Turns out there are many ways to do it: Other reasons can be found here 🙂 It makes me wonder: When it comes to following any sort of religious dogma, is there any way for it to not suck? Anytime your reasoning refers back to “But this book said so,” you’ve lost the argument. Read more
This is beautiful to watch. At Brave New Voices 2012 (you might have seen the competition on HBO), there was a powerful poem about Pat Robertson… I’ve attempted to transcribe the video below (feel free to correct me), but you need to watch the video for the full effect: The following begins with a quote. “God allowed Hurricane Katrina as retribution for the shedding of innocent blood and legalized abortion.” — Televangelist and religious personality Pat Robertson. Dear Mr. Robertson,… Read more
This is big: The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just ruled that a Wisconsin school district violated the First Amendment when it held its graduation ceremonies in a church. The backstory: Elmbrook School District in Brookfield, Wisconsin held its graduation ceremonies at Elmbrook Church (an evangelical, non-denominational Christian church) from 2000 to 2009. That’s not necessarily a Constitutional violation — sometimes, it’s the only available space in a community large enough to fit a lot of people… but that… Read more
Last week, as I’m sure you well know, the CEO of Chick-Fil-A, Dan Cathy, came out against gay marriage. Of course, that led to lots of backlash… and lots of Photoshop jobs like this: So they should be losing some business. (Not mine, seeing as I never went there.) Maybe this is my most controversial thing I will ever say on this site, but I think Chick-Fil-A is entirely overrated, and no matter how many of my Southern friends tell me differently, I… Read more
Earlier today, the NCAA issued penalties against Penn State University… what caught my eye was this comment: Instead, [NCAA president Mark] Emmert and NCAA executive committee chairman Dr. Edward J. Ray called for an immediate end to hero worship, the kind that led men in positions of authority to step out of Paterno’s way and comply to his wishes at the risk or innocent children. Watching people complain about Joe Paterno’s statue being taken down over the weekend, I was… Read more
Last week, I mentioned that the University of Louisiana at Lafayette was the first school in the state to offer an LGBT minor — and a Catholic Bishop was complaining about it. Turns out that’s only the beginning of the story. You also have the Louisiana Family Forum — you know they’re Christian because only Christians are allowed to have families — freaking out for all the wrong reasons, as Walter Pierce explains: Louisiana Family Forum, of course, got its… Read more
With all the legal problems city councils are having over their invocation prayers, the Knox County Commission in Tennessee is taking a step today… in the wrong direction: They’re putting their invocation policy in writing so that it’ll be officially approved. Knox County Commission Chairman Mike Hammond said now is a good time to “reaffirm (the county’s) policy” although “this is something we’ve been doing for years.” Commission Vice Chairman Brad Anders agreed. “The only thing this does is set… Read more
So there are two things right in front of my apartment building in Chicago that make me sigh/chuckle. The most prominent of the two is this sign: It is literally directly across from my bedroom window. (Do you think they know that my boyfriend and I are living there together in sin?!) Yes, it’s kind of a total bummer, but there is one thing I am eternally grateful for: If you look closely, you can see a couple holes on each… Read more
(Click image to enlarge) In my head, the pig sounds like Brian from Family Guy. (via The Atheist Pig) Read more
Because that seems to be the assumption Greg Zanis was making when he put 12 crosses up on behalf of the victims of the shooting in Colorado: “These crosses are [for] them,” Zanis said of the families. “We love them. We are not going to pretend we know what you are going through, but we wanted to represent your children.” … Zanis used to run an organization called Crosses for Losses, but it was unclear whether that was still in… Read more
