The Freedom From Religion Foundation just put up this billboard in Lubbock, Texas: That billboard will be up for six months and the story behind why it’s up there is great: The billboard reads: “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute — John F. Kennedy.” The billboard quotes JFK’s famous speech as a presidential candidate before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on Sept. 12, 1960. “The deterioration of respect for this constitutional principle… Read more
I thought we heard the last of John Freshwater, the Creationist middle school teacher who branded his students with a cross, after he got fired and his appeal was rejected last November. But his lawyers filed another appeal and the Ohio Supreme Court has elected to hear it. Freshwater openly admitted to teaching Creationism in his Science classes and the Court may give him the opportunity to do it again: “This Court must intervene if students and teachers in America’s… Read more
The Atheist Alliance of America is holding its annual conference on Labor Day Weekend (Aug. 31st – Sep. 3rd) in Denver and they just put up this nifty-looking billboard to promote it: I love that it’s promoting the family-friendly aspect of the conference (with free child care for kids 5 and under and Camp Quest for kids 6 and older). About damn time that’s a selling point for a conference. Registration is still open, the speaker list is here, and… Read more
More on the American Atheists’ banner here and here. (via iCNN — The great picture was taken by @JoyfulGypsy) Read more
(This is a repost since the original article didn’t post correctly!) Scientists are thrilled about the Higgs boson. But many of them are sick of that term “The God Particle.” Sarah Pulliam Bailey summarizes the history of the term and how scientists (including Peter Higgs) aren’t fans of the misleading term. The best big involves physicist Leon Lederman, who wrote in his book of the same name that he intended to call it “The Goddamn Particle” but wasn’t allowed to:… Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I posted an update to the story of Sanal Edamaruku, head of the Indian based Rationalist International, who has been forced into hiding in Finland. In case you forgot, Sanal had debunked a supposed “miracle” at a Catholic church in Mumbai and faced arrest for “deliberately hurting religious feelings.” Sanal has said repeatedly that he would welcome being charged and put on trial as it would be a chance to put some of his accusers and… Read more
The skyline looks lovely (click to enlarge): More information on the American Atheists’ banner is here 🙂 (Thanks to Brent for the picture!) Read more
Reader Myra sent along this church sign she saw in her area: But what does it mean…? Is Facebook screwed in the afterlife? Is it a list of three things that don’t exist? Friendster’s gotta be in hell, right? Her daughter offered this insightful suggestion: “Those idiots probably just got burned by Facebook’s IPO and think Zuckerberg made a deal with their devil.” Makes sense 🙂 Read more
I’m a broken record on this topic, but why not have another go at it. The way the Christian church treats the LGBT community is both a blessing and a curse for atheists. We know why it’s bad for LGBT people — that’s pretty obvious — and I don’t want them to have to go through all that misery. The upshot to it is that the church’s shameless bigotry when it comes to the issue of homosexuality pushes a lot… Read more
Whoever created this Facebook Event is a genius. An evil, dangerous, you’re-gonna-get-us-all-killed-you-brilliant-bastard kind of genius. Can Darwin Awards be given out en masse? I’m sure there will be a huge ceremony the next day 🙂 Let’s hope everyone is an organ donor, too. Read more
