In the May/June 2012 issue of The Humanist, Brian Trent’s cover story explores “the Forebears and the Vanguards of the New Skepticism”: In an earlier age, skepticism was not so much a movement as a pastime for older, male, upper-crust academics. It was spirited discussion over cigars and brandy. Today, the new skepticism is a grassroots revolution. Its adherents are media-savvy, and they use memes, humor, Photoshop, YouTube, and social networking to wage a bold offensive against the prevailing belief… Read more
Want to know how to refute the likes of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett? … well, you won’t learn how by watching this video featuring Pastor Tim Keller: In a few minutes, he reveals his ignorance in a big way. At no point do any of the New Atheists say that we should disrespect religious believers. Of course you should treat them with kindness and respect. But when their ideas are wrong, there’s no reason you… Read more
Seriously?! Another post about prayer in Saskatchewan?! At Three Lakes School, the 17 seniors were given the option of voting for what happened before their graduation banquet: 1) Prayer 2) Grace 3) Neither About a third of the students voted for option 3 — which may not be enough to be the leading option — but now, one of the students is leading the charge to get rid of the first two options altogether. He’s had partial success: “It was… Read more
dogmaticCURE brings together images and music with the words of atheists (in this case, Sam Harris). I’d heard Harris’ remarks before, but paired with these effects, they become even more powerful: Check it out for yourself: Read more
About a month ago, Karen Teegarden and Desiree Jordan, after venting over the phone for the past year about the legislation and attacks on the rights of women decided to take it to the streets. On February 19th, 2012, it was time to stop venting and start doing. As Desiree said, “We should just do it… if we build it, they’ll come.” She was right. Quickly gaining in popularity via social media, UniteWomen.org has also drawn the support of NOW,… Read more
A couple of months ago, Summit High School in Spring Hill, Tennessee held a “Fictional Character Day” in which students could come to school dressed as their favorite fictional character. Like the Mad Hatter. Or Darth Vader. Or SpongeBob SquarePants. Jeff Shott came dressed as Jesus. Before class even started that day, Shott was asked by the principal and other staffers to remove his costume. It was inappropriate, they said. Shott did what he was told, but he explained how… Read more
In an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday, Jack Black stated that he was an atheist who got his “spiritual needs” in other ways. You can hear it around the 14:10 mark in the interview: “I don’t have any real spirituality in my life — I’m kind of an atheist — but when music can take me to the highest heights, it’s almost like a spiritual feeling. It fills that void for me.” Not that everyone has to “fill that… Read more
Rekindle Reason, the atheist group at the University of Pennsylvania, recently handed out chocolate chip cookies to fellow students. In return, they just wanted their souls. Or their pets’ souls. Visiting parents could hand over their childrens’ souls. It didn’t matter. Any old soul would do. With a table and whiteboard on the Walk, group members claimed 13 souls in half an hour. Individuals “sold” their souls by signing a contract on a small piece of paper. In three hours,… Read more
In case you missed it, last night Don McLeroy, the former chair of the Texas Board of Education, appeared on the Colbert Report. You get a striking sense that McLeroy had no idea what he was walking into — that he was the butt of the joke. Sure, he’s the subject of a new documentary, but you *know* he was really brought on because the idea of a fake religious conservative interviewing a real religious conservative was too good for… Read more
