Earlier today, I posted about this billboard up in North Carolina: While I appreciated the sentiment, I wanted to know if it was an attempt to look good without actually pushing for real change. I wanted to know if the church supported same-sex marriage. And, though less important, what did they they think of gay people? Was a person acting on his/her homosexuality condemned to hell for doing so? Despite my inquiry, I never received an answer from the pastors…. Read more
We can debate whether or not it’s a good idea to change your last name after you get married, but Andrée Seu Peterson at World Magazine (a Christian publication) explains how she changed her name after having a talk with her husband: When nothing else was working my true love said to me, “Andrée, ultimately I’m not that important to you.” It was the last resort in a drawn out drama and it did the trick. Stunned like a wailing… Read more
Surprise! It’s the Catholics, Lutherans, and Presbyterians in Orlando, FL! Bishop John Noonan thinks that insurance covering contraception and sterilization is an “affront to [their] religious beliefs”: The payment of our insurance premiums will also subsidize abortion inducing drugs even though we do not believe in this culture of death. *Cue thunder clap* Culture of death?! Oh my, these are big words from a group that symbolically drinks blood every Sunday. (P.S. Plan B isn’t the abortion pill. We shouldn’t have… Read more
In response to all the Christian hate directed at gay people lately, it looks like a breath of fresh air to see the San Diego-based Missiongathering Christian Church’s new billboard in North Carolina: Before you get all excited like everyone online seems to be, here are two questions worth asking the members of this church: 1) Are gay people who act on their homosexuality going to hell? (In other words, is homosexuality inherently sinful?) 2) Does the church support same-sex… Read more
This is the third post in a series of interviews with secular students and leaders in the U.S. military, inspired by comments on this post. Different Academy students correctly pointed out that each branch of the military has a different culture and levels of religiosity, yet you will see here that all are fairly religious. Non-theistic student groups in the military do not have the same ease-of-formation or resources as found on civilian campuses. So, to get a handle on what… Read more
Yesterday. Max Nielson filed a lawsuit (PDF) with the help of FFRF against Lexington/Richland District 5 on the grounds that the prayer that was to happen during his graduation would be unconstitutional. There was a vote by the senior class earlier in the semester to determine whether or not to have a prayer during graduation, but the vote itself was faculty-led. This is in accordance with district policy which says that benedictions at school events should be determined by majority vote…. Read more
Zach Weiner found a way to defeat all those teachers who want to teach Creationism in the classroom: You can see how that plays out at Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal 🙂 Read more
Mark Reyes is the valedictorian at Poteet High School in Texas and his graduation ceremony is Friday night. He’s also an atheist. And thanks to his activism, the school will be getting rid of a nearly-100-year-old tradition of reciting invocations and benedictions at the ceremony: Poteet Independent School District Superintendent Andy Castillo announced Tuesday that due to legal problems the words “Invocation” and “Benediction” will be removed from the commencement program of their Friday night graduation ceremony. The words “Opening… Read more
dogmaticCURE brings together images and music with the words of atheists (in this case, Richard Dawkins). This is from a conversation Dawkins had with Alister McGrath in which he speaks about the problem with religion. Even without the vivid imagery in the video, it’s very compelling to listen to. Check it out: Read more
