The New York Times has a piece in Wednesday’s paper about the holiday arrival of atheist bus ads and billboards, including the American Humanist Association’s bonanza from yesterday. There’s a secondary story about how various non-theistic groups are competing with one-another for members: That is one reason for the multiple campaigns: the groups are competing with one another to gain market share, said Mark Silk, founding director of the Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, which… Read more
David Hayward has an idea of what “I-Want-Your-Bank-Account-Number” Pastor Ed Young will do for an encore: (via nakedpastor) Read more
Liberty Counsel is back with their annual list of where you shouldn’t be shopping this year because some stores dare use the phrase “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” in their advertising. Have fun reading the 8th annual “Naughty & Nice list.” This year, you better not waste your time on Best Buy: Web site: No “Christmas” on home page and only one link “Guaranteed Christmas Delivery.” Consumer report that company spokeswoman, Dawn Bryant, announced they would not use “Christmas”… Read more
Today, the American Humanist Association is launching the largest atheist ad campaign in history. It challenges Biblical morality and fundamentalist Christianity and it’s bound to get a lot of attention. There will be a TV commercial during Dateline NBC this Friday night. There will be billboards in Idaho and Philadelphia and bus ads in Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. There will be ads on cable TV, ads in magazines like Reason and The Progressive, and ads in… Read more
The only thing scarier than watching this Christian version of “SexyBack” was the realization that the church in question is only a two-minute drive from my parents’ house. I sometimes get gas at that Jewel Express… I had a public dialogue with one of the pastors in that video (the one at the 0:50 mark) a few years back — and even talked about the church in I Sold My Soul on eBay. In fact, a misleading, full-of-error, pro-Creationism pamphlet… Read more
If you haven’t accepted Jesus in your life yet, November is the perfect time to do so because Landover Baptist Church is offering a free gift: If I weren’t a vegetarian, I’d be all over this Salvation Turkey. Read more
***Update***: Links have been fixed! … Josh Moon of the Montgomery Advertiser — a self-described Christian — has some beautifully harsh words for Christian chaplains who are calling to keep “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” intact so they won’t have to counsel gay soldiers: Jesus Christ seemed to be a big proponent of treating others the way you would want to be treated… on more than one occasion, he encouraged all of us to do the same. You would think that… Read more
It’s hard being an atheist in Amarillo, Texas. But a group of freethinkers are trying to do some helpful community service in the area. Following in the footsteps of the Greensboro Atheist Organization, members of the Freethought Oasis group have adopted a highway! We’ve adopted a two-mile stretch of FM 1541 (South Washington), beginning about two miles south of McCormick Road. Come join us as we participate in the Texas Adopt-A-Highway program and improve the environment here in the Texas… Read more
Sexie Sadie has a lot to say about the problems with abstinence-only sex education, but in the process, she raises an important question about why some people “save themselves” for marriage: I’ve never understood the concept of “saving yourself for marriage”. What exactly is one “saving” by waiting until the blessed wedding night to have sexual intercourse? An unbroken hymen? And what does one expect to accomplish by doing so? Moral fortitude? The rhetoric itself implies that proprietorship thing that… Read more
It’s short notice — my bad — but I’ll be speaking at Elmhurst College (in the suburbs of Chicago) tonight (Monday)! The event takes place at 7:00 p.m. in the Founders Lounge. The topic: “The supremely awesome and controversial and generous things that secular college students are doing across the country.” I promise to find a snappier title than that. Read more
