Mark Twain instructed that his uncensored, complete autobiography not be published for 100 years after his death. He died in 1910. You can do the math. The book doesn’t come out until November but Newsweek has a wonderful excerpt: About once a year some pious public library banishes Huck Finn from its children’s department, and on the same plea always — that Huck, the neglected and untaught son of a town drunkard, is given to lying, when in difficulty and… Read more
A one-way ticket for selected flights on Southwest. A reduced ticket to “The Price is Right Live” in Las Vegas. A ticket for Section 107 at Minute Maid Park for an Astros game. A prayer vigil with the Pope. Wait, what? The charges — believed to be a first for a papal event — are for a prayer vigil in London’s Hyde Park on Sept. 18 and the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Birmingham on Sept. 19. …… Read more
I don’t talk too much about my personal/work life on this site, but I figured I’d share some of the things that are going on right now: I’m the new head coach of my high school’s Speech Team (a.k.a. Forensics)! I competed in this when I was in school and have been an assistant coach on various teams for the past several years, so I’m really excited about being able to run my own team. The students I have already… Read more
On a bridge at Madeira Beach, Florida, these cutouts were placed earlier in the week. They’ve since been taken down. So that’s what evolution leads to… It’s offensive, silly, and just plain untrue. But is it that surprising that someone would do this? Answers in Genesis (the Creation Museum folk) once put up this billboard: They weren’t kidding. We don’t have any information about who put the cutouts on the bridge, but it certainly falls in line with the slanderous… Read more
Atheist Bart Centre began a business called Eternal Earth-Bound Pets USA some time ago. It’s a website that matches “responsible atheists with Christians concerned about the pets they will be leaving behind during the Rapture.” For $110, the atheists promise to take care of your pets after you are taken away by Jesus. I know Christians are gullible, but surely no one would pay for this service… they know they’re never actually getting raptured, right? They know their contracts are… Read more
In December of 2008, Richard Cizik, the vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air. He told host Terry Gross that he was ok with civil unions for gay couples… and was shortly thereafter forced to resign from the NAE. Yesterday, he came back on the show to give updates on his life. He stands by what he said about civil unions — though he’s still undecided about gay marriage: … I… Read more
Ken Kessler wants to put a Ten Commandments statue in the town square in Marion, IL. “These aren’t just Christian laws,” he said. “Moses brought these down from the mountain. They aren’t something we came up with.” … He knows not everyone in the community will agree with his idea. “If our church underwrote it then we’d probably put it on our own property. But, if it comes together by donations from throughout the community we’d like to put it… Read more
Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. I will try to make this short; I am a non-believer (atheist). I recently got engaged to get married with the mother (Christian) of my son, I have known her for over 3 years. She as always known that I am an atheist, and our relationship has not always been easy at times, and is very hard, like now. I love her and respect her Christian beliefs. When we got… Read more
Anne Rice, the author of Interview with the Vampire and several other vampire-y books, once made headlines for returning to the Roman Catholic Church. Yesterday, she made headlines for posting the following on Facebook: For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome,… Read more
Jennifer Keeton wants to be a school counselor when she graduates from her grad school program at Augusta State University in Georgia. If a student ever tells her he’s gay, though, she’s going to tell him he’s living a life of sin and needs to be “cured.” At least that’s what I can gather from the lawsuit she plans to file against the college. Keeton claims that she has voiced her Christian beliefs inside and outside the classroom on homosexuality… Read more
