I just finished reading Nomad by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I don’t do a ton of book reviews on this site, but I’m compelled to do it for this one. This is an incredible book that gets to the heart of the problem with radical Islam. It’s not just about terrorism; it’s about the boundaries it sets on all people and especially the limitations it places on women. I’m usually not a person who highlights passages in books — hell, I… Read more
Penn & Teller explain why they will probably never tackle certain topics on their show Bullshit!: Are there any groups you won’t go after? We haven’t tackled Scientology because Showtime doesn’t want us to. Maybe they have deals with individual Scientologists — I’m not sure. And we haven’t tacked Islam because we have families. Meaning, you won’t attack Islam because you’re afraid it’ll attack back… Right, and I think the worst thing you can say about a group in a… Read more
Last month, the Secular Student Alliance was represented at a meeting of the White House’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The topic was “Advancing Interfaith and Community Service on College and University Campuses” and the SSA’s Executive Director August Brunsman and Harvard’s Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein were there on behalf of the non-theist community. That pissed off a few people on the Religious Right. How dare the White House be inclusive of non-theists?! But yesterday, we got someone special… Read more
After Maressa Brown’s article about an atheist wedding, I asked people what they said during their wedding ceremonies — vows that didn’t mention a god, but still managed to show love for each other. You guys sent in some beautiful examples. As you’re reading through these, just keep in mind that there are so many ways to show your love for your partner and a god doesn’t have to be included in the mix for those words (and the whole… Read more
The Secular Student Alliance 2010 Conference will take place July 23rd-25th in Columbus, Ohio. I know I’m biased because I’m on the SSA Board, but I love this conference because I meet more young atheists than I do any other time of the year. The speakers are interesting, the camaraderie is fantastic, and the after parties are wonderful. You learn everything from running a group (if that’s your thing) to what college atheists are doing across the country. This year,… Read more
Is it discrimination to not allow discrimination backed by religion? This is an oversimplification of the question asked in Christian Law Society v. Martinez (PDF), but the Supreme Court ruled on it today in the negative. Here’s a quick and dirty review of the facts: 1) Hastings is a public law school. 2) Hastings implemented a generally applicable and “viewpoint-neutral” policy (legal talk for it applied to everyone and didn’t target any one group for enforcement) that said no student… Read more
There’s a new atheist billboard on I-35 in Austin, Texas, courtesy of the Austin Coalition of Reason: Reaching out to the like minded isn’t the only goal of the effort. “We also want everyone to know that those who don’t believe in a god are your neighbors,” added Don Rhoades, coordinator of the Austin Coalition of Reason. “People like us can be found everywhere: among family members, friends and co-workers. One of us might even be in the pew next… Read more
Note: Writers’ names are changed to increase their privacy. I’m in a bit of a quandary. My wife, a Christian-lite, has a desire to want to raise our newborn (first child) daughter in a church environment. We have a few years yet before our daughter would know any better but the discussion has begun. She’s not a regular churchgoer herself but feels it would be important for the fellowship aspect of having a so-called “positive” group of people for influence…. Read more
I’m getting some wonderful wedding vows sent to me from a lot of atheists. I’ll post those soon. … On a related note, one reader has a couple questions about his upcoming wedding that some of you may be able to help with: … we live in the Pittsburgh area and while we’ve found a banquet hall to hold our reception we’ve run into difficulties finding an appropriate ceremony venue. We were hoping that someone on your site might have… Read more
