The New Yorker has a weekly caption contest and one of you *has* to win this week! The deadline is Sunday, so think fast. After you submit your caption to them, feel free to share it with us here 🙂 (Thanks to Jennifer for the link!) Read more
For anyone in the area, I’ll be speaking in Indiana to the Purdue Non-Theists on Sunday, January 30th! Where:: Lilly Hall Of Life Sciences Room G126, 915 W. State St., West Lafayette, IN When:: The talk begins at 5:00p. It’ll focus on how the Religious Right went after me, how I responded, and what anyone else can do in a similar situation. And then we’ll probably make fun of Jen McCreight since she’s in Seattle and can’t do anything about… Read more
I’m late to the party here but you may have seen this video of preacher Cindy Jacobs blaming the recent dead blackbirds on the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: It could be because we have said it’s okay for people who commit these kinds of [homosexual] acts to be recognized in our military for the first time in our history, there is a potential that there is something that actually happened in the land where a hundred thousand drum… Read more
The Onion explains the real Christian agenda: See? There *is* a good reason to read all those “begats”… I wonder if Asian kids would rock the BATs, too… Read more
David Hayward shows us a phenomenon I’m sure many Christians have experienced: But for so many of them, it doesn’t mean goodbye. If anything, they try to rationalize for the fact that god never actually responds. I just need stronger faith. That voice I just made up was God speaking to me, right? God will come back soon. God’s just testing me right now. It’s a cruel joke, really, that they can’t always distinguish between the invisible and the non-existent…. Read more
Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. Hi Richard, By the time this is answered, it will be a moot point because the funeral is tomorrow but I thought I would ask. My young cousin died very unexpectedly and our family is having a Catholic ceremony for her. I am an atheist and while this is known to my immediate family and probably to a good portion of my extended family, I am not sure that my… Read more
I’m used to politicians pandering to religious Americans. There’s more of them, so there are more votes to be gained by speaking their “language.” That coupled with the fact that President Obama is a Christian just meant we could expect a lot of religious references in his speech in Tucson, Arizona yesterday. I wasn’t disappointed: There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: the hopes of a nation are… Read more
***Update***: Vanderbilt will be changing their application. It now reads: “While Vanderbilt expects all health care providers, including nurses who participate in the Nurse Residency Program’s Women’s Health Track, to provide compassionate care to all patients… no health care provider is required to participate in a procedure terminating a pregnancy if such participation would be contrary to an individual’s religious beliefs or moral convictions.” I think they’re caving unnecessarily. They’re also giving the Christians a victory they don’t deserve, but… Read more
John Freshwater, the Creationism-spewing science teacher who branded his students with a cross, has finally — finally! — been fired. In his wake, he leaves several students who are very likely undereducated when it comes to basic science and a $900,000 bill. The dismissal should’ve happen a long time ago. But the administrators just looked the other way… until it was too much to slide under a rug. So while it’s sad to see a public school district spending so… Read more
The BCS championship game between Oregon and Auburn is over but there’s one tangential story worth sharing. The Oregonian had a side-by-side comparison of the two schools in advance of the game… one of the items was “Notable student club/organization” and guess who was mentioned? Go, Alliance of Happy Atheists! Meanwhile, anyone else notice the crazy amount of money spent on the football program operating budget for both schools? It’s ridiculous to say this is money well spent when just… Read more
