Bruce Gleason of the Backyard Skeptics has found that when he wears atheist-themed shirts in public, far from what we might expect, he gets far more positive reactions than negatives ones: Read more
Last month, the Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious group on microlending website Kiva hit a major milestone, having loaned out over $10,000,000. Now, they’re about to hit another milestone: Read more
For a while, there was hope. Catholics and concerned non-believers alike wondered if perhaps this Pope, who showed signs of humility that were missing in his predecessor and who spoke about refreshing and renewing the institution, would take decisive action on the international epidemic of Catholic officials shielding child-abuser priests. After all, this was no Cardinal Dolan, who paid abusers to voluntarily leave their positions, nor a Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga who said he would rather go to jail himself than allow the authorities to investigate accused priests. Read more
Remember learning FOIL in Algebra? Ask any post-Algebra math teacher what they think about FOIL and they’ll begin foaming at the mouth. It’s an annoying-at-best mnemonic because it only works for one specific kind of problem… and when the problems get more challenging, FOIL no longer applies (and students don’t know what to do). The lesson here is simple: Catch phrases or clever sayings can be helpful, but they don’t replace actual, conceptual understanding. (I use them as infrequently as possible in my own teaching now.) Ken Ham hasn’t figured that out yet. In fact, he’s proud of himself for indoctrinating children using Creation-specific catch phrases: Read more
Alix Jules is one of those atheists whose resume of leadership positions is long. He’s the director of the Fellowship of Freethought in Dallas, Chair of the Dallas–Fort Worth Coalition of Reason Diversity Council, and President of the Black Nonbelievers of Dallas. At a recent gathering for Houston Oasis, Jules spoke about “religion in the black community and the history of black freethinkers in the secular movement.” Incredibly important topic and he’s an ideal person to deliver a talk on it: Read more
I’ve said on this site and in public talks that my job as a math teacher is relatively easy compared to science teachers. No parent ever calls me up to complain about the truth of the Quadratic Formula. No students are challenging me on the Pythagorean Theorem. But science teachers who actually know what they’re doing have to put up with arguments from the ignorant. They deal with students and parents who are, simply put, anti-science — people who oppose science because they see it conflicting with their religious beliefs… Read more
Crispian Jago, as he always does, offers this fantastic visual: I’ve never seen a more perfect Venn Diagram center. Read more
When I was on the board of the Secular Student Alliance, one of my fellow board members was Neil Polzin. Great guy, great activist. He got married in 2011 and everything appeared to be going pretty well for them. But earlier this month, his wife Lauren was a victim of a tragic explosion at her workplace… Read more
