Is there an atheist running for public office in Texas?! Is he qualified? Will his supposed atheism be used against him?! Yes. Yes it will. According to the Republican Party of Texas, Candidate for the Sixth Court of Appeals, Ben Franks, is reported to be a professed atheist and apparently believes the Bible is a “collection of myths.” During debate over a plank in the State Democrat Platform, members of the Platform Committee debated dropping “God” from a sentence on… Read more
Harold Ford, Jr. is the Democrat running for the Senate seat currently held by Bill Frist, who will retire after the midterm elections. He’s running against Republican Bob Corker. Ford’s latest campaign ad takes place inside of a church. Does this blur the line of separation of church and state? Or is it just Ford letting people know who he is? According to one article, Gesturing to the pews behind him, Ford in the ad says, “Here, I learned the… Read more
Next Saturday, October 7th, I will be speaking about the eBay auction and the upcoming book at the meeting of the Southeast Wisconsin FreeThinkers (SWiFT). If you’re reading this, and live nearby, I hope you can make it! More information can be found here: http://swift.humanists.net/calendar.htm. [tags]atheist, eBay, Hemant Mehta, Southeast Wisconsin FreeThinkers[/tags] Read more
I had 7 minutes to spare last weekend, so I stopped by a bookstore and read Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris. It’s a great introduction to the atheist world for anyone who knows nothing about it. For those who understand the basics (like what State-Church separation is or why atheists feel the way they do about religion), the book might be too basic. It didn’t tell me anything I hadn’t read before, and I’m sure the same… Read more
Heather Mallick is my favorite person tonight. Mostly because she sounds so perfectly Canadian. This is a “viewpoint” article from CBC news, entitled “Atheists Don’t Get It”: May I ask for a moment of silence? Consider the plight of the old-fashioned, bewildered atheist in these times where religion is the new black, so to speak. For I am an atheist and I am out of my depth. I watch the news about religion with a puzzled stare, unable to fathom… Read more
Joe Heller of the Green Bay Press-Gazette had a good one this week: [tags]Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette[/tags] Read more
A friend sent me an advance copy of Richard Dawkin’s new book, The God Delusion, a couple weeks ago. I finally finished reading it yesterday… Wow. It is good. Very good. I wish it was around my freshman year of high school– it would’ve provided a lot of confidence to me at a time when my doubts about religion were just forming. Having been an atheist for almost ten years now, I thought I already knew the main arguments in… Read more
Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation had a Letter to the Editor published in The Capital Times (Madison, WI). Normally, that’s not a huge deal, but the letter is sure to get people riled up. Plus, it got Farked. Annie Laurie and her husband Dan Barker also have a nice podcast, which is worth a listen. Subscribe on iTunes using this link: http://ffrf.libsyn.com/rss. [tags]Annie Laurie Gaylor, Dan Barker, Freedom From Religion Foundation, The Capital Times, Fark[/tags] Read more
Over at Conversation at the Edge, 8th grader Ben had a wonderful homework assignment: Cut out short phrases and paste them under the categories of Science Is… or Science Is Not… Some of the phrases include: — Democratic — Limited to the natural world — Fair — Based on Faith — Disprovable Ben says: … the same person that insisted that God was able to be studied by science also insisted to the teacher that angels could be part of… Read more
Now this is just frightening. Watch the video, too. It’ll give you nightmares. How can the supporters say this is not complete indoctrination? It teaches kids to hate those who believe differently from you… especially if they’re gay or have an abortion. And they proudly use the term “warriors.” And while some parts of the evangelical community might oppose this extreme camp, will they say anything negative about it? Of course not. Fark’s comment board is always good for others’… Read more
