American Atheists is finally putting up their first billboard, and this one’s pretty blunt compared to the happy Humanistic ones we’re used to seeing: The billboard will go up near the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City on November 23rd and it’ll stay there for a month. Dave Silverman, President of American Atheists, said that the billboard will target people who “go through the motions” of celebrating the holiday but don’t believe in the Christ myth. “Many people follow religions… Read more
There are a lot of fantastic videos for the It Gets Better project, letting young GLBT people know that the hate/bullying they’re facing right now won’t always be there in the future. While some straight people have made their own videos for that project, there’s another way you can participate and it was brought to my attention by reader Addi Twigg: It’s the We Are Allies project. Whether you make a video for that site or not, we need straight… Read more
You’re a college professor and you want to teach your students about the First Amendment. Is this going too far? Putting fundamentalists in front of class is nothing new for Tim Boudreau, a Central Michigan University professor known for challenging his media law students each semester with an unpopular guest speaker designed to illustrate the breadth of First Amendment protections. But the Holland native said he was “surprised as hell” when Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred… Read more
Tiffany Ewigleben is one of the leaders of CFI@GRCC (Grand Rapids Community College). Earlier this year, the school held a “Club Day” where different student organizations could promote themselves. On short notice, and with a chance to win $200 on the line, Tiffany’s group decided to get students’ attention by making a special offer: Send An Atheist to Church. Because our first event for the year (Food For Freethought) involves working with a non-profit food bank, we put up a… Read more
Yesterday, I mentioned that Ms. Magazine posted a poorly-researched article by Monica Shores that essentially stated there are no female leaders in the atheist movement. Jen McCreight’s rebuttal is now posted on the magazine’s website: And don’t assume that women are relegated to working behind the scenes, or only come in the form of the “gentle storyteller.” Dozens and dozens of women authors, journalists, bloggers, podcasters and comedians are producing amazing work, some of them gnashing their teeth even louder… Read more
Pastor Ed Young isn’t just asking for donations at his church. Forget voluntary tithing. He wants full access to your bank account: Yeah… what could possibly go wrong there? I don’t care if he is their pastor; how are some of these churchgoers so gullible that they’re willing to give someone else — anyone else — their bank account number? If they feel like giving money to the church, then they can do it! But it’s crazy to allow anyone… Read more
I’d love to hear the Christian response to this: Side note: Can you tell by the post lengths lately that teaching and Speech coaching are taking over my life? (via Atheist Cartoons) Read more
The Daily Orange newspaper at Syracuse University had a front page story yesterday about the rise of college atheist groups: The number of secular student organizations on college campuses is on the rise, with a 42 percent increase from last year, according to the Secular Student Association. Syracuse University has been home to a secular student organization since 2009. “The outlook for secular groups is really promising,” said Jesse Graf, communications director of SSA. “We’re noticing a lot of growth,… Read more
I know there’s a general consensus that if you own a book, you have the right to do what you want with it. That rule applies to holy books, too. You want to desecrate a Koran in the name of free speech? Go buy some first — or get some as donations. If it’s your property, you can do what you’d like with it. Right…? Almost. Intent matters. If you want to burn Korans because it’ll piss off Muslims, you’re… Read more
Ms. Magazine has an irresponsibly put-together piece about the supposed lack of women in the “New Atheism” movement: Given the immense harm many organized religions inflict on women through outright violence and institutional oppression, it seems women may have more to gain than men from exiting their faith. Yet no women are currently recognized as leaders or even mentioned as a force within the movement. Apparently, reporter Monica Shores didn’t have any time while writing her 750+ word piece to… Read more
