The game featuring the Mr. Paul Aints minor league baseball team took place tonight. At the moment, they’re losing 2-0… so, um, say your prayers! American Atheists’ Dave Silverman threw out the first pitch. From what I hear, the ball *almost* made it to the plate. Guess he should stick to his day job 🙂 Read more
We know there are a number of states that forbid atheists from running for public office. Those laws are unenforceable, but sometimes, pointing them out is a way to show people what atheists have had to overcome in the past several decades. The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers raised awareness of their own state Constitution’s “No atheists in public office” clause and it’s getting people talking: The law states that “no person who denies the being of a God shall hold… Read more
Note: Edward has two earlier YouTube videos about his outreach to Mormons — and their outreach to him 🙂 You can watch those two videos here and here. Read more
The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer tweeted this the other day: This seems like an appropriate response: Read more
If you’ve ever visited the Creation Museum (as I have… twice… WTF?), then you no doubt remember the Hallway of Doom. This is the dark hallway with creepy red lighting and disturbing background noise… and a collage of magazine articles on the wall explaining what happens when God’s out of the picture and everyone is sinning because they’re having pre-marital sex and (*gasp*) learning about evolution: Well, the Museum just got an update and Ken Ham is very excited about… Read more
A new global survey on religiosity (PDF) by WIN-Gallup International has two big findings: First, the United States has gone from being 1% godless in 2005 to 5% in 2012. (The percentage of people simply calling themselves non-religious is 30%, significantly higher than ever before.) That jumps us up quite a bit on the Global Atheism Index: The other finding is that atheists are now 13% of the world population, an increase of 9% since 2005: … the number of… Read more
A few weeks ago, I talked about burnout over at Teen Skepchick, where I also contribute. It got reposted a few times, I saw some discussion on Facebook and Twitter about the toll activism can take on people. But, you know? I don’t think I’ve been having it so hard. Natalie Reed, a contributor to Freethought Blogs, uses a pseudonym but is in danger of losing her anonymity, with potentially life-and-livelihood-threatening consequences. Around midnight last night, she published this (and… Read more
The North American Mission Board — a Southern Baptist group hell-bent on converting everyone — says the best way to reach out to the Sikh community following Sunday’s temple shooting is by getting them to drop their faith and adopt Christianity: “We have an opportunity now to turn this very sad situation into a life-changing encounter with the Gospel for Sikhs throughout North America,” [national coordinator for Muslim people groups and South Asians, Aslam] Masih said. (Wait… Southern Baptists have… Read more
When I finally realized that I was an atheist, after months and months of reading, listening to lectures and debates, and countless conversations, I had never felt more relieved or liberated. Arriving at atheism was the “rebirth” of my mind that Christianity had always failed to deliver; for the first time in my life, I realized that the absence of a divine plan meant that I was completely in control. Every action I took, every decision I made was suddenly… Read more
