Graffiti seen at Western Carolina University: The person who originally put the flyer up took it down after seeing the graffiti. I would’ve suggested otherwise. Leave it up there. Let people see “Christian Love” in action. Then, put up a sign next to it with an arrow pointing to the first sign, reading “This is why we need the atheist group” (or something along those lines). Hopefully, no one considers retaliating against any of the Christian groups’ posters. Because we… Read more
Peter McGrath of The Guardian says American atheism is headed for a schism because of the handling of Atheism+: The founders of Atheism+ say clearly that “divisiveness” is not their aim, but looking through the blogs and voluminous comments in the two weeks since A+ was mooted, trenches have been dug, beliefs stated, positions staked out and abuse thrown. A dissenting tweeter is “full of shit”, while, according to one supporter, daring to disagree with Atheism+’s definition of progressive issues… Read more
There’s an article in today’s New York Times by Colleen Oakley that’s supposed to be cute and lovey-dovey… yet it made me angrier the more I read. Here’s the summary: She’s not religious. Her husband is. She never knew that until they were planning their wedding and he asked that the Lord’s Prayer be included in the ceremony: “Is the Lord’s Prayer really necessary?” I asked Fred. “Yeah,” he said, in his quiet way. “It’s important to me.” … “So… Read more
There’s an ongoing battle going on in Huntsville, Alabama because a JROTC instructor at Grissom High School, Sgt. Lynn Vanzandt, was preaching to students in the classroom: Here’s what went down back in April, according to James Robinson, executive director of GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services: Robinson said the incident began with a simple conversation between two freshman girls. “The students were having a conversation, like students have, and one of them said she someday wanted to live in San… Read more
Socially liberal Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini could have been Pope (he was passed over for Joseph Ratzinger). He died a couple of days ago and his final interview was a well-deserved condemnation of Catholic Church practices: “Our culture has aged, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up; our rituals and our cassocks are pompous”… “The church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the pope and the bishops,” he said in… Read more
This falls under the category of “Things Christians Do That Atheists Need to Copy.” In Hampden, Maine, the Community Church of the Open Door held a garage sale… but instead of selling off goods, they just gave everything away to members of the community. Consider it a gesture of goodwill: Hundreds of items, donated by church and community members, disappeared fast during the free yard sale. “We started at 9 [a.m.] and we’re pretty much down to nothing and it’s… Read more
Leo Igwe is one of the good guys. He lives in Nigeria and he’s studying the “witch camps” of Northern Ghana. Basically, women who are accused of being witches are expelled from their villages — and if they’re not lynched, they may end up in these camps. But how do these camps operate? How are they administered? How did they come about? And how do the accused end up in them? There’s no good answer to these questions. So Leo… Read more
David Hayward (a.k.a. nakedpastor) uses the saying “There are no atheists in foxholes” to point out a metaphorical truth: … I’ve seen and personally experienced people under extreme threat who realize their faith has totally evaporated. I’m convinced that we need to get in touch with our atheism, our unbelief. Is there a separate “Deity” out there? Is there a Divine Interventionist? If asked if I’m a deist or a theist, I say not really. If I’m asked if I’m… Read more
