Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. Dear Richard, I met you once when Hemant spoke at an atheist group. I shared that I had become an atheist during college, thanks to some wonderful classes and professors, but that I had been raised in Evangelical Christianity, and I was still not out to my family. I had been debating coming out to my family for awhile, but had not made the leap. My family learned in fall… Read more
I am in the middle of a riotous love affair with the television show Intervention. The affair happened quickly, mostly out of boredom and, out of the chronically bizarre array of options on Netflix streaming, it received a resounding “whatever… good enough” before hitting the “play” button. Reality shows are not usually my cup of tea, and I had my reservations about a reality series’ ability to not sensationalize an already difficult and too-often misunderstood reality of addiction, but I… Read more
The Farmington Independent has a nice article about Bill Lehto, a Minnesotan who collected the personal “coming out” stories from people in the state and put them into a book with proceeds benefitting Minnesota Atheists. The hope is that the book will make it easier for readers to go public with their own atheism. Full disclosure: I blurbed the book. Which sounds much more scandalous than it really is. Atheist Voices of Minnesota won’t be available until August, but you… Read more
A Secular Student Alliance group just began at SUNY New Paltz (in New York) and, to advertise their meetings, the group put up flyers reading, “ARE YOU GOOD WITHOUT GOD? We are too.” “What?! Atheists have meetings?! That must be called into question!” said an ignorant person somewhere… In case you can’t read the handwritten note on the bottom left, it says: “Dear ‘Seculars’: Is there a point of people who believe in nothing, gathering?” The atheists pinned an excellent… Read more
In coverage you would never see on the major news networks, The Alyona Show offered a fantastic segment on the National Day of Reason and brought on Sean Faircloth (of the Richard Dawkins Foundation) to talk about why the nontheistic response to the National Day of Prayer is so important: Also interesting: At the 8:18 mark, host Alyona Minkovski asks Sean about the selection of Edwina Rogers as his successor at the Secular Coalition for America. He has only positive… Read more
Whoever you are, you have to have good stories… … and we all want to hear them. Contact me! Don’t worry — you’ll remain anonymous 🙂 Unless you’re responsible for that Heaven is for Real book… in which case I’m cursing you in my mind. Interestingly enough, I know another atheist who works for a Christian publication… (and that person’s probably reading this right now.) Here’s what I’m wondering: Did the person with the secret apply for a job at… Read more
On last week’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Republican atheist S.E. Cupp — Oh my god, there are two of them now! — argued that Mitt Romney donated millions to charity (“poor people”) because he donated to the Mormon Church. Maher quickly called her out on it: His argument in a nutshell: It’s not “charity” because the Mormon church doesn’t need the money. (“Name one poor Mormon!”) On his show Friday night, he elaborated on the distinction: His argument is… Read more
Last year, Canadian Luke Fevin enrolled his children in Sturgeon Heights School in Alberta with the knowledge that it was a public school. It wasn’t long before he discovered they began each school day with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. Fevin fought to change that — and he did! In September, they suspended the prayer for the remainder of the school year… but school officials were really upset about it. Because, you know, saying the Lord’s Prayer was “tradition.”… Read more
Looks like atheist comedian/singer Tim Minchin will be playing Judas in an upcoming production of the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar”: He will join the pop singer Nicole Scherzinger, playing Mary Magdalene, in an arena tour of the musical by Lord Lloyd Webber and Sir Tim Rice which will open at London’s O2 arena this summer. The character of Jesus will be cast via a television talent competition next month, where contestants will compete for the lead role in the… Read more
