Notorious campus fire-and-brimstone preacher Brother Jed visited the University of Illinois on Friday and the Illini Secular Student Alliance members were ready for him: As if you couldn’t tell, Jed is the man in the middle with the “You Deserve Hell” poster. I love the student sign that reads: “Isn’t it interesting how God hates the same people you do?” 🙂 You can see more of the pics here! (via Skeptic Money) Read more
Joshua DuBois, Executive Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, sent out the following email today in response to the White House petition which said “Edit the Pledge of Allegiance to remove the phrase ‘Under God.’” Thank you for signing the petition “Edit the Pledge of Allegiance to remove the phrase ‘Under God.’” We appreciate your participation in the We the People platform on WhiteHouse.gov. The separation of church and state outlined in the First Amendment to the… Read more
Noelle George has created a Facebook group for mothers to talk about parenting/pregnancy/etc from a secular perspective — it’s called Mothers Beyond Belief (and, in case you’re wondering, Foundation Beyond Belief is aware of the group’s name and fully supports it). Why join? Not that I have direct experience in the matter myself, but I hear many pregnancy and childbirth forums online are ripe with religious talk and pseudoscience. Here’s a science-based, secular alternative. Noelle tells me the group is… Read more
Earlier today, I posted this image showing how the “religiously unaffiliated” were more supportive of same-sex marriage than any other religious demographic: Many commenters were quick to point out that the “unaffiliated” include plenty of religious “independents” — those who believe in god and who may oppose same-sex marriage for religious reasons, but who don’t identify with a particular label — and those people may actually be lowering our percentage. Is there any truth to that? David Byars looked into… Read more
If you choose to remain a virgin until you’re married, that’s your decision and that’s fine. You don’t need to sign a contract saying so. But the whole conservative Christian notion of getting young women (some as young as six) to wear a Purity Ring and pledge to their fathers that they’ll remain abstinent until after they walk down the aisle is disgraceful. Libby Anne was one of those young women and she remembers taking her own purity vows: I… Read more
by Jesse Galef – [cross-posted on Measure of Doubt] Somehow, it went viral. In just 24 hours, the Secular Student Alliance’s Facebook page exploded from 6,500 supporters’ “likes” to 18,000. I found myself thinking, “How the hell did that happen?” And then thinking, “Hmm… how can we do it again?” The whole thing started with Kenny Flagg, one of our group leaders with the Freethinkers of UND. After noticing that the SSA’s Facebook presence was much smaller than Campus Crusade… Read more
This clip has been around for months but this is the first time I’ve seen it. Kate Smurthwaite, a member of the National Secular Society, appeared on the British show “The Big Questions” and gave arguably the best possible response to a religious man’s claim that “every aborted child is in heaven”: And then she finishes the video with complete bluntness 🙂 Normally, I’d think that tactic is counterproductive, but if you watch an extended clip and see how the… Read more
… and White Evangelical Protestants are trailing everybody. The trend is growing slowly — admittedly too slowly — in the direction of equality in all the other religious demographics, but the megachurch crowd shows us once again why their popularity is waning and why younger generations are getting the hell out of there. It’s not like the other religious groups are that much better — and 66% in the “Unaffiliated” category isn’t exactly a number to be proud of –… Read more
In case you missed it last night, Aasif Mandvi of The Daily Show answered the burning question: What is science really up to? Highlight: Republican Strategist Noelle Nikpour: It’s very confusing for a child to be only taught evolution to go home to a household where their parents say, “Well, wait a minute, you know, God created the Earth!” Mandvi: What is the point of teaching children facts if it’s just going to confuse them? Nikpour: It confuses the children… Read more
