I stop focusing on this site for a week and all hell breaks loose in the blogosphere — sexism, feminism, who said what, whether something was interpreted as intended — I haven’t kept up with much of it myself. But this video came to my attention, so I’ll just put it out there. Some background: This is a panel discussion at the American Atheists Southeast Regional Atheist Meet (SERAM). At the 4:05 mark, they reference Sean Faircloth’s speech from the… Read more
There’s a (very, very) long anti-Scientology article by Lawrence Wright in the latest New Yorker that deserves a skimming. I won’t go into detail here — but I think several of you have experienced something similar to Paul Haggis in this passage: [Haggis] was born in 1953, and grew up in London, Ontario, a manufacturing town midway between Toronto and Detroit. His father, Ted, had a construction company there, which specialized in pouring concrete. His mother, Mary, a Catholic, sent… Read more
by Jesse Galef – What a victory! This has been an incredible week for us at the Secular Student Alliance, reaching 250 affiliates and today we got some great news. We all know that teenage atheists can have a really tough time finding a community and starting a group – the story one Oklahoma student posted on reddit is disturbing, but depressingly common. A student wants to start a group, gets delayed or outright blocked by the administration, and suddenly… Read more
The dating site OKCupid has always been great for providing readers with data on user trends. Most recently, they pointed out that you don’t always get to ask the questions you *really* want the answers to on your first date with someone. Is he a drug addict? Will she have sex on the first date? Do we share political views? Even though I’m sure some of you are very open about all these things before you meet someone, others may… Read more
This is a guest post by JT Eberhard. JT is a Campus Organizer and High School Specialist for the Secular Student Alliance. He is also a contributor to Atheism Resource. … I attended the American Atheists’ Southeast Regional Atheist Meet (SERAM) at the end of January, excited about AA’s newfound focus on local groups, grassroots organizing, and finding a niche for their organization. Sharon Moss and Lyz Liddell, both of whom have been involved in our movement for years, noticed… Read more
by Jesse Galef – While we’re mentioning interviews today I wanted to pass along that I’ll be on FOX News’ Alan Colmes Radio Show tonight at 10:30PM EST to discuss the Secular Student Alliance’s recent success in helping secular high school students! It should be positive – yes, it’s FOX, but it’s Alan Colmes who I suspect will be friendly to our message. I’m never sure what to expect, though. (Hemant has been burned by this before, too.) I’ve had… Read more
Thomas Beasley at the podcast An American Atheist interviewed me last week and it’s now up on their site! My segment begins at the 39:37 mark, but the rest of the show is worthwhile, too 🙂 Read more
by Jesse Galef – If I’ve learned anything from blogging, it’s that I’m not writing for myself. Maybe other people treat their blogs as diaries, but I see blogging as a way to communicate my ideas to others. No surprise there; it’s what I do. I’m a communications director at heart, not just for a job. When I see crappy communication causing confusion or controversy, I feel compelled to counter it. (Ok, that alliteration WAS for me.) Case in point:… Read more
(Hemant’s note: This is a guest post by JulietEcho. She was the fantastic admin for the Friendly Atheist forums for three years until stepping down recently to make time for law school.) … Whenever there’s a post here on Friendly Atheist about gay rights, free speech, or some other issue not directly related to atheism, there’s a good chance that at least one reader will complain. “What’s an atheist blog doing discussing this off-topic stuff?” they’ll ask. While this content… Read more
by Jesse Galef – This achievement has been years in the making. When the Secular Student Alliance board hired its first full-time campus organizer in 2003, they set a goal: reach 250 affiliated student groups. Well, it happened over the weekend! We’ve been growing rapidly in just the past few years – rapidly enough to go from two full-time staff this time last year to four full-time (myself included) and three part-time employees. But for us to finally reach 250…… Read more
