A new Gallup poll finds that religious Americans have a statistically significantly higher level of wellbeing than nonreligious Americans: They break it down, too: So what’s the explanation? There’s no set answer, but a few possible reasons come to mind: Religious service attendance promotes social interaction and friendship with others, and Gallup analysis has clearly shown that time spent socially and social networks themselves are positively associated with wellbeing. Religion generally involves more meditative states and faith in a higher… Read more
Jimmy Carter appeared on The Joy Behar Show Wednesday night and she spoke with him about religion (at the 5:58 mark): Behar: Yes. Let me ask you about religion for a second because when you were president, I know that you were a very, very religious person, a good Christian, et cetera. You never really wore your religion on your sleeve and I always admired that about you. Nowadays it seems that people are putting their religion — I was… Read more
Laura at Thinkerbell is taking back the word: The Religious Right is Pro-Fetus, Pro-Zygote, Pro-Little-Bunch-Of-Cells, Pro-Sea-Monkey, Pro-People-Seeds. Those labels all fit very well. But where is the Conservative Christian fighting for the life of the rape victim mother? Where is the anti-abortion activist who cares about the 23 year old woman who barely earns enough to support herself, let alone a new child? Where is the Religious Right who cares about the life of the woman more than the life… Read more
Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. Hi Richard, I’m a 25 year old gay male atheist. I’ve been an atheist for quite a while despite being raised as a church attending Christian. I grew up in a mostly liberal Methodist church where my family (myself included) is very active and involved. While living with my family, I always felt it was the path of least resistance to just “go with the flow” and not tell them… Read more
The Illini Secular Student Alliance (ISSA), in cooperation with SSA national and the Champaign Urbana Freethinkers, have joined forces to put ads on five buses in Champaign-Urbana, beginning in November. I love the concept: Too bad I can barely see the phrase “Good without god”… Looks much better now with these updated images! Still, it’s nice to point out that a couple of the wealthiest philanthropists in the world aren’t religious at all. (via Skeptic Money) Read more
***Update***: McCance is resigning from the school board: “I’m sorry I’ve hurt people with my comments,” Clint McCance, vice-president of the Midland School District in Pleasant Plains, Arkansas said. “I’m sorry I made those ignorant comments and hurt people on a broad spectrum.” … Clint McCance, a school board member in northern Arkansas, posted the following message to his Facebook wall after a call to wear purple in support of the LGBT community: “Seriously they want me to wear purple… Read more
It’s making a crawl for the border: I don’t really want to know if there’s “beef” in that taco… (Thanks to @SupremeC0urtney for the link!) Read more
Hmm… JT Eberhard made me an offer regarding the sexy, sexy, skeptic calendars. If we sell 600 calendars, you can be in the Skepticon 4 calendar. Hot damn. Get on that, people! I’ll have tenure by then. So nothing bad could *possibly* happen as a result. Remember: proceeds go to Skepticon 3, which will no doubt be fantastic. Read more
Members of the Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti (UAAR), an Italian atheist group, sent the following letter to their President regarding the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini (translated): Dear Mr. President, We had occasion to read an extremely incendiary article that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, wrote on 22 October 2010 on the subject of non-believers. Specifically he declared that “atheism, materialism and relativism” are “perverse phenomena” that “threaten the stability of society” and that… Read more
by Jesse Galef – I’m going to the Freedom From Religion Foundation convention is this weekend! If you can’t join Hemant to go gallivanting off to the Rally to Restore Sanity in DC, come to Madison, WI with me! It should be an awesome time. Look at some of the lineup: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Linda Greenhouse, Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, Julia Sweeney, and — of course — Dan Barker and Steven Benson. I’m really looking forward to meeting Cenk Uygur,… Read more
