A nine-year-old was molested by a church leader many years ago. The church knew about it, but kept it a secret. The victim is now 26. It’s taken that long for this case to run its course. But the church leader was found guilty of the abuse and the church was found guilty of covering it up. A jury has just rewarded the victim $21,000,000 in punitive damages and $7,000,000 in compensatory damages. The church will owe $23,800,000 of that… Read more
Who knew Jesus wrote a letter to Joseph?! You were a pretty good stepdad to me over the years so I think it is time I told you the truth — the truth about my father. As you know, you’re not my father. But what you don’t know, and what none of my followers know, is that God is not my father. My mother was no more a virgin than David or Solomon’s concubines when I was conceived! And my… Read more
Remember Julea Ward? She was the graduate student in counseling at Eastern Michigan University who refused to treat a suicidal gay student because her Christianity prevented her from “helping him feel better about himself.” Thankfully, a judge dismissed her case in 2010, saying that EMU was right to kick her out of their grad school program. Michigan’s House — the one that can’t bring itself to say the word “vagina” — passed a bill on Tuesday with a 59-50 vote… Read more
Sean Faircloth, author of Attack of the Theocrats! How the Religious Right Harms Us All — and What We Can Do About It spoke at Rock Beyond Belief in March and video of his talk is now online. In it, Faircloth addresses the multimillion dollar “Spirituality Fitness Test” imposed by the U.S. Military: As always, if there are any parts you really liked, please leave the timestamp and summary in the comments! Read more
Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield), a member of the Michigan House, spoke out against a handful of anti-abortion bills being considered by House Republicans on Wednesday. One of the points she wanted to make was that she has religious beliefs about abortion, too, but she doesn’t pass legislation in favor of those beliefs. Republicans/Christians ought to do the same. So she said as much on the House floor on Wednesday. You’ll want to watch this video…: I’m Jewish. I keep kosher… Read more
Remember when Neil deGrasse Tyson spoke about his religious beliefs and threw atheism under the bus? At one point, he said: …It’s odd that the word “atheist” even exists! I don’t play golf. Is there a word for non-golf-players? Do non-golf-players gather and strategize? Turns out some clever soul created a sub-Reddit for nongolfers… and it’s hilarious 🙂 And for more reasons than the fact that they’re calling themselves ateeists. Posts include: Why doesn’t the media ever mention that Jerry… Read more
In 2010, Bible critic Dr. Bart Ehrman (author of Misquoting Jesus) debated New Testament scholar Craig Evans (author of Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence) on the reliability of the New Testament. The full debate is here, but reader Brian Wilson compiled some of Ehrman’s best points against Biblical literalism in the video below: What did you think? Convincing? Read more
If you’re unaware of what the “Good News Club” teaches children, and you haven’t read Katherine Stewart’s eye-opening book The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children, then sit down for 20 minutes and watch this video by IntrinsicDignity (on fullscreen mode): I said 20 minutes because you need the last 3:30 to just sit and stare with your mouth wide open. (via Shades of Grey) Read more
The right way to teach students about demons: Tell them they don’t exist. The wrong way to teach students about demons: Have them cut themselves to release the demons from their bodies. That’s what Danielle Harkins did to kids she tutored at the Lealman Asian Neighborhood Family Center in Florida. Detectives said that two students were injured during the ritual, in which Harkins allegedly instructed the teens to cut each other. ‘They would follow that up with some sort of… Read more
