A reader sends this email and needs your advice: I am engaged to be married and both my fiance and I are atheists living in London, England. We really want to do some kind of marriage preparation course, but can’t afford the fees for the only secular course we can find and we would feel such hypocrites attending the (free or very cheap) marriage preparation courses run by any of our local churches. (One of them advertises as “open to… Read more
We know a lot of candidates for Congress are opposed to gay marriage, but Ted Danz, a Republican running against incumbent Democrat Paul Tonko in the Albany, NY area, might be going even further (emphasis mine): I am opposed to same sex marriage. Marriage is a term that should only be used to define the religious union between one man and one woman. Got that, atheists? None of you are allowed to get married, either. Now we have to figure… Read more
This must be on the list of Bible stories they will never teach you about in Sunday School: (via TheThinkingAtheist) Read more
David Hayward seems to think Satan is responsible for the “exorcism” of questions: Funny, I thought God was responsible for the same thing. (via nakedpastor) Read more
This is why I love the ladies at Negative Entropy: When I have a baby, this site will become a 24/7 Baby-as-food blog… you all know that, right? Read more
This report is all I’m seeing about the story, but if it’s true, it’s a doozy: Evolutionary biologist and best-selling author Richard Dawkins claims an employee of his Foundation for Reason and Science embezzled $375,000 from the online store he ran for Dawkins’ charity, by claiming it made only $30,000 in 3 years. … Dawkins says he found out about the scam this year, when the Foundation decided to wrest control of the store from [Josh] Timonen. Timonen handed over… Read more
If any of you can help out the Landover Baptist Church, they’re looking for help with their Halloween Hell House: It only gets worse: Look in dumpsters behind Planned Parenthood or each and every trash container in any government housing project! Put as many fetuses as you can into a strong plastic bag, then put them into a cooler and pack it with ice to keep the fetuses fresh. Remember, your packages must arrive before October 24th! Simply send whatever… Read more
Richard Wade reporting. Reader Eoin recently commented on an Ask Richard post from last February dealing with a question about officially leaving the Catholic Church. Eoin brings to our attention the fact that the Vatican has suspended all processing of individual acts of formal defection from the RCC. The Irish website Count Me Out has been providing information, guidance and access to the forms needed for people wanting to file a “Declaration of Defection.” They report: In April of this… Read more
It’s been a while since I’ve written about John Freshwater, the middle school science teacher who was accused of burning crosses into his students’ arms and teaching Creationism. Since his firing in 2008, he’s been on “unpaid administrative leave pending an appeal.” On Thursday, though, Freshwater dropped his lawsuit. Freshwater had sought $1 million in the 2009 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus, arguing that his free speech and civil rights were violated. He also asked a judge… Read more
I’ve written a few times about how frustrated I get when Christians apologize for other Christians’ treatment of the LGBT community. Apologies are nice, but they don’t go all the way. Jim Wallis, the leader of the “Religious Left,” says something I wish I heard Christians say more often in regards to the bullying of gays and lesbians: … to paraphrase Christ, if you oppose bullying, what reward will you get? Isn’t everybody against it? If all you do is… Read more
