I shouldn’t have read this right before taking part in a panel discussion. It’s a depressing and powerful take on what it was like to see a mass of Christians stuffing their faces with Chick-fil-A to oppose gay rights… written by a gay man who has had to deal with enough shit in his life: When they say, “Gay people picked this fight”, they say that it is alright for Dan Cathy to espousing bigotry and pay to have gay… Read more
Seen at PostSecret: I believe everything the card says, and yet, being Mormon seems much more acceptable in society — hell, we have someone who could be president despite it. Plus, while religious groups are slowly becoming more accepting of gay people (not necessarily by choice), the LGBT community has good reason to shun religious groups because of their past/current behavior. The funny thing is you could replace the word “Mormon” in the postcard with “atheist” and it would still… Read more
Ian Murphy wrote an article for Alternet about “The 5 Most Awful Atheists.” Here’s a summary of his list: Sam Harris: He thinks religious profiling might have merit and defends torture in some instances. Bill Maher: He’s misogynistic, condescending, and anti-flu-shots. Penn Jillette: He’s a libertarian. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: She’s practices “neoconservative lunacy” and is excessively anti-Islam. S.E. Cupp: She’s a self-loathing atheist I’ll give him S.E. Cupp. When it comes to atheism, she’s pretty embarrassing, talking about how she… Read more
Ted Cox put together a checklist for Secular Student Alliance groups that invite speakers to their school (but the list applies to any group, really). As someone who’s been to places where some of these items were, um, not followed, I agree wholeheartedly: 6) Pick the right room. Sure, we speakers would love to address an auditorium packed with hundreds of bodies. But, realistically, it’s hard to fill those big lecture halls where you used to doze off during biology… Read more
Joanne Hanks used to be a Mormon as well as one of many wives serving her husband. But she got the hell out of that lifestyle. (Hallelujah!) She tells her story in a new book called “It’s Not About the Sex” My Ass. The first chapter (with possibly NSFW depictions) is below, as is your chance to win a free copy of the book! Unbuttoning my blouse, I stepped into the bedroom. I heard him moan with anticipation. I dropped… Read more
I’m gonna save the Templeton Foundation and Professor John Martin Fischer a lot of time and money: There’s no evidence of an afterlife and no amount of research is going to change that. They won’t listen to me, of course, which is why Fischer just received a $5,000,000 grant (over three years) to study the afterlife: Anecdotal reports of glimpses of an afterlife abound, but there has been no comprehensive and rigorous, scientific study of global reports about near-death and… Read more
Adam Smith, the man who made news late this week for going through a Chick-fil-A drive-thru and chewing out the employee who gave him free water for working for a company owned by a bigot, has just released a video statement of his own. In it, he apologizes to Rachel, the person who served him. (Apparently, he apologized to her in person the next day but she, understandably, didn’t want to speak to him.) He also talks about how his… Read more
The school officials in Jamestown, Tennessee have a problem. Actually, they *had* a problem. Then they fixed the problem. Then they decided they didn’t like the solution so they screwed everything up again. I’ll back up. Pine Haven Elementary school used to display the Ten Commandments everywhere: “As far as I know, there was one in every classroom,” said the school’s custodian, Michell Waters. “They were in the hallways, so they were throughout the whole school.” Seemed like a good… Read more
I’m in a hotel with incredibly slow wi-fi so I can’t see the video for myself, but apparently, the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer is gleeful over the fact that Adam Smith lost his job after berating a Chick-fil-A employee the other day (the relevant part seems to begin around the 6:00 mark): If you hear any interesting parts, leave the timestamp and a summary in the comments! Read more
The Religious Right is just *begging* for the IRS to come after them. They want churches to become involved with politics. They want pastors to tell their congregations to vote for certain candidates. They want churches getting involved with political issues. It’s not subtle or under-the-radar either: Liberty Counsel is distributing over 100,000 copies of “Silence is Not an Option,” a DVD and printed material set informing pastors and churches about what is permissible regarding political and advocacy activity. “The… Read more
