I’ll update this page as more statements come out. The Secular Coalition for America: “While we disagree with the Family Research Council on nearly every issue, the debate surrounding the role of religion in the public sphere should be fought with reason and logic, not guns,” said Edwina Rogers, Executive Director. “We absolutely condemn this sort of senseless violence.” Rogers said that the thoughts of the Secular Coalition are with the security guard who was shot. The organization wishes him… Read more
The Atheist Portal at Patheos just added a couple of new blogs to our roster! We now have two former Quiverfull women (Libby Anne and Melissa), Christian apologist rebuttalist Bob Seidensticker, collector of all things unreasonable Daniel, and Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein. Check them out! And then everyone go yell at Greg for not posting enough. Read more
At the headquarters of the anti-gay Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., a security guard was shot in the arm Wednesday morning by a man posing as an intern. According to media reports of the incident, the shooter walked into the lobby of the building and was confronted by the guard. He opened fire on the guard, who tackled him to the ground, disarmed him, and waited for police. The shooter, suspected to be 28-year-old Floyd Lee Corkins II, was taken into custody…. Read more
The atheists in Minnesota are vocal and proud and a bunch of them just released a collection of their thoughts called Atheist Voices of Minnesota: An Anthology of Personal Stories: Greta Christina wrote the foreword, which you can read in full here: What’s more, coming out has a snowball effect. When we come out as atheist, other people will feel safer coming out. And they’ll make the next wave of people feel safer. And so on, and so on, and… Read more
Back in January, FFRF sued Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to stop her from holding another Day of Prayer (PDF). The problem with suing on principle — “It’s unconstitutional” — is that courts don’t always care. They want to know if you’ve been injured in some way. That’s why it’s so hard to get “Under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance — you need a child who’s felt wronged for having said it or punished for not saying it. You can… Read more
We’ve seen plenty of examples in America of faith-healing parents who refuse to take their children to the hospital because they think their prayers will fix the problems instead. It’s awful, it’s unthinkable that these parents don’t trust science in this day and age, but it still happens. Somehow, doctors in the UK just found something potentially worse: Parents who let their kids suffer indefinitely instead of taking them off life support because they’re waiting for a “miracle” to happen…. Read more
We have the Redditors… and the bloggers… and the vloggers… can’t forget the feminists and the misogynists… and the FtB-ers, who are subdivided into… My head hurts. (via XKCD) Read more
The excellent education writer Dana Goldstein wrote a review of a new book about a journalist who spent time at John H. Reagan High School in Austin, Texas — a “failing” school. The book is called Saving the School: The True Story of a Principal, a Teacher, a Coach, a Bunch of Kids and a Year in the Crosshairs of Education Reform by Michael Brick: One of the people featured in the book is Candice, a Chemistry teacher who is… Read more
