The latest nomination for the 2013 Craziest-Thing-Said-By-A-Catholic-Priest Award comes all the way from South Africa. Step forward Wilfrid Fox (Cardinal) Napier, Archbishop of Durban. Napier was giving an interview as part of the Stephen Nolan program on BBC Radio 5 live when he referred to pedophilia as “a psychological condition, a disorder.” Read more
This week, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio became the first sitting Republican senator ever to publicly support marriage equality. He says he had a change of heart after his 21-year-old son Will came out as gay two years ago, an explanation some have praised and others have criticized. A high-profile Republican who worked with President George W. Bush and was hailed as a potential Vice-Presidential pick for Mitt Romney, Portman once voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), for a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality, and against letting same-sex couples adopt kids in Washington, D.C. But after consulting Dick Cheney, who has a lesbian daughter and is a vocal proponent of marriage equality, he knew it was time to change… Read more
Eight current and former prisoners in British Columbia, Canada are suing the federal government (PDF) because their rights are being violated. The problem is that the government recently laid off 49 part-time chaplains… including all the ones who represented non-Christian beliefs: Read more
This pro-abstinence video is kind of like the Reason Rally… minus everything that was awesome about the Reason Rally: Read more
I posted recently about Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers. He served for 38 years starting in 1970, making him the longest-serving senator in the state’s history, until he was term-limited out in 2008. When he was eligible to run again last november, he ran and won handily. Chambers is one of the few non-theistic, high-ranking politicians in the country. He’s also African-American and a powerhouse legislator. Recently, the legislature held hearings on three bills that would affect LGBT residents: LB380, LB485, and LB385, which deal with things like prohibiting discrimination and allowing unmarried couples (including gay ones) to adopt children. As you might imagine, Christian groups want to be able to discriminate against gays and lesbians and they certainly don’t want them to be able to adopt children. Chambers was a voice of reason (and hilarity) no matters who delivered testimony against the bills… Read more
A couple of nights ago, I appeared on HuffPost Live with my friends Jason Torpy and John Figdor to talk about the role of atheist chaplains at schools and in the military. The segment starts about a minute in: Conclusion: Humanist Chaplains are awesome, even if you’re not a fan of the “C” word. Read more
Daniel is back with another montage of some of the awful things done in the name of God over the past month: (via ConversationWithA) Read more
A couple of weeks ago, the Laurel Leader-Call in Mississippi ran a front page story celebrating the first-ever gay wedding ceremony in the area (even if the marriage was not legally recognized): There’s some sad news to report: The couple in the picture were Jessica Powell and Crystal Craven and, on Monday, Craven died from a brain tumor. She was only 34… Read more
The more we hear about Pastor Jack Schaap, the worse his story gets. First, it was an extra-marital affair. Then, it was an extra-marital affair with a teenager. Now, we learn, it was an extra-marital affair with a teenager that was approved by Jesus Christ: Read more
