If you open up today’s Washington Post, you will see this lovely ad (click to enlarge): [Click headline for more…] Read more
Lincoln County High School in Kentucky is one of those schools where administrators, knowing that the majority of students are Christian, let students vote on whether or not they want a prayer during their graduation ceremony. Guess what? They usually want one. This year, though, six students decided they didn’t want to put up with it, so they spoke to their principal about the potential constitutional violation at hand and got the policy changed: [Click headline for more…] Read more
Imad Eddin Habib of Morocco is no shrinking violet. At 22, he is a very outspoken and active atheist who seems to delight in ruffling feathers by the mere mention of his nonbelief. On Facebook, he posted a smiling photo of himself holding a sign that reads: In my country people are jailed and harassed for being atheist. This photo may cost my life, or my freedom. But I insist to tell you: I AM PROUD TO BE AN ATHEIST! [Click headline for more…] Read more
Scott Burdick, the filmmaker behind In God We Trust and Sophia Investigates The Good News Club, has released his latest movie on YouTube. And you’re going to want to watch the whole damn thing. The March of Reason features a *lot* of familiar names from our movement talking about atheism, morality, the religious targeting of children, evolution, church/state separation, ridiculing faith, and so much more. It all revolves around the Reason Rally and the people and protesters who attended it (there’s fantastic backstage footage, too). [Click headline for more…] Read more
Happy National Masturbation Month. As if you heathens don’t already celebrate year-round… (via Joe. My. God.) Read more
On the National Day of Prayer this Thursday, one Humanistic Jewish group in Chicago is asking their congregation to do something a little different: “Prayer may be wishing for change, but action makes it happen,” says Rabbi Adam Chalom. “We’re taking this opportunity on May 2 to change the world for the better by choosing to ACT.” Kol Hadash is inviting everyone in the community to participate and to celebrate your good deeds. No matter how big or small, let us know how you are choosing to ACT to make a difference. Post a picture on Kol Hadash’s Facebook page, or Tweet your good deed on Twitter with #choosetoACT and tell us how you helped another. Sharing your actions can inspire others to take action too! [Click headline for more…] Read more
I saw this at the Christian Post earlier this afternoon: The Pentagon has hired a Jewish activist who has been outspoken in his opposition to conservative Christianity to serve as a consultant and develop new policies on religious tolerance. Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, has spoken out against a number of conservative Christian groups, calling them “Fundamentalist Christian Monsters.” What?! Mikey’s been hired by the Pentagon? No way! [Click headline for more…] Read more
Tomorrow, a coalition of atheist and secularist groups will hold (mostly) coordinated protests on behalf of the jailed atheist bloggers in Bangladesh. My employer, the Center for Inquiry, is among those leading the effort. I’m writing so that I can convince you to attend one, if you’re near enough to do so, and to share the fact of the protests with everyone in your social networks. Why? Because, yeah, it’s about the bloggers, but it’s not just about the bloggers. Atheists in the U.S., in Canada, in Western Europe — we are by no means everyone’s favorite ideological/”religious” minority. But we, for the most part, enjoy the same liberties and freedoms that everyone else does in our respective countries. Folks might complain about us, write pointed op-eds, rail against our evil secularist incursion into government, or troll us with angry comments and blog posts (oh wait, that last one we do to each other), but we’re okay. We’re still at it. We’re, for the most part, safe. The fellas in Bangladesh, they do what we do, they think similarly to the way we think, and they’re in jail because of it. More who are like them have been threatened with arrest. A newspaper editor who has been an opponent of the government’s was arrested, and they cited his reprinting of quotes from the bloggers as one of his crimes. [Click headline for more…] Read more
Yesterday, the Washington Post’s On Faith section published an article I wrote about how atheists exclusion occurs in the unlikeliest of places, from the memorial for the Boston Bombing victims to the revamped Boy Scouts of America. Even the “Atheist Church” isn’t immune from prejudiced thinking: In all of these instances, kind, well-intentioned atheists were excluded on the basis of their beliefs, by people who often claim their faith makes them more moral, more noble, and more generous than those who don’t possess it. Indeed, we are finding that faith is not a virtue. If it were, you would not see atheists being banned from an interfaith (or, to phrase it more accurately, interthought) event meant to honor people of all backgrounds and beliefs. You would not see atheists kicked out of the Boy Scouts of America when scouting organizations around the world (not to mention the Girl Scouts of the USA) have accepted atheists in their ranks without a problem. And I doubt you would see church groups renege on their contract at the last second if they were dealing with another religious group. You can read the entire piece here. Please comment there if you have anything to say! Read more
Scott Stantis, a conservative cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune, drew this in response to Jason Collins’ coming out: The idea, of course, is that the media is celebrating Collins for telling the world he’s gay, while they were mostly annoyed by Tim Tebow for telling the world he’s Christian. If that sentence seems weird to you, that’s because the cartoon makes no sense. [Click headline for more…] Read more