1) As Kelley Freeman posted while I was away, Rock Beyond Belief is on! The free festival will feature musical acts and speakers (including Richard Dawkins) and it’s scheduled for March 31, 2012. I *really* love the logo: Way to get an Atheist (and FSM) dog tag in there 🙂 2) Also, for a limited time, the Stiefel Freethought Foundation is offering a $50,000 challenge to the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers! Any donations from current military and veterans… Read more
I don’t remember reading this version of the story in the Bible… but if it’s on the Internet, it must be true. That god character is so damn confusing… (via SMBC Theater) Read more
As of a week ago, this was the vehicle sticker all cars needed to display in Blue Island, Illinois: As far as church/state separation goes, this is a low-priority case. But it might raise some eyebrows because a local government is using mandatory vehicle stickers to celebrate a church’s anniversary. The answer to this isn’t necessarily a lawsuit, but the city needs to know what the problem is and why they may be setting themselves up for trouble in the… Read more
I’ll file this in my List of Things the Current Republican Presidential Candidates Will Never Say: (Thanks to Seth for the link!) Read more
I’m in Nebraska this weekend for the 2011 Midwest Humanist and Freethought Conference and one of the locals I’ve had a chance to meet is Ray Morehead. I heard about Ray a couple weeks ago when another local atheist, Sarah, wrote to me about him. She told me his story and it was pretty devastating, so I wanted to share it with all of you. Ray and his wife are both members of a local softball team named the Omaha… Read more
Christian author Don Miller likes to talk about how your life ought to be a compelling story, one that’s going somewhere, has a purpose, has real ups and downs, isn’t stagnant, etc. There’s a lot of truth to that — if your life doesn’t make for an interesting story, are you really making the most of it? Recently, though, he must have taken a page out of Mark Driscoll’s Handbook because his suggestions to men and women for how to… Read more
Jenny Lawson (a.k.a. The Bloggess) is always entertaining to read, but this piece about her daughter and religion is especially awesome. A few weeks ago [my daughter] entered the Sunday School contest for “Make-your-own-Armor-of-God” with a sword she made from cardboard and tinfoil. She won. When I asked why she wasn’t more excited about it, she said,”I won a bookmark with a dead guy on it.” True story. I assume the dead guy was Jesus, but when I asked her… Read more
Yep. Richard Dawkins’ classic book has somehow/strangely/seriously been turned into a musical and it’s opening today. Jonathan Salway has a background in theatre, not biology, but when he read Dawkins’s book, the clarity of writing, the fascinating subject matter and even the humour so inspired him that he felt compelled to transform it into musical comedy and set about dissecting the book to write script and songs with the help of fellow writer Dino Kazamia and music by Richard Macklin…. Read more
Richard Wade here. My friends at Filipino Freethinkers have been nominated at the Global Tatt Awards in two categories: The first category is called “The Advocate.” Since they first formed in early 2009, they have fought tirelessly both in public events and online against the Catholic Church’s domination of Philippine politics and public policy, advocating for freethought, secularism, reproductive health rights, LGBT and women’s rights, and free speech. The second category is called “The One.” This is for shaping society… Read more
Yesterday was supposed to be the day that Starbucks Chairman/CEO, Howard Schultz, spoke at the (evangelical Christian) Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. This is a summit that both Bill Clinton and Bono have spoken at before; this year, speakers include Newark Mayor Cory Booker and marketing guru Seth Godin. Admittedly, the focus is on leadership and not pushing Jesus. But Schultz was caught in a dilemma because of Willow Creek’s stance on homosexuality. A couple months ago, Starbucks put out… Read more
