Oh man, I’m totally re-upping on Rationalism when my subscription is set to expire: (via Crispian Jago) Read more
Kentucky now has an atheist billboard, courtesy of the Louisville Coalition of Reason! It’s up until August 28th, thanks to $4,100 from the United Coalition of Reason. Reaching out to the like minded isn’t the only goal of the effort. “We also want the public to know that people who don’t believe in a god are part of the Louisville population,” added Edwin Hensley, coordinator of the Louisville Coalition of Reason. “People like us can be found all around: in… Read more
Comedian Paul Provenza is the man behind the movie The Aristocrats and he’s the marquee name in the new Showtime series The Green Room with Paul Provenza. I had a chance to hear him speak at The Amazing Meeting 8 about his book ¡Satiristas!: Comedians, Contrarians, Raconteurs & Vulgarians — a collection of interviews with comedians (specifically satirists) about their craft: what they do, why they do it, and what impact it may have. (The head shots in the book… Read more
What comes to mind when I write “Vacation Bible School”? I asked a few atheist friends and the word “brainwashing” came up more than once. I was hesitant about using that word myself because it’s not like the counselors know they’re feeding fairy tales to the children. They believe the nonsense and they’re just passing it along. They don’t know any better. I never experienced VBS myself, but after I read this story, I think my friends may have been… Read more
Pastor Terry Jones is still planning to burn Korans on September 11th but there’s opposition coming from within Christendom. The National Association of Evangelicals has condemned plans by a Florida church to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “The proposed burning of Qurans would be profoundly offensive to Muslims worldwide, just as Christians would be insulted by the burning of Bibles,” the NAE said in a Thursday (July 29) statement. “Such an act… Read more
Just about every Christian I’ve ever met could tell you what John 3:16 says in the Bible. It brings up this question: Is there anything atheists should really have memorized? Maybe it’s a quotation or a passage from a book. I’ve always loved this passage by Richard Dawkins but it’s a bit long for quick memorization…: “We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going… Read more
Two days in a row dealing with one-year-old babies. Hmm…. Reader Jay and his friend are both atheists. The friend’s daughter is turning 1 and he plans to eventually teach his daughter to be skeptical of the world around her and to “not have religion blinders on” as she grows up. Sounds like a plan, right? Jay approves and he has decided to give her a head start: Too soon? 🙂 It raises a good question, though: Are you taking… Read more
Jay Jochnowitz is the editorial page editor of the Times Union newspaper in New York. In a recent column, he used that awful canard: Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, the ranks of the underdog state Senate Republicans are suddenly filled with the religion of reform. Well, bravo. We would be even more delighted if they weren’t trying to rewrite history and portray themselves as having been reformers all along. Who knows if he put any thought into… Read more
When young people consider coming out as an atheist to their parents, they usually face two main challenges. One is the financial and physical dependence on their parents they may still have, and the other is their unfinished process of differentiation from their parents, where they still feel an obligation to please them and an overpowering aversion to disappointing or upsetting them. Some have mainly one or the other issue, but more have a mixture of both in varying proportions…. Read more
