As I write this, the Secular Student Alliance, Camp Quest, and Foundation Beyond Belief are all within striking distance of *major* money courtesy of the Chase Community Giving Program. I’ve voted 5 times so I’m maxed out. Now, we need your help! I posted this before, but here are the major parts: Voting runs until September 19th. The top 46 charities are assured $50,000 or more. (Foundation Beyond Belief is *so* close to that position…) How can you help? If… Read more
There are very few bloggers whose posts I never skip and Josh Fruhlinger (The Comics Curmudgeon) is one of them. Yesterday, he tackled a “Dennis the Menace” strip with his own commentary: It appears that a shifty-eyed Dennis the Menace has decided on a new tactic in his war against society’s strictures: hard-line Calvinist theology. Isn’t the omnipotent God, who created the universe and predetermined our very ends before time began, the real menace here? We are all sinners. Dennis… Read more
The Freedom From Religion Foundation only sends complaint letters to groups violating church/state separation if someone contacts them about it. In other words, they don’t seek out random challenges. Recently, students from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga informed FFRF about public prayers that took place at football games. To their credit, UTC officials said earlier this week they would put a stop to that practice. On Thursday, I pointed out that the University of Tennessee, Knoxville suffers from the… Read more
Back in June, a Ku Klux Klan chapter in Union County, Georgia wanted to Adopt-a-Highway. (Let that sink in for a moment… Irrational hatred of black people? They’re fine with it. Litter on the side of the road? NEVER!) The Georgia Department of Transportation said no to them. And that led to a lot of speculation over possible lawsuits… was this discrimination? Did the government have a right to deny a hate group from doing something that’s actually really good for… Read more
Richard Wade here. The overall I.Q. at Patheos blogs just got significantly higher, and the atheist channel is the immediate beneficiary of that additional brainpower. Dan Fincke (pronounced “fink-eh”) is bringing his blog Camels With Hammers from FreeThought Blogs to Patheos. For the last few years it has been my esteemed privilege and honor to call Dan, and be called by him, “friend.” This is a term that I never use lightly. Now it is my great pleasure to welcome… Read more
The image may be NSFW, but this Onion article explains it in detail: Following the publication of the image above, in which the most cherished figures from multiple religious faiths were depicted engaging in a lascivious sex act of considerable depravity, no one was murdered, beaten, or had their lives threatened, sources reported Thursday… … Though some members of the Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths were reportedly offended by the image, sources confirmed that upon seeing it, they simply… Read more
Earlier this week, the Dalai Lama posted a status update on Facebook that turned some heads: All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether. The… Read more
