I know I’m late to post this, but it’s too good not to share. Pat Tillman’s brother Richard Tillman appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher last week to talk about the documentary The Tillman Story. The movie tells how the military manipulated Pat’s death and used it as war propaganda. You rarely hear about Pat’s atheism in the mainstream media, but Pat never shied away from it. Richard shares those beliefs and he held nothing back during his interview… Read more
Some of you may have heard of the Alpha Course, a course of study to learn about Christianity. CelticBear, an atheist, decided to take the course at his wife’s request. It might sound painful, but he’s been blogging about each of the ten sessions, so he has plenty of reason to pay attention. The course is called Explore The Meaning of Life: The Alpha Course. by an English Anglican priest, Nicky Gumbel. Evidently, he’s taken this course, which has been… Read more
The Center for Inquiry recently held a video contest for their Campaign for Free Expression. Today, on International Blasphemy Rights Day, they announced their winner — and it’s a great pick: Center for Inquiry (CFI) is pleased to announce that Gregory Walsh and John Schmid of Maryland are the Grand Prize winners of its Campaign for Free Expression Video Contest, which asked contestants to submit short videos in the form of a public service announcement that addresses the importance of… Read more
Hello Richard, I am new to this, but would like to know what you think. I was raised in a Christian home, but since being an adult, I do not believe in what Christians call God. Whenever I questioned my family, they would tell me I had to get on my knees and beg God to forgive me. If there is a God, a forgiving God, then why would I have to beg him to forgive me? Every day, I… Read more
Here’s a frightening story about a politician cyber-bullying a college student: For nearly six months, Andrew Shirvell, an assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan, has waged an internet campaign against college student Chris Armstrong, the openly gay student assembly president at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Using the online moniker “Concerned Michigan Alumnus,” Shirvell launched his blog in late April. “Welcome to ‘Chris Armstrong Watch,'” Shirvell wrote in his inaugural blog post. “This is a site… Read more
Stephen Janick and Alexander Howard have an excellent op-ed in the Tufts Daily about the need for a Humanist chaplain at their school: While [Tufts Freethought Society] services the needs of its current membership through weekly meetings and the sponsorship of lecture series, its club status limits its ability to accommodate the needs of the broader non?religious community. The establishment of a Humanist chaplaincy at Tufts would provide non-religious Tufts students an organizational infrastructure and legitimacy greater than what TFS… Read more
Blow up a school for girls? No one pays attention. Burn a Koran? Now, that’s blasphemy. So say Jesus and Mo: It’s true — too many religious people make a way bigger deal about the desecration of holy books and crackers than they do about the desecration of human beings in those religious environments. Read more
Simone Pathe, a student at Bates College, has a nice article about being an atheist that starts off with a hurtful truth: By publishing this article on the internet I am probably eliminating any shot I ever had at being elected President of the United States. I’m not too concerned because living in the White House has never been my biggest goal. But, after having motivational mantras drummed into my head for 12 years of public school, and even after… Read more
You may remember the name Lars Vilks — he’s the Swedish artist who was at the center of controversy in 2007 because he drew the Islamic prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body. You can read more about those pictures here. A few months ago, Vilks spoke at Uppsala University in Sweden and this is what went down: His home was fire-bombed a few days after that. After the attacks, Vilks was promised a chance to return to the school to… Read more
It was this day 15 years ago when Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the most famous atheist of her time, was murdered by a former employee. It’s hard to find people these days who have anything nice to say about her. For all she did — like getting mandatory prayer out of public school — she was rude, unpleasant to be around, and not popular even within a like-minded crowd. The biographies written about her attest to that. Last week, I asked… Read more
