Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear just released his budget for 2012-2013 and it looks like he’s investing in the dumbing down of his citizens: The budget makes $286 million in cuts, including a 6.4 percent cut to a higher education system that has been plagued by funding cuts and rising tuition for years. But guess who’s getting a tax break? Ken Ham and his extension-of-the-Creation-Museum theme park: At the same time, the $43 million tax break Kentucky approved for a Bible-themed… Read more
The backstory is here. A few updates since then: The Freedom From Religion Foundation let all the florists know that Jessica Ahlquist was “under the public eye” so they would need to show identification when they delivered the flowers to her door. I don’t know if that warning was necessary — did the florists really need to know who Jessica was? — but it looks like it was a red flag for some of them. Does that change your mind… Read more
The Reason Rally keeps looking better and better… Adam Savage, the co-host of Mythbusters, has just been added to the lineup! “We are thrilled to add Adam Savage to the roster of amazing speakers,” Reason Rally organizer David Silverman said. “His star power and versatile talents will translate well with the rally attendees.” The full list of speakers is here. Are you getting excited? 🙂 Read more
The Freedom From Religion Foundation just announced the creation of the “Atheists in Foxholes Support Fund.” The fund will offer scholarships and help to “persons who exhibit bravery in furthering the cause and experience hardship because of that stand.” Take a wild guess at the first (and very deserving) recipient: The Foundation announced today its first recipient will be Jessica Ahlquist, the besieged 16 year old running the gauntlet in Rhode Island for successfully suing her high school over an… Read more
This is a poster going around promoting Pastor Mark Driscoll’s awful new book Real Marriage: Yeah… because that’s exactly how it works. Vorjack at Unreasonable Faith puts it well: Um … about that last one. My grandfather was raised Southern Baptist. My father was raised Southern Baptist. … Hi. I know Christians love to deny reality, but when you consider how many atheists come from religious homes, it’s absurd to think that if you indoctrinate your kids hard enough, they’re… Read more
In Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, new city manager Michelle Williams has pissed off a lot of people with a new policy she’s instituted: She said it recently came to her attention that the city chaplain was holding a group prayer service several times a week inside city hall. … She said the prayer sessions at city hall were being held three to four times a week and lasted about 40 minutes each. During that time, the employees that took part were… Read more
Scary news coming out of Indonesia: An Indonesian man who said that God did not exist in a posting on a Facebook page for atheists could face jail. Civil servant Alexander Aan, 31, is now in protective police custody after he was attacked by an angry mob earlier this week. He may also lose his job over his posting on the social networking site. The Facebook group, which is still up and running, is called Ateis Minang (Minang Atheists). Aan’s… Read more
