Remember how there was a PDF making the rounds recently called “100 Facts Every Atheist Teen Must Know”? There was some interesting information in there, but a lot of it was unnecessary and irrelevant. So, with your help, I want to compile a better list. What are the most important facts atheists should know? (Not just teenagers, either. This is for anyone.) One example could be: “The phrase ‘Under God’ was not added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954.”… Read more
In a country where religious warfare gets all the headlines, it’s rare to see people who are not religious banding together. But that’s what a group of people are doing in Pakistan: The Pakistani Atheists & Agnostics have a few key goals for their group: First of all, we’ll mend the rusted image of faithless people among Pakistanis in general. In the past, Pakistani atheists have criticized Islam more for their hatred than to helping Muslims finding the big holes… Read more
Thomas Jefferson didn’t like the Bible as it was written. He thought Jesus was a good moral teacher, but those miracles were bullshit. In a letter to William Short in 1820, Jefferson wrote: Among the sayings and discourses imputed to [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence: and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible… Read more
About a month ago, during Stockholm Pride, Swedish State Television (Channel 1) aired this song on Allsång på Skansen (Sing Along at Skansen). The band in question mocks homophobia, Christianity, the Bible, and everyone who blames gay people for the downfall of society 🙂 (You’ll want the subtitles, so click on CC if they’re not showing up!) (Thanks to Alec for the link!) Read more
It’s amazing that anyone would find the Center For Inquiry’s billboard campaign controversial, but it’s already been ejected from Knoxville, Tennessee and it’s the subject of a lot of media attention in other places. This is the billboard CFI put up in several cities: “You don’t need God — to hope, to care, to love, to live.” In Grand Rapids, Michigan, just look at how some of the coverage has been: … when it comes to discussion, billboards can also… Read more
There are a lot of people working on the Reason Rally event taking place March 24th, 2012 and those of us on the publicity team (hi!) are kicking things into high gear this weekend. A few updates: The first of several promotional videos just went up. This one features PZ Myers talking about why it’s so important that you attend the event: We have a @ReasonRally Twitter account! You’re following us, right? Excellent. Also, if you don’t like our Facebook… Read more
Even on Christian campuses, atheist groups can get a lot of positive press. We’re very good at exposing the negative aspects of religion, challenging orthodox beliefs, and providing people a safe haven in which to raise their doubts about faith. How many Christian groups around the country can say the same things? At Southern Methodist University, the Secular Humanists of SMU had their first meeting a couple nights ago and it looks like there was a strong turnout: “It would… Read more
The University of Dayton (in Ohio), a private Roman Catholic school, just denied registration to a potential Secular Student Alliance group because open discussion about religion apparently contradicts what they want students to learn on campus: Nick Haynes and Branden King said they began planning their club, the Society of Free Thinkers, in April…. The group was designed for religious and nonreligious students to discuss topics related to both religion and a secular philosophy, Haynes said. … The group submitted… Read more
The Corvallis Secular Society in Oregon has just placed an ad quoting a historical document on the side of a single bus. But, somehow, you know it’s going to be controversial. The ad was designed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation and it features an abridged version of President John Adams’s line from the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli: “The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” “We are seeking to lay to… Read more
You’re going to love this story from Dale McGowan. This is the beginning of what his eighth-grade daughter Erin told him the other day: “I was at the table in the cafeteria with these three other kids, and two of them asked the other girl where she went to church. She said ‘We don’t go to church,’ and their eyes got big, and the one guy leaned forward and said, ‘But you believe in God, right?'” Ooooh, here we go…. Read more
