Karen McKay, a “retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel living in Western North Carolina,” has an opinion piece in the Asheville Citizen-Times that throws together just about every lie about church/state separation you can imagine, all so she can argue that people of faith like her who oppose the (close to) Ground Zero Mosque (and community center) deserve more tolerance: But a Greek Orthodox Church at ground zero that was destroyed on 9/11 has not been allowed to rebuild. Children are… Read more
For the atheists who wants to get their meat and vegetables in one helping, we now have StrawBaby! That’s a proposed Halloween costume for the child. I fully approve 🙂 (Thanks to Sarah for the link!) Read more
The Center for Inquiry is opposing the building of Park51 — the (close to) Ground Zero Mosque (and Community Center). Their reasoning is rather interesting: … it would be inappropriate to build any new house of worship in the area immediately around Ground Zero, not just mosques. “The 9/11 attacks were an example of faith-based terrorism, and any institution that privileges faith above reason is an affront to those who were killed and injured in those attacks,” observes Ronald A…. Read more
I don’t know why I read letters-to-the-editor written by people who have no idea what they’re talking about. But I came across this one and it just pissed me off: I just want to say how tired I am of atheists complaining about their rights. Now, if it weren’t for Christian-based food kitchens, homes for the abused, shelters for the homeless, etc., where would tens of thousands be? I have never seen an atheist help center. If they choose not… Read more
A CNN article about how more teens are becoming “fake” Christians is making the rounds. It discusses Professor Kenda Creasy Dean and her work on the National Study of Youth and Religion: The study included Christians of all stripes — from Catholics to Protestants of both conservative and liberal denominations. Though three out of four American teenagers claim to be Christian, fewer than half practice their faith, only half deem it important, and most can’t talk coherently about their beliefs,… Read more
Richard Dawkins aired a special called Faith Schools Menace? on More4 in Britain last week. I haven’t seen the whole thing yet, but the whole show can be seen after the jump. Feel free to leave your reviews in the comments! (more…) Read more
by Jesse Galef – It’s so easy to make someone’s day better. I’m a big fan of Improv Everywhere, who stage elaborate public displays of randomness (their most famous event is probably the annual No-Pants Subway Ride). Apart from public spectacle, they have a knack to make onlookers smile and appreciate the brief detour from the mundane, expected, daily life. But I’ve never seen them do it in a more simple fashion than in The High Five Escalator. One of… Read more
Kate is an atheist, Erik is a Christian, and for years now, they’ve been dating. A couple years ago, I wrote about how that worked and what the reaction was like from their families. Last year, they got engaged… And last week, they got married 🙂 The sunglasses are badass. I approve. So, was it a religious ceremony or a Humanist one? Kate writes in an email: The ceremony was co-officiated by my minister (a female UU minister) and Erik’s… Read more
I’m not happy that a church in Oregon caught fire. But the headline for this article is just too good not to mention… Burning bush ignites Woodburn church You’re all going to a non-existent Hell for laughing at that. (Thanks to Erin for the link!) Read more
The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, appeared at The Amazing Meeting 5 a few years ago. It was the first TAM I attended (until TAM8 this past summer) and it was definitely one of the highlights. So many people can say this, but these guys are heroes to me. JREF had offered the video of their talk (really a Q&A session) on DVD before, but they just released it for free to the public, so here… Read more
