15-year old Joshua McAuley was crushed by a car and taken to a hospital. Unfortunately, because he was a Jehovah’s Witness, he refused to receive a blood transfusion. And then he died. I don’t know what his condition would have been like even if he had accepted the blood, but no doubt there are many cases of JWs who die preventable deaths because of their silly superstition. Do the parents deserve the blame? If they explicitly gave doctors the command… Read more
Years ago, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam (the man who ironically sang “Peace Train”) wanted Salman Rushdie to die because of his book The Satanic Verses and the fatwa issued on his life. Because of that, a member of the Australian Parliament, Peter Kavanagh, wants him banned from performing a concert in the country. “Yusuf has evaded on this matter for years,” he said. ”I call on the Minister for Immigration to deny Mr Yusuf a visa to enter Australia unless he… Read more
***Update***: There’s video of valedictorian Rebeccah TerHune giving her speech. At the 0:16 mark, you can hear a man scream out, “Rebeccah, Jesus loves you!” … When it comes to Prayer versus Moments of Silence in public schools, most Christians are smart enough not to endorse prayer. Not every student is Christian and you’re just asking for a lawsuit… it’s not worth the fight. Moments of silence are trickier. The conservatives who push for it say it’s good for students… Read more
Dear Richard, Both of my parents are Muslim. They were born and raised Muslim, and they have decided to continue this tradition with their children. The problem is, though, that I am an atheist. Even better, I’m a 17-year old girl. I live in the U.S. It took me a long time to even admit to myself that I was an atheist. My parents often use religion to deny me things, such as hanging out with my friends, having a… Read more
I spent the weekend at the American Humanist Society conference in San Jose, CA (woo!) The big annual award the AHA gives out is the Humanist of the Year — this year, the honoree was Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Here’s my unofficial video of his talk (in three parts)! (If the AHA puts out a better version, I’ll replace the ones below.) Gotta love the Episcopalian joke at the end of Part 1 🙂 And I found the man… Read more
A while back, I asked: What do Christians say or do that frustrates you? A whole bunch of you responded with very insightful thoughts. Now, let’s turn it back on ourselves. What do other atheists do or say that frustrates you? I wonder if this thread will be anywhere as long as the other one… Read more
I know it’s not that time of year, but it’s still frightening as hell. Here’s video of an actual “Hell House” sponsored by Trinity Church of Cedar Hill in Texas. This is a real event and it’s aimed at children. Church members want to scare kids into accepting Jesus. Because, obviously, if you’re not a Christian, then your life must be as miserable as the characters you see below… I’m scared shitless after watching that. And not for the intended… Read more
If I ever go to London again, I need to remember to make a stop at ArchAngel. They have one thing on the menu I can actually eat. (Thanks to Ed for the pic!) Read more
Bill Knight, the mayor of Greensboro, North Carolina, recently decided to have prayers before city council meetings. A couple weeks ago, Joshua Deaton (a member of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Atheists/Agnostics/Skeptics) spoke out against this. A couple nights ago, the founder and current president of that group, Phillip Drum, spoke out against it as well. Here’s video of his speech — a transcript is below: Hi, my name is Phillip Drum… I am the founder and current… Read more
Back in March, Skepchicamp 2010 happened in Chicago. A whole bunch of local skeptics spoke for about 20 minutes each on a subject of their choice. It was an awesome event and I’m sure it’ll happen again next year. I decided to talk about the time last summer when a conservative “family” group outed me to my bosses at work and told parents to remove their children from my classroom. $#&%, I hate watching myself. I counted about 329423 things… Read more
