Tom Krattenmaker has been following the trend of religion in sports for a long while now, and he’s written a book about the subject: Onward Christian Athletes: Turning Ballparks into Pulpits and Players into Preachers. (To my surprise, it’s not just a biography of Tim Tebow.) A lot of you had questions for Krattenmaker — I had several myself — and he kindly answered them all in this interview: The obvious question: Why do athletes thank god when they win… Read more
Who knew bears were atheists? Glad I could help educate you all. (Thanks to Amanda for the link!) Read more
At the American Humanist Association conference last weekend, Amanda Knief, a cofounder of Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers, presented on the topic of religion and the workplace. One slide she presented was the following (click to enlarge)… how would you handle it? Don’t see any issues with that? Note the Jesus Fish ( Read more
Reader Nathan sent this image over: It’s not the thing I usually expect to see on a pickup truck, but I love it! Read more
For those of you in Chicago, I’ll be doing a Christian/atheist dialogue with the good people at Elements[Chicago] in a couple weeks. It’ll be a chance for Christians and atheists to ask questions about faith — via moderator — to me and a Christian from their side. It’s not a debate; it’s a conversation. Fun! The details: Where: Flourish Studio, 3020 N. Lincoln, Chicago, Illinois 60657 When: Wednesday, June 23rd at 7:30 p.m. (It’ll probably go till 9:00 p.m.) The… Read more
Donald Blum survived the 1945 sinking of the USS Indianapolis. He was in the water for four days and says that “of the original crew of 1199, only 316 survived.” Why was he one of the survivors? I firmly believe it was because I didn’t think I had anywhere to go — others believed heaven was waiting for them. To survive, I kept thinking I should keep on treading water and waiting. (Thanks to Matthew for the link!) Read more
It’s easy to just dismiss the “World’s Going to End in 2012” nuts… But when Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why that theory makes no sense, it’s makes you want to seek out those people and explain to them exactly why they’re crazy: He gets bonus points for the hat. (via Atheist Media Blog) Read more
Matt Stone is a Christian. He’s raising his children to be Christians. But he sometimes receives flak because he doesn’t send his children to a private Christian school. Matt explains why he doesn’t want to “bubble” his boys: I say again and again to those who ask: I’d rather our boys be exposed to [other religions], when we have maximum influence over them, than bubble them away from them till they reach university, when we have minimum influence over them…. Read more
Here’s an incredible opportunity for any atheist who’d like to make a difference in another country. The Atheist Alliance International (AAI) is partnering with its affiliate, the Kasese United Humanist Association (KUHA), to provide the opportunity for between 4 and 6 volunteers to spend two to three months this fall, beginning September 1, 2010, in Uganda teaching children ages 6 to 12 years at the Kilembe Valley Humanist Nursery & Primary School. … The curriculum is designed to provide education… Read more
Today, Iceland politicians voted unanimously to allow gay marriage: The Althingi parliament voted 49 to zero to change the wording of marriage legislation to include matrimony between “man and man, woman and woman,” in addition to unions between men and women. Iceland, a socially tolerant island nation of about 320,000 people, became the first country to elect an openly gay head of state in 2009 when Social Democrat Johanna Sigurdardottir became prime minister after being nominated by her party. “The… Read more
