Due to her only-god-will-save-you parents, this is what happened to 8-month-old Alayna May Wyland: Timothy and Rebecca Wyland’s daughter Alayna, born in December 2009, developed an abnormal growth of blood vessels that covered her left eye and threatened her vision. … The Wylands belong to the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City congregation that relies on faith healing. Rather than taking their daughter to a doctor, they relied on prayer, anointing with oil and laying on of hands. There’s finally… Read more
This isn’t graphic, but it’ll disturb you… In Malaysia, there’s a new group called the Obedient Wives Club. It’s designed to help women “serve their husbands better than a first-class prostitute.” Inspiring, no…? “A good or religious wife should also be good in bed,” [vice-president Dr Rohaya Mohamad] told reporters after the launch of the club’s Malaysian chapter at a golf club here yesterday. She said a husband who was kept happy in the bedroom would have no reason to… Read more
The folks at A-News said some sweet things about me in their latest episode (around the 13:00 mark) — but you should really watch it for their coverage of an equal rights rally. They have fantastic interviews, including one with atheist politician Cecil Bothwell! You can see other episodes of their show at their site and keep up with them on Facebook! Read more
A new law (PDF) in Tennessee could get a lot of atheists in trouble. Tennessee legislators have passed an extraordinary law that makes it a crime to “transmit or display an image” online that is likely to “frighten, intimidate or cause emotional distress” to someone who sees it. Violations can get you almost a year in jail time or up to $2500 in fines. So… let’s say you draw a stick figure image of Muhammad and make it your Facebook… Read more
Jessica Hagy found a way to link up Anthony Weiner with the Muhammad cartoons. Well played, Jessica… (via Indexed) Read more
The Public Religion Research Institute just released a survey (PDF) that asked people about their views on abortion and same-sex marriage (among other things). The results indicate some good news! When it comes to same-sex marriage, more than half of all people (57%) ages 18-29 support it. The numbers go down as the demographics get older. What does that mean? Despite all the obstacles Christians and Mormons want to put in the path to civil rights, the trend is not… Read more
I’m not playing this old clip from The Atheist Experience because the caller is unbelievably misinformed about atheists. I’m not playing it because the hosts, Jeff Dee and Russell Glasser, do a nice job of responding to her ignorance. I’m playing it because the funniest part of the clip is how the host on the right pushes the “mute” button when he wants to correct the caller. I love that button! Why don’t all the cable news shows make something… Read more
It looks like Ken Ham read the writeup about the home-schooling convention. Surprise, surprise, he’s not happy. As I was checking out links on the internet yesterday (I receive “alerts” when the name of Answers in Genesis pops up on websites), I came across a scathing report of the recent presentations I gave at the Homeschool Convention in Naperville, Illinois. However, then I realized the report was written by an atheist who attended the lectures. Therefore, such mocking, scathing comments… Read more
I love high school students who are smarter than their administrators… and you see that often at Catholic schools. St. Joseph Catholic Secondary School in Toronto recently banned rainbows — rainbows — because they were “associated with Pride.” Mind you, if you wanted to ban things that reminded people of homosexuality, the whole goddamn Church would shut down, but that’s besides the point. In retaliation to their idiocy, 16-year-old Leanne Iskander, who started the school’s “unofficial” gay-straight alliance, held an… Read more
Jim Gilliam gave one hell of an inspiring speech at the recent Personal Democracy Forum. He talks about growing up as a fundamentalist Christian, attending Liberty University, getting cancer, losing his faith, and then finding a new (much more powerful) religion. As I was prepping for the surgery, I wasn’t thinking about Jesus, or whether my heart would start beating again after they stopped it, or whether I would go to heaven if it didn’t. I was thinking about all… Read more
