become the talk of the town. Lumpkin County Schools Superintendent Dewey Moye said that a student started the prayer in a coach’s office at 7:30 a.m. and it lasted more than two hours. “It was a student-led initiative. The student showed up at the coach’s office and the coach did pray with them and it went into the school day, over into the first period of the day,” Moye said. [Click headline for more…] Read more
The Atheists of Utah (unofficial motto: Yes, we exist!) wanted to get t-shirts printed for the upcoming Pride Parade — the theme is “Gotta Be Real” — but the Christian owners of TIKI Printing refused to do business with them after seeing the atheists’ back-of-the-shirt message: “Gotta Be Real Cuz God Ain’t!” [Click headline for more…] Read more
A few days ago, I posted about Columbus High School athlete Derrick Hayes, who ran the anchor leg for his track team’s 4 x 100-meter relay. His relay team’s time would have qualified them for the state tournament… but then something wacky happened: As Hayes crossed the finish line in first, he “put his hand by his ear and just pointed to the heavens,” Hayes’ father said. Officials ruled that the gesture violated a state scholastic rule against excessive celebration, which includes raising one’s hands. The team was disqualified, and barred from competing at the state championships. A lot of Christian and mainstream sites argued that this could have been tantamount to religious discrimination. All he did was thank God! Why was he punished for that?! (Keep in mind that there was no video released to the public of this display or the aftermath.) [Click headline for more…] Read more
The Big Questions is a BBC show that tackles you-know-what. The most recent episode asked “Are religions unfair to women?” You can watch the show below: One highlight: Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Shmuel Arkush, who refuses to shake the hand of the woman sitting next to him (at the 13:50 mark) because “I don’t touch those things that don’t belong to me.” Even though he had no problem shaking the hand of the male host… [Click headline for more…] Read more
You may have seen the news tonight that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight — women who went missing over a decade ago and were presumed dead — were found to be alive. Two quick things: 1) The man who inadvertently helped rescue them, Charles Ramsey, just gave the greatest press conference of all time (highlight at 2:25): [Click headline for more…] Read more
You could pretty much count on one hand (with fingers missing) the number of local atheist groups that have their own building. But the Atheist Community of Austin just joined that elite group with their new stand-alone Freethought Library: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Regis Catholic Schools (in Eau Claire, Wisconsin) has been searching for a new president. But it won’t be Tim Nelson, as the parochial-school organization originally announced; they’ve withdrawn their announcement from early April that he was the best candidate for the job. Nelson is hopping mad, and claims that decision is based on erroneous information about his sexual orientation. He says the organization approached him with misgivings about a name connected with him in his father’s obituary — almost the same way another Catholic school discovered that Carla Hale was a lesbian. Nelson insists the name, which was in parentheses next to his, belonged to a close family friend who is his roommate and prayer companion, but not his partner or lover. The format of the obituary may have misleadingly implied a romantic relationship, but Nelson pleads ignorance of obituary-writing etiquette. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Eugenie Scott, the tireless Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, has announced her retirement after 26 years with the organization: [Click headline for more…] Read more
