Last week, I read a post on Reddit from a guy who only saw the final Harry Potter movie but recreated his own version of the entire series’ plot based off that limited knowledge. He was joking around, but it showed how you might miss out on some major details of the full story if you only catch glimpses of it. I bring that up because of Jamie Bernstein. You all know Jamie. She’s written a few guest posts here,… Read more
You know those Saturday Night Live sketches in which Kristen Wiig plays a woman who has to one-up everybody she meets no matter how absurd it gets? Well, here’s what the Fundamentalist Christian version of that character would look like: You don’t believe in kissing before you’re married? Well I don’t believe that married people should be intimate on their wedding night either. That time should be spent in prayers for their marriage and asking to be blessed with children… Read more
One of the hardest (and most important) things we can do as atheists is come out of the closet and let people know what we stand on the god hypothesis. We’ve seen studies that show that prejudice against atheists decreases as people know (or even just think) there are more of us out there. We’ve also seen billboards with messages urging those who are already atheists to make themselves known — instead of trying to “deconvert” people who are religious…. Read more
The Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard is honoring those who lost their lives on 9/11 by taking part in an interfaith charity event. They’re doing something worthwhile, together with representatives from faith-based organizations, to show that we can indeed work together despite the different belief systems involved. Beats the heck out of praying. … remembrance, while crucial, is not enough. We must also look to the future. Whether it is frequent discrimination against the American Muslim community, or thousands of recent… Read more
You’ve probably heard this by now, but “David Mabus”/Dennis Markuze, the notorious death-threat-spewing, non-sensical-phrasing, email/Twitter spammer is supposedly under arrest. Tim Farley has the extensive breakdown of who “Mabus” is and how this arrest came to be. It’s a very compelling read even if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Like so many other public atheists, I’ve gotten my share of “Mabus” threats. Even when I had “private” Twitter conversations with my friends, he’d often send threats to them… Read more
We talk a lot about how to get minorities involved in our groups — but atheist parents of young children are a minority that often gets ignored. A lot of local atheist/skeptic meetings take place in bars, but you can’t bring your children there. There may be conferences you want to attend, but you’d have to find a babysitter for the weekend. Even if your children came to a local meeting, they’d be bored during many of the lectures. All… Read more
The Onion tells a truth… and we laugh because we rarely hear anyone say it: Despite a lack of divine intervention by the Son of God or any other higher power, area man Tom Wendt has somehow managed to overcome his alcoholism, sources confirmed Friday. “It was causing so many problems at work and with my family that I decided to stop drinking before it ruined my life,” said Wendt, who credited his own willpower, a desire to better himself… Read more
This is one of the talks that had everyone buzzing at the Secular Student Alliance conference last month: Jessica Ahlquist talking about her lawsuit, what she’s had to go through with her peers since going public with her atheism, and why we all need to help out young atheists. Carve out time to watch this. I can’t wait to see how many high school atheist groups pop up over the next couple years. Imagine having students like Jessica (and Damon… Read more
What did the Bible say? Truth is, no one really knows, but plenty of people base their lives around particular interpretations of it. We know Ken Ham’s absolute-literal interpretation isn’t based in any sort of reality. But what about progressive Christians who are supportive of things like abortion and LGBT rights? Are they interpreting it correctly or is it wishful thinking? A group of Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem is trying to get to the bottom of what the Bible originally… Read more
The worst part about following Christian bloggers? Even when they talk about something moving and relevant, they often make me want to gag. Case in point: Pastor Pete Wilson talking about Dennis Rodman’s really touching speech as he entered the basketball Hall of Fame. Wilson writes: I’ll be honest. I’ve never been a Dennis Rodman fan. I’ve always thought of him as a reckless, self absorbed, ego maniac. And while my assessment was probably fairly accurate, I think I forgot… Read more
