Last week, I was on the Drew Marshall Show to talk about stories in the atheist community. (Along with a brief foray into sports.) The host playfully tried to get the guest before me — a fellow Patheos blogger (and Christian) who didn’t know I was on the phone call — to talk trash about me. But Tony Jones didn’t take the bait. In fact, he stated how he tends to agree with me most of the time, at least… Read more
Scott Welty recently visited the Fermi National Laboratory (not far from Chicago) to sit in on a couple of presentations and he was shocked by what he saw: Actual science! … here’s what I observed: Calm and logical presentationsPolite and attentive audienceAn almost crushing critical eye on their own data (more on this)Respectively presenting results from the other detector and from the big machine at CERN without any high fiving or end zone dances (but that would have been kind… Read more
If you open up today’s New York Times, you should be seeing this full-page ad from the Freedom From Religion Foundation: “As a member of the ‘flock’ of an avowedly antidemocratic Old Boys Club, isn’t it time you vote with your feet? Please, exit en Mass,” requests the ad, signed by FFRF Co-Presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker. The ad features a cartoon by Steve Benson depicting an angry bishop, with a woman next to a birth control pill… Read more
There was a story the other day of a Catholic priest ruining a funeral because it was more important to him that Catholic tradition be preserved and a lesbian family member get denied communion than it was to have a service the family would have appreciated. I didn’t realize Catholics have a habit of making funerals even worse than they already are. Reader John’s grandfather died earlier this week and he’s been working with his family to prepare the funeral…. Read more
Last month, the Perth County Council (In Ontario, Canada) did something a lot of American city councils never have the courage to do. They passed a by-law (PDF) removing the Lord’s Prayer from the opening of their meetings, replacing it with a “Moment of Reflection.” It’s not the ideal change, but it’s better than the alternative. It was a close vote, too: County councillors voted 5-4 Thursday to replace the prayer with a moment of silent reflection. Warden Ian Forrest… Read more
If you saw the movie “21” or read the book Bringing Down the House, you know what card-counting is. But you might be wondering — aren’t we all — what would’ve happened if all those players were Christian? That’s what the movie “Holy Rollers” is all about: Even Christianity Today was intrigued by that premise: “It doesn’t seem like one of the most noble things a person can do in the world,” one member of the team says in the… Read more
There’s a lot of chatter about how that billboard — which was vandalized and then removed — was racist, offensive, and even a “hate crime.” AJ Johnson of American Atheists argues otherwise: As an African American and an atheist, the recent stir caused by the PA Nonbelievers/American Atheists billboard is both surprising and disheartening. While I expected a negative reaction from religious African Americans, I was disturbed to find dissent from Black people within the Secular Movement. The quote presented,… Read more
Man, it’s been a good week for notpologists; in addition to Rush Limbaugh’s failed attempt at sincerity regarding his comments about Sandra Fluke and the non-committal response from all of the Republican candidates, Mars Hill has generously notpologized to the growing group of individuals that have come forward citing emotional abuse from the church and its leadership. A formal statement was issued on Mars Hill’s official website, following a news segment from KOMO, Seattle’s local news station. Here are the… Read more
Today is International Women’s Day and to get the day off to a good start, the Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar is going to be launched. This calendar is a tribute to Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, the Egyptian blogger who posted nude pictures of herself to protest against sexual discrimination in Islam. Aliaa, a student of Media and Communication at the American university in Cairo, originally published the pictures to complain against the ban on nude models on Egyptian universities and books…. Read more
Guess who’s half-heartedly apologizing for his idiocy? Harold “The World’s Gonna End on May 21st” Camping: The May 21 campaign was an astounding event if you think about its impact upon this world. There is no question that millions, if not billions of people heard for the first time the Bible’s warning that Jesus Christ will return. Huge portions of this world that had never read or seen a Bible heard the message the Christ Jesus is coming to rapture… Read more
