My one-time “soul” buyer Jim Henderson is buddies with William P. Young, the author of the Christian best-seller The Shack. I don’t really know why that book sold as many copies as it did. I read it. It was a decent story, but not much more than that. I suppose it’s controversial in some Christian circles because of the “shock” revealed to the main character: He enters the shack and encounters manifestations of the three persons of the Trinity. God… Read more
Forgive the rant. I’m writing this late at night and I’m full of things to say. … I went out to dinner with a good friend last night — she happens to be religious, though not in any overt way — and at one point the conversation shifted to things I was doing concerning atheism. As I talked about some of the stories that got me all worked up over the past few months (Draw Muhammad Day, anti-gay seminars, etc.),… Read more
Well played, Zach Weiner: And that’s only the beginning. If we begin packing the envelopes now, the Tea Party will be out of commission come November… (via SMBC) Read more
How desperate do you have to be to think that a telephone pole covered in vines is really a sign from Jesus? Contrary to the man’s assertions, driving more slowly past the pole doesn’t make me any more gullible. And why the hell is MSNBC wasting time on this guy? (via Atheist Media Blog — Thanks to Ashley for the link!) Read more
I’m doing a little bit of traveling over the next few weekends (and a little beyond), so if you’re in these areas, here’s the basic information on my upcoming talks. Hope to see you there 🙂 University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL When: Saturday, September 11th at 6:00 p.m. Where: USA Humanities Building — Auditorium Room 170 Harvard University in Cambridge, MA When: Sunday, September 19th at 1:30 p.m. Where: 19 Arrow St. Cambridge, MA 02138 Longwood University in… Read more
Christopher Hitchens has been writing a lot about his illness lately, and in his latest Vanity Fair piece, he mentions a close Christian friend: Dr. Francis Collins is one of the greatest living Americans. He is the man who brought the Human Genome Project to completion, ahead of time and under budget, and who now directs the National Institutes of Health… I know Francis, too, from various public and private debates over religion. He has been kind enough to visit… Read more
Pat Condell has been releasing some less-than-stellar videos about his opposition to the (close to) Ground Zero Mosque (and community center). At least, I haven’t been a fan of them. But until I saw this excellent video by The Amazing Atheist, I hadn’t seen a response to him that I liked quite so much… Note to self: Always walk toward the camera when going on a rant. It is *so* much more effective than just standing there. Read more
August Berkshire is the president of Minnesota Atheists. He’s written some very popular pieces on this site, including “34 Unconvincing Arguments for God,” and he’ll be speaking at the Project 42 Freethought conference in Fargo, North Dakota on September 18th. August’s latest piece explains The Seven Cs of Atheism (PDF): Conservative Atheism is a conservative position. We accept statements only so far as there is reason and/or evidence to back them up. Anything else is speculation. We make no leaps… Read more
I can’t tell if the driver is an oblivious Christian or a clever atheist… but I love the juxtaposition 🙂 (Photo courtesy of reader Lorelei, who spotted the car in Lihue, Kauai in Hawaii.) Read more
Tell me again why so many religious people think they stand upon some “moral high ground” because of their faith…? (via Atheist Cartoons) Read more
