This is a guest post by Franklin Kramer. He is a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a member of the the Illini Secular Student Alliance (ISSA). “Secularism and Nonreligion,” the first academic journal devoted solely to topics about nonbelievers, is set to begin publication in January 2012. It will take contributions from primarily social scientific disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, and economics, although other disciplines will be accepted as well. It is a joint project… Read more
This is a guest post by Kelley Freeman. She is a junior at the University of South Carolina and member of the Pastafarians at the University of South Carolina. As Katie Hartman has shown us, women just love the shit out of ponies. How else are the Four Horsemen going to be appealing to women? I think this is a good start. Read more
This is a guest post by Kyle Pitzen. He is a graduate student at the University of Northern Iowa and member of the UNI Freethinkers and Inquirers (UNIFI). Hello, everyone! My name is Kyle Pitzen, and I am a relatively new member of the Freethinker movement, but have been skeptical most of my life. I recently become involved with UNIFI during the spring semester of this year. This alone has caused me to become much more enthusiastic and outspoken in… Read more
This is a guest post by Stephanie Van Dyk. She is a third year student at the University of British Columbia Freethinkers and member of the UBC Freethinkers. You might have seen this: I think nearly everyone would agree it’s absolutely horrendous. It’s rude, it’s sexist, and it’s factually incorrect on nearly every level. In short, studies show that 60% of rape cases go unreported, rape is (quite obviously) not impossible, measuring false reports is difficult to do but is… Read more
This is a guest post by Stef McGraw. She is a junior at the University of Northern Iowa and member of the UNI Freethinkers and Inquirers (UNIFI). We talk a lot about diversifying the secular movement, which I think is great. We need more women, people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, a variety of ages, etc. However, there is one aspect that is rarely discussed that I feel is critical to making atheism more mainstream; I’ll call this “social… Read more
This is a guest post by Sam Shore. He graduated this year from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a member of the Illini Secular Student Alliance (ISSA). A couple of heartening news stories got lost in the shuffle of Monday’s debt ceiling newstravaganza. At the federal level it seems that women who want access to basic reproductive health care have the upper hand on those who would seek to limit their options. In response to the results… Read more
This is a guest post by Aaron Friel. He is a freshman at the University of Northern Iowa and member of the UNI Freethinkers and Inquirers (UNIFI). The Discovery Channel is hosting a new program, Curiosity, that aims to provoke thought and discussion and ask the “fundamental questions facing the world today”. Their first episode (Sunday Aug. 7th, 8 p.m. ET/PT) will be a special with the eminent Stephen Hawking titled, “Is There a Creator?” Fantastic. This sort of thing… Read more
This is a guest post by Stef McGraw. Stef is a Junior at the University of Northern Iowa. We’re taking over. That’s right, as Hemant mentioned in his post before going on vacation, several students will be blogging on Friendly Atheist this week in his absence. High school activist Jessica Ahlquist, the University of Northern Iowa Freethinkers and Inquirers (UNIFI), and some other campus groups from around the country will be giving Friendly Atheist readers a look at what the… Read more
I said I was going on vacation, but I had to get one last thing up before I left! Remember when we held a fundraiser for Camp Quest in which PZ Myers was pitted against a group of atheist bloggers to see which team could raise more money? After PZ took an early lead, several of the other bloggers made offers like singing karaoke or learning to ride a bike on camera if donors chipped in. I wisely shut my… Read more
For the first time in a really long time, I’m going out of the country. I’m leaving tomorrow, not coming back until early next week, and I’m probably not going to have Internet access while I’m out. I will do my best to have crazy adventures, get kidnapped, save the world, or do something worth blogging about while I’m gone. Or maybe I’ll just drink margaritas several hours a day while getting a (second) tan. Anyway, being this “unplugged” is… Read more
