Here’s what I know about Senate Bill 1619, filed recently by Illinois State Senator Heather A. Steans: It calls for comprehensive sex education, while supporting abstinence: Each class or course in comprehensive sex education offered in any of grades 6 through 12 shall include instruction on both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS… All public elementary, junior high, and senior high school classes that teach sex education and discuss sexual intercourse shall… Read more
The latest video in the excellent Symphony of Science series focuses on the brain. This one featured the autotuned words of Carl Sagan, Jill Bolte Taylor, and Bill Nye, among others: Read more
You know by now that Rock Beyond Belief, the rally for atheists in the military, was canceled due to restrictions put upon organizers by Fort Bragg officials. According to Sgt. Justin Griffith, one of the problems officals had was that the speakers/performers never issued a “Statement of Intent” saying we were coming. That was because we were never told to issue such a statement… It’s not like the Christians had to do that for their (similar) event. But forget the… Read more
Last we heard, Michael Newdow’s long-standing attempt to remove “Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance was stopped (again) by the Supreme Court. More recently, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled against him in his attempt to get “In God We Trust” off the currency, saying that “the phrase is ceremonial and patriotic and ‘has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion.’”… so Newdow appealed his case to the Supreme Court. Yesterday, the… Read more
Last night, Lawrence O’Donnell ripped into Glenn Beck and Christianity while setting the record straight on Thomas Jefferson: The transcript below is adapted from the MSNBC website and may not be verbatim: I’ve gotten to Beck as no one has before, thrown him off his game by going where none of his television critics have gone before. To his preaching, to the religious components of his fact-free presentations on FOX News and his radio show. This, Beck cannot abide because… Read more
You know how the Bible says the Rapture is coming on May 21st? According to [Family Radio founder Harold] Camping’s prediction, the Rapture will happen exactly 7,000 years from the date that God first warned people about the flood. He said the flood happened in 4990 B.C., on what would have been May 21 in the modern calendar. God gave Noah one week of warning. Since one day equals 1,000 years for God, that means there was a 7,000-year interval… Read more
I know, I know, A Week has barely started, but Trevor Boeckmann (of the University of Northern Iowa Freethinkers and Inquirers — UNIFI) is not happy with it. And he has a very good point. No one outside of our movement knows what the “A” means. Yes, some people will look up what’s going on. Most won’t. Want to actually help help with the movement? Grab a sheet of paper, write that you’re an atheist, and make that your profile… Read more
***Update***: An interesting addendum: The BBC reports that the percentage of nones may be rising a lot more than you think: A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers. The study found a steady rise in those claiming no religious affiliation. The team’s mathematical model attempts to account for the interplay between the number of religious respondents and the social motives behind being one. The result, reported at the American… Read more
It’s a bit last-minute, but I’ll be leading a discussion with student leaders during the 2011 Northwest Freethought Conference in Portland, OR this Saturday afternoon! I’ll consider myself an appetizer to PZ Myers’ main course. (He’s delivering the keynote that night.) If you’re attending the sold-out conference, you should know I love root beer floats. And I *really* want to visit that Powell’s bookstore everyone always tells me about… Read more
Note: The letter writer’s name has been changed, and his location has been made more general to protect his privacy. Hi Richard, I am a Small Groups Pastor at a Christian Church in a mid-sized city in the Midwest. I wanted to say I really appreciate the tone of your website, it is quite refreshing. Our church is doing a series on why you believe what you believe, and I was wondering if you could provide me with the most… Read more
