portadosfundos, a Brazilian comedy group on YouTube, recently released a sketch about a Catholic woman who dies and discovers she was wrong about God. In less than a week, it’s racked up over 2,000,000 views. Watch it (with subtitles) and see why: Read more
Three weeks ago, Florida Atlantic University student Ryan Rotela was suspended from his Intercultural Communication class for refusing to step on a piece of paper with the word “Jesus” on it. It’s sort of an odd story, so we’re going to go through it and try to get to the bottom of what really happened. According to Rotela himself, this is how the story went down: His professor, Dr. Deandre Poole, asked all of the students to take out a piece of paper and write “JESUS” in big letters. Poole then asked the students to put the paper on the floor and stomp on it. [More…] Read more
It’s not easy being an atheist blogger in Bangladesh. Last month, we heard that riots occurred there over things written on the Internet (where, apparently, you can only say things in support of Muhammad). The bloggers were subject to calls for their execution for having blasphemed online. One blogger was, in fact, brutally killed for what he wrote. And now the government is finally taking action. By siding with the Muslim extremists… Read more
As far as book reviews go, I have to admit: this one really captures the essence of its subject: Read more
One year ago, for the first time in her life, Teresa MacBain told the assembled crowd at the American Atheists Convention that she didn’t believe in God… and this is what happened: I didn’t know anything at all about you [atheists]. I had never seen your faces. You were just “those people.” And I was the one on the right track. And you were the ones that were gonna burn in hell… and I’m happy to say as I stand before you right now, I’m gonna burn with you! Teresa founded the Clergy Project (for other pastors who were questioning faith or had secretly become atheists), later became the Public Relations Director for American Atheists, and now serves as the executive director of the Humanists of Florida Association. Quite a run for an ex-pastor. [More…] Read more
The state of the black church is still strong, but a sizable percentage of African-Americans are losing their faith — the most recent count (PDF) by the Pew Research Center in 2012 put the number at 15% unaffiliated: Jeff Kunerth of the Orlando Sentinel spoke to members of a local black atheist group to find out what their experiences were like: Read more
We talk about the importance of reaching out to minority atheists all the time, but more often than not, “minority” as we use it just means “black.” Latino atheists are usually ignored in that context. WBEZ’s Aurora Aguilar spoke with some Latino atheists in Chicago about their transitions into atheism and what they’re searching for: Read more
… so Christian pastors who oppose equality will just have to learn how to deal (with their shrinking congregations, loss of power, having to bear the cross of “bigot,” fighting a losing battle, etc.): [More…] Read more
This is quite the headline from the Church of England! Wow! Four out of five people believe in the power of prayer! Remarkably high belief in the supernatural at a time you’d expect otherwise… Surely the raw data (PDF) back up this claim, right?! Of course not. [More…] Read more
Today marks the release of philosopher AC Grayling’s latest book The God Argument: The Case against Religion and for Humanism: Grayling is also the author of The Good Book: A Humanist Bible. He’ll be one of the keynote speakers at the American Atheists convention in Austin, Texas this weekend. Read more
