About a year ago, Eric Workman was graduating from Indiana’s Greenwood High School. The school had allowed students to vote on whether or not to pray at graduation. Eric contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation and they put a stop to that illegal practice. As is always the case, student speakers were allowed to insert prayers into their own speeches. The administrators even let everybody know (*cough cough*) they wouldn’t screen the speeches beforehand… I’m getting a sense of déjà… Read more
I love those stories where sports and religion collide. I’m not used to seeing it in hockey, though. in case you haven’t heard, the New York Rangers’ trash-talking player Sean Avery recently issued a public service announcement in favor of marriage equality: It’s a great message and it’s nice to hear it from an athlete, especially given the sense of homophobia in major league sports. (Quick! Name an openly gay professional athlete!) Anyway, that led agent and vice president of… Read more
The people behind the Ask An Atheist show have a nice little “countdown to the Rapture” at a website called WeCantKnow.com: The site’s URL is a response to Family Radio’s WeCanKnow.com. Ask An Atheist also has an awesome party planned for the night if the Rapture… you know, just for those of you Left Behind and near the Tacoma, Washington area. So what’s everyone else doing that night, Saturday, May 21st? (via Seattlepi) Read more
It takes a special kind of conservative Christian to try and use science to justify their beliefs when they’ve done so much to ruin science education… but that’s what Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink is doing in the video below. According to them, “redefining marriage” makes as much sense as “redefining gravity.” How many holes can you poke in the video? I’ll start you off: They define gravity as going “down only” when gravity is an attraction between two masses… Read more
Yes it does. We already know the fact that Jesus ain’t coming back will take an emotional toll on all those gullible Christians who believe this “May 21st is Judgment Day” nonsense. But it’s also taking a financial toll on one man: A 60-year-old New York City man is so sure the world will end on May 21, he has spent his retirement savings to warn people about it. According to a report from the New York Daily News, Robert… Read more
The Seattle Atheists are capitalizing on Judgment Day on May 21st by holding a Rapture Relief program! All proceeds will benefit Camp Quest: (I’m with Jen — what a kickass logo.) So what exactly is “Rapture Relief”? On the off chance that they are completely wrong, Jesus doesn’t come back, and life continues as normal, we will do our part to help the next generation avoid getting into this heartbreaking situation themselves. … If there is a universe left after… Read more
When I was in high school, it took me a while to come out as an atheist to even my closest friends. That got easier over time, but I wasn’t about to announce it to the world at that age. Walker Bristol, a student at Tufts, felt the same way. But his younger brother, a sophomore, is about to start a high school atheist group and Walker is amazed at how effortless it seems: So when, a few weeks ago,… Read more
Things you can already do in the state of Missouri: Privately read a Bible in school Privately pray before a City Council meeting Privately pray in public spaces Things a newly proposed Constitutional Amendment (sponsored by Republican Rep. Mike McGhee of Odessa) would allow people in Missouri to do: Privately read a Bible in school Privately pray before a City Council meeting Privately pray in public spaces So why even bother with the legislation? McGhee said he sponsored the legislation… Read more
You have to feel bad for a college student who goes through this: In October, his wallet, student ID and room key were stolen. Then, he said, he received a death threat on Facebook. A few weeks ago, he found his replacement ID cut into pieces and covered in urine. And it all happened at Messiah College, a private Christian school in Grantham, Pennsylvania. What did Isaiah Thomas do to deserve that kind of treatment? Here’s a hint: “I’ve had… Read more
***Update***: Since the posting, I’ve learned that this study was funded by the Templeton Foundation. Also, check out Paul’s comment below, where he notes this was not peer-reviewed in a scientific journal, nor was it vetted by science journalists. … A new study co-directed by Oxford University professor Roger Trigg says that “Religion comes naturally, even instinctively, to human beings.” Trigg is co-director of the three-year Oxford-based project, which incorporated more than 40 different studies by dozens of researchers looking… Read more
