Lars Vilks, one of many artists threatened over a Muhammad drawing, finished his lecture at Uppsala University in Sweden yesterday. Total cost for 130 police officers and additional guards? Nearly 800,000 SEK (or $120,125.60 US dollars). According to reader Richard: The basic law is something like this: if someone is threatened for expressing themselves (in whatever way they may choose) the state will protect that persons person in all of her/his actions. Trivial conclusion: There’s a cost to these threats… Read more
The other day, this was the “Dennis the Menace” comic strip published across the country: I’m pretty sure you all can come up with a more amusing caption for that image… Prove me right! (via The Comics Curmudgeon — thanks to Colin for the link!) Read more
by Jesse Galef – We nontheists are becoming part of the media’s collective consciousness. If you ever talk about, write about, or have any interest in atheism in America, you should seriously consider checking this out: the news service Religion Link just released an incredible and extensive resource about the movement: Freethinkers: A source guide to atheists, humanists and other nontheists. They put it together primarily to help journalists write stories about nontheism, but it can be valuable for anyone… Read more
Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. Good day Richard, my name is Ken and I have never been a strong believer in a Deity. As a kid my mom did teach us to believe in God, but over my 36 years on earth, I have seen and been a part of some really sad and unbelievable things, which have forced me to open my mind and now I feel like believing is like believing in a… Read more
Yesterday, the British Humanist Association launched the Census Campaign: The 2001 census introduced a new question on religion. It was a single, closed, leading question –- “What is your religion?” –- which produced a very high measure of religiosity compared to all other surveys. Millions of people were counted as religious when their “religion” was only a nominal, cultural affiliation, or just a habitual response to ticking “Christian”. It’s a simple, yet important, campaign. The BHA is making a simple… Read more
Umm… hey, Oral Roberts Ministries, I know you’re proud of your magazine Miracles and all, but you should really get someone outside your staff to approve your covers… Wow… (Thanks to Meredith for the link!) Read more
Druidry is now an official religion in Britain: Druidry, an ancient Celtic belief that worships deities who take their forms in nature, has been given the official status of a ‘religion’ in Britain. It is a form of neo-paganism, along with Wicca, Voodoo and Shamanism. Surprisingly enough the belief system is already provided with tax-exempt religious group status in the US. … … Neo-pagans seek to communicate with spirits, but witchcraft is not satanic because its believers don’t recognize the… Read more
I’ve been speaking at a lot of places the past few months and it’s always nice to know that something I said connected with the audience. Reader Katy sent me this email the other day… it meant a lot to me and she was nice enough to give me permission to share it: Thanks so much for coming to Mobile and giving a talk! One of the things that made the biggest impact on me was when you were talking… Read more
My latest piece for the Washington Post On Faith blog answers the questions: How should constituents interpret statements by politicians who see their campaigns and causes as part of God’s plan? How do you decipher God’s intentions for you? A part of my response: … we live in a society where too many people vote based on which fictional deity a candidate believes in and not the positions that candidate takes. People who vote for candidates because they’re swayed by… Read more
I missed last night’s episode of Glee. Actually, I’ve missed just about every episode of Glee… but I know enough about it to download the soundtracks and realize that last night’s episode was all about faith. Reader Kate, who writes the very-well-written-and-why-wasn’t-I-reading-this-before Suburban Sweetheart blog, was nice enough to explain the episode to me. And now, to you. There are a couple spoilers in case you plan to watch the episode later. You’ve been warned. After seeing last Tuesday’s preview,… Read more
