A decade ago, Doug Fields wrote a book for Christian couples called 365 Things Every Couple Should Know. Seanbaby at Cracked has gone through the book and added all sorts of commentary: Ugh. Is there maybe a grosser way you could have put that? Like “After 60, your lover’s eyes will hatch millipedes that crawl into your dick hole.” Or “The liftable folds of your lover hide surprises of soup and keepsakes.” Like with a heartfelt shriek or a friendly… Read more
The Backyard Skeptics have put up ads on 30 different bus shelters in Orange County, California (around Anaheim and Mission Viejo) and they look fantastic: Now, if only they could fix up their website… (I know, I know, who am I to talk. I’m working on it.) The entire campaign cost $8,000 — you can donate to the group here — and it’s already generating controversy: Some passing motorists and people waiting at the bus shelter said they were offended… Read more
Nick Kristof has a piece in today’s New York Times regarding Evangelical Christians and doing good works. While he has the best of intentions, wanting everyone to get along, he gives Evangelical Christians far more credit than they deserve. Normally when we think of Christians, it’s the jerks, the bigots, the “blowhards” (as Kristof says) who come to mind: Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Mark Driscoll, etc. Partly because of such self-righteousness, the entire evangelical movement often has been pilloried among… Read more
Generation Atheist is a new blog written by and for young atheists. Editor Laura explains why she started it: It can seem daunting to voice your opinions about religion in the real word, especially if you live in a predominantly theistic community. Many young people think about setting up websites or blogs to get their voices heard, but it can be difficult to find something to write about regularly and to get traffic to your blog. The aim of Generation… Read more
This is a guest post by John Ferguson. John is a member of the British Humanist Association, and a lifelong atheist. He is an IT professional, living in the UK with his wife and two young children. … When an American proclaims: “This is a Christian country!” he can be quickly corrected. The First Amendment enshrines separation of church and state, affords Americans freedom from religion, and ensures the country is secular. When an Englishman says the same thing… he… Read more
Reader Alan’s parents receive a magazine called The Banner published by the Christian Reformed Church. There’s a humor section in it and a recent issue had a compilation of silly things kids said… I’ve highlighted a few of them for you: Your call: Kids just unaware of what they’re saying? Or an early start to sexism? Read more
For anyone interested in going to the 2011 Midwest Humanist and Freethought Conference (and who wouldn’t be) held August 12th-14th, the early registration deadline is next Friday! (Students have a sweet rate of $20 for the whole weekend.) You can see the list of speakers here — Holy crap, I’m talking first thing Saturday morning?! Better not give my talk about math education… — and take note that we’re eating at Herman Cain’s pizza chain on Friday night 🙂 To… Read more
Chris McCoy launched a campaign to raise $50,000 for charity via GiveBack. He asked people at /r/atheism to help him out… and he won! What’s more impressive is that he didn’t start the 100-day contest until Day 92: With only a week remaining, Chris knew he needed to work fast and work smart. The 29 year-old saw the contest as an opportunity to support causes he is interested in, specifically organizations without religious affiliations which support children and communities in… Read more
Thanks, Jesse, for the kind post yesterday. (Which went up without my knowledge, you sneaky devil…) Anyway, like he said, at the Secular Student Alliance conference last night, I was presented with the Freethought Backbone Award. I’ve watched this award given to several people before and I’m pretty humbled to have been the recipient this year: I thought readers might like to know what I said (since the video’s not available yet), so here’s the copy of my speech as… Read more
by Jesse Galef – I have an announcement about Hemant. Heads up: I’m going to gush a bit. Today marks the start of the Secular Student Alliance’s Annual Conference, which promises to be an exciting weekend full of inspiration, camaraderie, and – let’s face it – a whole lot of fun. We (full disclosure: yes, we – I work for the SSA) have a great line-up speakers including Dan Barker, PZ Myers, Greta Christina, Dave Silverman, Jamila Bey, and on… Read more
