The Thinking Atheist has the best response I’ve seen so far to Pastor Mike Stahl’s call for a National Atheist Registry: Read more
Dear Victory Family Church in Belleville, Illinois, I have some advice for you. (Yes, I’m an atheist, and no, I don’t expect you to listen. But I’ll say it anyway.) When you’re planning an event, don’t call it a “Crusade.” That word is steeped in negative religious connotations and you don’t want to be associated with that. Trust me on this one. Oh. Alright, ignore that one. When you’re planning a “Crusade,” don’t gear it toward children. Atheists already think… Read more
Jerry Buell is the teacher who was reassigned out of the classroom because of anti-gay messages he posted on his private Facebook wall (though he was “Facebook friends” with current students, which is just shady…). Even though he’s now back in the classroom, the evidence shows that Buell had no problem talking about his faith while teaching. While I heard second-hand stories about what his syllabus said, I finally got ahold of the one he used for Honors United States… Read more
I love when college groups find a way to combine both fundraising and consciousness-raising. For the second straight year, members of the Pastafarians at the University of South Carolina held a fundraiser on campus by allowing students the chance to throw water balloons at them — “stone” them — for $1. They called it “Stone-a-Heathen” and they got the idea from the Bible: And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and… Read more
I was recently interviewed by Todd Stiefel and Jes Constantine of The Humanist Hour (the American Humanist Association’s podcast) and the episode is now available online: The discussion revolved around atheist activism, math education, and public speaking (during which I gave Todd a brief lesson in effective communication) 🙂 If you get a chance to hear it, your feedback is always appreciated! Read more
Doug Smith wrote a cover story about local atheists for the Arkansas Times. He did his homework, too — it’s one of the most in-depth pieces you’ll ever read about Secular Americans in a mainstream publication: It’s said there are no atheists in foxholes, and that’s baloney, according to a military man we’ll call “Brad.” At an atheists’ social gathering in Little Rock, Brad told a reporter that as an Air Force pilot, he’d been in situations where his life… Read more
C. R. Wiley, a Presbyterian pastor, has an article in RELEVANT (a Christian magazine) about why Christians ought to befriend atheists — and not for the sole purpose of converting them. There are several benefits, he says, to having godless friends. While his points might sound generous, the article is full of backhanded compliments. My atheist friends have made me more humane. … … since they say “no” to my most important “yes” I must cull out the essential, the… Read more
The Ask An Atheist podcast is up for a local award and they need your help! They’ve been nominated for “Best Local Podcast” in Evening magazine’s Best of Western Washington — and the winner is determined by online votes… You can support them by going here and voting for them. (You have to “register” but it’s a fairly harmless process.) There’s still over a month left in the contest, but there’s no reason we can’t put the competition away immediately… Read more
One of the younger activists in our community, Jessica Ahlquist, is going to be honored at the 2011 Rhode Island ACLU Annual Dinner Celebration. Jessica is the high school student fighting to remove a religious banner at Cranston High School West. The ACLU is defending her and this dinner is a fundraiser for them. One of the ways they raise money is by selling ads in their program booklet (PDF). Those ads are expensive, though, so Jessica’s uncle has started… Read more
Remember how Touchdown Jesus burned down back in June? They’re rebuilding him, as expected. But the webcomic The City taught me something about the reconstruction efforts that I hadn’t known before…: Click through to the comic to see the punchline 🙂 (Thanks to Daranda for the link!) Read more
