I recently received an unusual email apparently from a young Christian girl. The subject line was “one Question,” but there were seven questions. The email address contained a male name, but the letter was signed with a female name. I had some doubts about the letter’s veracity, but I decided to respond anyway, and I’m interested in how you, the readers, might have handled it and the ensuing discussion with the girl’s mother: Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to… Read more
It was a bit of a challenge writing this book review without revealing or spoiling the number of anecdotal gems contained within. Herb Silverman, if you’re unfamiliar, is an atheist, activist, and the President of the Secular Coalition for America. When asked to review Candidate Without a Prayer, I was at first concerned that it would be a three hundred page advert for the Coalition. It wasn’t. This book doesn’t take off quickly; in fact, the first three chapters have… Read more
This image was making the rounds online… … but the ratio of men to women in that picture is pretty uneven. Even when it comes to celebrities, it’s not like there’s a lack of well-known ladies to put in the mix. On Twitter, @ultraturquoise created this alternative image: I like it! Maybe someone else can create a more gender-balanced version, though? Also: Include more minorities. And [insert some other form of diversity here]. (That’s one of the downsides of trying… Read more
Sam Harris is bound to get a lot of pushback for his latest essay, in which he makes the case that Muslims — or anyone who looks like s/he could be Muslim — ought to be specially screened at the airport: Is there nothing we can do to stop this tyranny of fairness? Some semblance of fairness makes sense — and, needless to say, everyone’s bags should be screened, if only because it is possible to put a bomb in… Read more
Earlier this month, the Dallas–Fort Worth Coalition of Reason started an advertising campaign called “Our Families Are Great Without Religion.” Their plan was to have the following ad play on movie theater screens before the films began: After getting rejected by one theater that had a “no religious advertising” policy, the Angelika Film Center in Plano said they would be happy to run the ad. Until Christians started complaining… (Apparently seeing happy, diverse, non-religious families destroys whatever narrative their pastors… Read more
Ireland’s Justice Minister Alan Shatter is planning to introduce legislation later this year that would put people in jail for 10 years if they withheld information that would help prosecute a child abuser. Who would oppose legislation like that? Catholics priests, of course. And Bill Donohue. Spokesman Fr Sean McDonagh told the paper: “I certainly wouldn’t be willing to break the seal of confession for anyone — Alan Shatter particularly.” Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Raymond Field said: “The seal of… Read more
Dan Savage, creator of the It Gets Better Project, gave a talk about anti-gay bullying at a conference for high school journalists a couple of weeks ago. The program listed the goal of the keynote this way: “Students will get ideas on how to cover the topic of bullying in their student media.” Keep in mind it’s virtually impossible to talk about anti-gay bullying without mentioning the Bible. Those two things go hand-in-hand. Bullying happens all the time, but you… Read more
The Foundation Beyond Belief and the Stiefel family are teaming up this fall to raise $1,000,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society via Light the Night walks across the country. Now, Think Atheist has joined the effort and they plan on hosting a marathon broadcast online to raise money later this year. They *really* want to share atheists’ experiences dealing with cancer (directly or indirectly). Can you help them out by sharing your stories? Write about your experience with cancer… Read more
Did you know Catholic bloggers make arguments challenging atheists… and then smugly tell themselves that it works? They think their takedowns are effective! Who knew?! Not me. Catholic blogger Frank Weathers says it doesn’t work — no kidding — and he essentially offers his fellow bloggers a religious version of the Don’t Be a Dick speech: Oh, it looks like a lot of victory laps, and high fives are being exchanged everywhere in Catholic bubbleland when a good, snarky, post… Read more
