We know churches are tax-exempt. To the tune of $71,000,000,000 nationally. That exemption is contingent in part on the fact that they stay out of politics. They’re not allowed to endorse candidates. So what happens when a pastor tells his congregation to vote for Mitt Romney? What happens when many, many, many pastors do it all at once? That’s what’s been happening for years now as part of “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” (taking place this year on October 7th): Pastor Jim… Read more
Fear-based education is unethical. It might even be child abuse. Scaring children into good behavior relies on lower-order reward and punishment mechanisms instead of emphasizing the intrinsic benefits of acting appropriately. Humanists know that educators should put reasonable restrictions on the way they teach difficult concepts to children. These restrictions don’t seem to be in effect in one Beit Yaakov (Orthodox) school in Lakewood, New Jersey. This story (transcription and definitions of Hebrew terms here) was sent out as a… Read more
Alright, this isn’t really “news” since we already knew former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura was an atheist, but he talks about it in some depth in an interview with Highbrow Magazine. He was promoting his awkwardly-titled new book DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans: No More Gangs in Government. When you were governor, you refused to declare a National Prayer Day. I bet the right-wing fundamentalists were furious. Absolutely. The Minnesota media just grilled me. They went, “How come every other governor is… Read more
In his talk at the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne, PZ Myers gave a talk on “Sacking The City Of God!”: As always, if there are any bits we should pay special attention to, just leave the timestamp and a summary in the comments. Read more
Gallup has released the results of their not-quite-annual poll asking people the following question: If your party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who happened to be ________, would you vote for that person? Obviously, most of the discussion in the media will revolve around the results for “Mormon” — 80% of Americans could see themselves voting for a Mormon. 18% say they wouldn’t. But it looks like, once again, atheists are at the bottom of the list. Only… Read more
Last October and November, 109 readers of this site raised $5,000 for “drilling equipment that will bring clean water to people in Ethiopia”! The rig we funded is now in service — you can follow it on Twitter — and check out these sweet photos 🙂 Awe. Some. If you’d like to donate to the cause, you do that at Charity: Water. Read more
Since science keeps changing and the Bible remains constant, then the Bible must always be right… right? Joe the Plumber thinks so: Who wants to break the news to Joe that the Bible has been revised many times and that’s why there are so many different translations of it…? (via RWWBlog) Read more
As I’ve mentioned before, there’s an atheist-led effort to raise $1,000,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The Foundation Beyond Belief along with the philanthropic Stiefel family are working together to make this happen. I’m not asking for any donations right now (though you can always donate here). What I really want is for readers to join their local teams. Sign up to walk for a couple hours in your cities with a group of evil, evil heathens. You’ll be… Read more
The 2011 Australian census was released today and there’s good news when it comes to religion: While Catholicism has remained the most common religion with a quarter of the population, Anglicans have lost ground to those identifying themselves with no religion. The non-believers are now the second largest group with 22.3 per cent of the population, up from 18.7 per cent in 2006. To which I say: Efrique made this helpful chart (take note of the increasing number of black… Read more
