The Parks & Recreation Department in Liberty, Missouri is sponsoring a summer concert series, which sounds all well and good. In fact, this August, the KC All Stars will be playing. Over the weekend, though, the concert series kicked off with a performance by Sidewalk Prophets, a Christian band. The event cost the city $9,500. It was “heavily promoted on Christian radio stations Calvary 88.5 and K-Love 97.3.” And a non-perishable food collection was taken up for a local ministry:… Read more
My friend Rachel Held Evans, who wrote the awesome book Evolving in Monkey Town, is embarking on a project where her fellow Christians can ask a guest from a different background (Mormon, Orthodox Jew, etc.) whatever questions they want, and the guest will respond to the most popular questions the following week. I’m happy to be the first guest and Christians are welcome to submit their questions for me on her site… BRING IT! *Hemant puts on boxing gloves…* Read more
When an anti-gay Christian preacher is spouting his/her hate speech, there are clever ways to strike back… There are even scandalous ways to strike back… … but you don’t want to actually touch/harass the preacher. Unfortunately, that’s what 74-year-old gay rights supporter Joan Parker did recently: … Parker admits she kissed a preacher on the cheek at the event, proclaimed by the Salisbury mayor as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Day. “He was just waving his arms and has… Read more
When people start discussing philosophy or Christian apologetics, I tend to get bored easily, but Zach Weiner does a nice job explaining the problem with theodicy (why there’s suffering in the world if god exists): That’s panel one. The rest is here 🙂 Read more
Were the teachings of Jesus really as morally incredible as his followers claim? Not so much, says Peter Brietbart, producer of the terrific-looking new short film Madman or Something Worse. I’ll sometimes hear Christians quote Mahatma Gandhi: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” I don’t know if Gandhi ever actually said that, but there’s a sense that even though some Christians are jerks, Jesus was a great role model…. Read more
Guess who’s helping lead San Antonio’s gay pride parade this Saturday? Will Phillips! Will is the 11-year-old who’s been advocating civil rights for years — years! — refusing to stand for the Pledge because we don’t really have “liberty and justice for all” and speaking out in support of same-sex marriage. Will has long been motivated by a desire to see people treated fairly, she said. While just in preschool, Will fumed when other school kids taunted one of his… Read more
I asked you all what kinds of Atheist Acts of Altruism you do and I heard some really inspiring examples. To be sure, none of these events happened because someone was an atheist (though it gets mentioned). These are just good people reaching out to strangers. Church members don’t have a monopoly on doing things like this, even if they sometimes act like they do. I was working highway construction one night, standing in a road closure, when a car… Read more
Church and State will remain separate on Georgia’s license plates thanks to all of you. Earlier this week, I mentioned that Georgia was having an online vote to decide it’s new license plate. And three of the eight entries had “In God We Trust” printed on them. Like this one: Well, there were enough complaints for the state to *ahem* clarify their policy. Georgia residents who expressed concern this week about a proposed Georgia license plate that includes the phrase… Read more
See this? What does that remind you of? I say a vine that vaguely resembles a cross. Because I’m sane. Kent Hardison, who runs a Ma’s Hot Dog stand in nearby Kinston, North Carolina, sees Jesus… because he doesn’t understand pareidolia: He says he was getting ready to spray it with herbicide until he noticed the resemblance. Hardison and his customers think the vine can be seen as a symbolic reminder that God is watching over people. Or a reminder… Read more
Your Atheist Muse has a simple question for any Christian opposing gay marriage because it goes against what their God wants for us: I’m an Atheist, my husband is an Atheist, and we decided not to have children. Therefore, by your definition of marriage, should we have been allowed to marry? I’d love to hear the answer… … You know, we used to hear Christians make the argument that it was an “elite” group of people who overturned gay marriage… Read more
