Aziz Ansari, one of the stars of Parks and Recreation, said in a recent interview he’s not religious. So we can add one more celebrity to the roster 🙂 (And he’s brown, so we get bonus points for diversity!) Daniel Kellison: Hm, OK, sure. All right — what do you think happens when you die? Aziz Ansari: Nothing. I’m not a religious person. Daniel: So you think you just go into the ground. Aziz: Sadly. But I don’t know, man… Read more
Father Phil Ritchie (from East Sussex in England) has an excellent suggestion for a better use of your time today: The problem with the church is that we stay inside our building and occasionally come out and say “Why don’t you come to our church, it’s cool and funky”. To be honest, it’s not. I would love more people to come at 10am on Sunday and I would welcome them to All Saints [Church]. For Christians this is the most… Read more
I don’t really want to post this. The guy has received far more publicity than he deserves. But, given the circumstances, I kinda feel obligated to… I previously posted about how Patrick Greene had received donations to alleviate his poor vision from atheists and Christians, then told reporters he had been helped by Christians (and not atheists), then told reporters he had converted to Christianity. Now, Greene says he has changed his mind. He’s not a Christian after all. He… Read more
I can’t confirm this yet, but commenter Hizakigp says the sign put up in Streator, Illinois yesterday by the Freedom From Religion Foundation has already been stolen. The posts it rested on are “bent badly.” The sign in question is the yellow one in the background of the picture below: The backstory is here. Updates are coming as I get them… Read more
Below is high-quality video of Richard Dawkins’ speech at the Reason Rally (Dawkins starts speaking at the 10:21 mark). Sean Faircloth (Director of Strategy & Policy at the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science) provides the opening act while talking about his Ten Point Vision of a Secular America. RDFRS Executive Director Dr. Elisabeth Cornwell speaks out in defense of women and points out how religion oppresses them. Her talk begins at the 6:54 mark. (via richarddawkinsdotnet) Read more
This interview with Professor Peter Boghossian about religion is fairly entertaining: Do you think the world would be better if people didn’t use faith as a method of reasoning? Yeah, I do. My mentor said to me once, “Pete, you’d be so much better if you just didn’t do stupid shit.” That’s a lesson for life. If you want to think better, just don’t do stupid shit. Don’t find a way of thinking that’s terrible. Find ways of thinking that… Read more
Religious symbols have different meanings to different people and Crispian Jago doesn’t hold back in his word art: There are two other images at his site. Read more
We tend to think of ethnic minorities as being more religious than the general population, but new data shows this may not be the case any more. The Pew Hispanic Center just released the results of a nationwide poll and found that non-religious Latinos are more numerous than we might think. In fact, unaffiliated Hispanics — the “nones” — make up 14% of the demographic (compared to 19% of the general population). That’s *huge*. I know, I know, not all… Read more
For five years now, city officials in Streator, Illinois have allowed a sign to go up in a local park reading, “Jesus died for your sins”: Last month, they also allowed the erection of three Christian crosses: This is the same park that hosted a nativity scene this past winter, by the way. Eyebrows went up at the Freedom From Religion Foundation, I’m sure, when they heard about this. So they asked city officials what they were thinking: The city’s… Read more
