We had a “Parent Night” at my school last night, so I haven’t had too much time to read about the Discovery Channel Hostage Situation… but the short of it is that James Jay Lee went to Discovery Channel headquarters, took hostages, and was shot and killed by a police sniper after he appeared to take aim at a hostage. The hostages are safe and the crisis is thankfully over. He had a list of strange demands for Discovery, and… Read more
Religion and superstition make people feel good… so why are we atheists and skeptics so set on ruining those things for everyone, even if we’re right? Greta Christina has a fantastic response to that question. … Good information about reality helps us make better decisions about how to act in that reality. It helps us understand which causes are likely to have which effects. And the reverse is true as well. Decisions based on bad information are no better than… Read more
At the University of Georgia yesterday, the UGAtheists celebrated “Stone a Heathen Day,” using some Bible verses to generate some buzz about their group on campus. The idea came from the Pastafarians at the University of South Carolina. As UGAtheists president Randall Bourquin said to me, “They dreamed it up, shared it with me, and will be executing their own day on Sept. 30th.” Here are some pics from the awesome UGA event: So, how exactly does one “stone” a… Read more
My latest column for the Washington Post On Faith blog deals with the question: “Does it matter what religion the president is?” … The Constitution says that there can be no religious test for office and society needs to catch up to that idea. But there is a point when religion should come into play. Do you really want a president who could launch a nuclear attack… who also believes he/she will be in “God’s glorious presence” in the afterlife?… Read more
The Penn State Atheist Agnostic Association decided to set up shop next to some campus preachers on Monday. So while the Christians stood here… … the atheists (and others) were just a short distance away (in the background of the pic below)… … with Biblical references of their own… … and other entertaining signs… Looks like they blunted any damage the Christians would have done. Clinton Leinbach, who traveled to campus from Selinsgrove, Pa., said he came to warn people… Read more
Last week, I held an online fundraiser for the Secular Student Alliance with the grand prize being a special copy of I Sold My Soul on eBay with the signatures of several atheist leaders and celebrities within our movement. Over the weekend, I randomly selected a winner. I emailed the person to congratulate him and let him know he had won. He responded with this: … I am very delighted to win, but I found Richard Wade’s comment too sensible,… Read more
A website called Patheos seeks to “engage in the global dialogue about religion and spirituality and to explore and experience the world’s beliefs.” Yesterday, they released their “portal” on Humanism which includes essays from people like Ed Buckner (President of American Atheists), Ron Lindsay (CEO of the Center for Inquiry), David Silverman (National Communications Director of American Atheists), Roy Speckhardt (Executive director of the American Humanist Association), and some studly brown dude. (No women, though? That’s disappointing.) My article is… Read more
The Freedom From Religion Foundation placed this excellent sign in Watertown, Wisconsin a few weeks ago: And what does it look like now? What you see there is yellow paint that was splattered over the sign late last week: The vandalized vinyl message was promptly removed by Adams Outdoor Co., on Friday. Adams Outdoor is replacing the message gratis and expects to have it back up around Labor Day to honor FFRF’s 6-week lease. The billboard went up on the… Read more
I got a message from my friend Jon Weyer that someone he knows is going through a really rough time right now: … my pastor’s son has Juvenile Myositis, a horrible autoimmune disease that causes him a great amount of pain and could kill him if it doesn’t go into remission. His name is Sam… Pepsi has a voting contest to get JM a $250,000 grant for scientific research. If you have a minute to spare, consider clicking a few… Read more
Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. Dear Richard: I am an atheist Chinese teenager living in an international community in Beijing, China. I used to be a Christian until one day I realized that Christianity is just not working, and I came out easily, since China is an atheist country after all. But the problem is, one of my best friends is a fundamentalist Christian. Things were okay between us until one day I asked her… Read more
