By now, most of you are undoubtedly aware of the death of Sun Myung Moon, founder and namesake of the “Moonies” religion, more properly named the Unification Church. I, like possibly many of you, had remained largely ignorant of the actual beliefs and practices of the Moonies. I mostly knew of them thanks to their famous mass weddings. The Moonies believe that the only way to get to Heaven is through the creation of “sinless marriage,” which can only happen… Read more
More background on the revision to the 2012 Democratic platform is here: Atheist groups are weighing on the decision to put “God” back into the Democratic Party’s platform: American Atheists: David Silverman, President of American Atheists said, “I am shocked that the Democratic Party caved in to the pressure they were receiving because of their choice to use inclusive language in their platform.” Silverman continues, “This decision makes the Democratic Party look less like the ‘party of all people’ and… Read more
Who needs a giggle? Behold! [Opens with sad piano music] Man: Hey honey! How are ya? Woman: Fine. I guess. Man: What’s going on? Woman: Well, Obama is trying to force gay marriage on this country. That’s not the change I voted for. Marriage is between a man and a woman. Man: That’s not the change I voted for either. Woman: What can we do? [Sudden weirdly upbeat music] Man: We can vote for someone with values. The emotionally manipulative music! The… Read more
Late Monday night, the Democratic Party released its platform. While it was great to see the inclusion of marriage equality, it was annoying to see how much faith was promoted: Faith. Faith has always been a central part of the American story, and it has been a driving force of progress and justice throughout our history. We know that our nation, our communities, and our lives are made vastly stronger and richer by faith and the countless acts of justice… Read more
The Frederick News-Post has a great article featuring Heatherly Hodges, the coordinator of the Frederick Secular Humanists (FRESH), and David Tamayo, founder and president of the Hispanic American Freethinkers: A social worker in Frederick, Hodges said she’s also trying to add a social and community outreach component to the group meetings. “My social work is important to me as much as atheism is,” she said. “All of that’s because I have faith in other people, in human beings, and what… Read more
Over the weekend, I was in Denver for the Atheist Alliance of America conference and Eugenie Scott, the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, was awarded with the (well-deserved) 2012 Richard Dawkins Award. While her speech isn’t yet available online, Dawkins’ introduction is: Dawkins points out, kindly, that she’s too soft on religion even if she’s not religious herself (“She respects religion in a way that I do not”), but admits there are strategic reasons for taking… Read more
Pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona doesn’t think there’s any difference between nudity and pornography. If there’s a naked body in sight, it must be for the purpose of titillation and we must keep it away from the children. His next target: National Geographic magazine. Or, as he refers to it, National Pornographic. It’s so pornical, the depraved kids treat the naked pictures in it like Playboy centerfolds: Someone keep Anderson away from the… Read more
Dear Seven-year-old Me, Don’t get older. Because the people you thought were cool also get older and, invariably, crazier. Walker, Texas Ranger hates gay people. Mike Seaver hates science (and also gay people). And Victoria Jackson is not only certifiably insane but the worst kind of vicious. You will never ride in a car with her and Toonces the Driving Cat with Phil Hartman narrating (Phil Hartman is a whole other heartbreak). NEVER! Love, Adult Me … Ugh, Victoria Jackson. The hours… Read more
The Tallahassee Coalition of Reason in Florida just put up two billboards to reach out to atheists who may not know there are others like them in the area: The billboards will be up through the beginning of spring at a cost of $6,100: “The point of our ongoing nationwide awareness campaign is to reach out to the millions of atheists and agnostics living in the United States,” explained Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason. “Such… Read more
The Black Atheists of America are on a quest to provide science equipment to ten underfunded schools. It’s all part of a program they call Science Cubed: Our Science Cubed program is geared toward providing equal access to scientific education for all high school students. We donate supplies to schools in an attempt to improve science programs across the nation. Our goal is to enhance scientific understanding and to foster critical thinking by providing teachers with the necessary tools to… Read more
