Melanie Cornell at the Illini Secular Student Alliance offers her take on which of our presidents might have been closeted atheists: Considered Lincoln’s closest acquaintance, William Herndon attempted to describe the sheer complexity of Lincoln’s religious views, stating Lincoln was “at times, an atheist.” He also claimed Lincoln was a follower of Darwin (before it was cool). But Lincoln’s many speeches often contained references to the lord Almighty, providence, and all that jazz. Was it just a front? Make sure… Read more
I don’t know how this data was acquired other than saying it was a self-reported study, but since it got Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund all worked up, it must be worth talking about. It turns out that, on the whole, atheists and agnostics make up the largest percentage of current Yale Law School students, narrowly edging out all the Christians (Thanks, 2Ls!): Atheists and Agnostics make up 33.8% of YLS, while Christians make up 33.2%. Anyone know… Read more
Justin Griffith, the Military Director for American Atheists and the guy behind next spring’s Rock Beyond Belief gathering, recently re-enlisted in the military. When he took his oath, the Christian chaplain overseeing the service respectfully left off “So help me god” 🙂 It’s reminiscent of Megan Hurwitt godless pledge when she was inducted into the Texas Army National Guard. Bravo to Justin and all the other foxhole atheists for being a strong presence in the military! Read more
Remember when President Obama gave an awful response when he was asked a question about taxpayer-funded faith-based religious discrimination? Now, Vice President Joe Biden is joining the Crappy Answer Club. He did a Q&A at the University of Pittsburgh yesterday and Cate Laskovics, president of the Secular Alliance group on campus, was there to ask him a question about the tax-exempt housing allowance for members of the clergy. (You can see the Secular Coalition for America’s position on the issue… Read more
Peter, the Preacher’s Kid, is back and he’s talking about his parents’ divorce. Which reminds him of his parents’ marriage. Which reminds him of that one time his dad was trying to make ends meet… Flashback to fall ’94. My parents were young, realigning themselves as professionals after returning from years of missionary work in the South American jungles. They scrapped through my dad’s seminary bills (seminary = grad school + Jesus – weed) by working odd jobs, counting down… Read more
Kimberly Winston of the Religion News Service shines an important spotlight on religiously-affiliated colleges who refuse to give recognition to campus atheist groups. Take, for example, the University of Dayton (in Ohio), a private Roman Catholic school: Late one night over pizza, University of Dayton students Branden King and Nick Haynes discovered neither of them believed in God. Surely, they thought, they couldn’t be the only unbelievers at the Roman Catholic college. Last year, King and Haynes and a couple… Read more
Democrats in Michigan wanted to pass anti-bullying legislation but Republicans — much like they do in Congress — acted as obstructionists. Instead of stopping the bill outright, though, they made the bill completely useless: This year, Republicans only agreed to consider an anti-bullying measure that did not require school districts to report bullying incidents, did not include any provisions for enforcement or teacher training, and did not hold administrators accountable if they fail to act. And they fought back Democratic… Read more
Whether you’re arguing with theists (or even other atheists), you’re going to see the same kind of logical fallacies used time and time again. Cracked has a list of five of them that people all too often: #5. We’re Not Programmed to Seek “Truth,” We’re Programmed to “Win” #4. Our Brains Don’t Understand Probability #3. We Think Everyone’s Out to Get Us #2. We’re Hard-Wired to Have a Double Standard #1. Facts Don’t Change Our Minds Here’s how things would… Read more
Edward Tarte got that question from one of his YouTube commenters and he responds beautifully in the video below. As he says, there’s nothing depressing about there not being an afterlife, either. All you have to do is make the most of the time you have. Read more
