The Toronto Transit Commission has put up a lot of religious/non-religious ads over the past few years. They approved the Canadian Atheist Bus Campaign’s ad, reading “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” More recently, they approved an ad from a Christian group in which a child with drug-abusing parents was advised to pray instead of seeking useful help. Now, they’ve allowed this ad from a Muslim group: The proper response to that is to say,… Read more
The PBS show Finding Your Roots gives scholar/host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. an opportunity to chat with celebrities about their ancestry. In this week’s episode, he met with Pastor Rick Warren. As it turns out, one of Warren’s ancestors was a prominent slaveowner. That’s not particularly surprising, and it doesn’t say anything about Warren himself. The conversation surrounding it, though, is pretty interesting. Rick Warren speaks beginning at the 32:47 mark, but the most interesting bit begins at the 33:40… Read more
(Easter jokes notwithstanding, a lot of street preachers seem to act this way, too. — Hemant) Read more
Congratulations to the Secular Student Alliance at Valencia College (in Florida). Last night, they were awarded “Organization of the Year” from their campus’ Office for Student Development! Hmph. My group never won that award in college. I’m jealous now. Jealous and very excited for them. Read more
To everyone responding to this post, thanks! I’ve gotten a bunch of responses and I will be looking through them soon. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard back yet. I’ll get back to all of you who responded. Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging. Read more
The Foundation Beyond Belief is looking for a few summer interns: Interns assist the Foundation with membership development, researching and selecting featured charities, donor management, outreach, communications (including blog and social media), program design, and creative organizational development. I may be biased but this is an excellent organization and we’d love to have some help. While it is a volunteer position, you can work from home! More information is right here. The deadline is May 1st, so apply soon! Read more
I already like this better than Smut for Smut. The Eastern Connecticut Atheist and Freethinker Fellowship is holding a “Science for Bibles” exchange in which anyone can turn in a Bible and get a fantastic science book in return: The event is being held to honor “The National Day of Reason,” an alternative to the sectarian “National Day of Prayer” also held on May 3rd each year. Anyone who brings a Bible to the event will receive a free copy… Read more
Glenn Stankis has been putting up the following signs along the side of the road in Magalia, California — because sixth graders just don’t understand that whole “don’t commit adultery” thing… and everyone needs to acknowledge the Christian god in school: … Stankis alleges some classes within the Paradise Unified School District do not recite the Pledge of Allegiance daily and he hopes his signs raise that awareness. “I was hoping it would get the attention of the school district… Read more
The Christian movie Blue Like Jazz — in which the main character dabbles in the secular/liberal world before coming back to Jesus — is currently being shown at select locations around the country. The Christian review site Movieguide isn’t happy with the movie at all. Some of their problems with it? (***Update***: Rieux rightly points out in the comments that the following items are listed on the site as simply elements of the movie and not necessarily criticisms of it…. Read more
