This past weekend, my Muslim friend graduated from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law. Her facebook album revealed that the commencement ceremony was held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. One would assume Jesus looked down with a special disapproval at this particular graduation — as Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will… Read more
For the next few days, I’ll be visiting San Jose for the American Humanist Association’s annual conference. (On Sunday morning, I’ll be participating in a panel discussion on the topic: “Where’s Critical Thinking in Our Public Schools?”) Not sure what Internet access will be like there, so I’ll assume there’s none. If you’re there, please say hello! To everyone else, please be kind while I’m gone 🙂 Read more
I know Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church says a lot of crazy shit about gay people, but for once, they actually got something right about you and me. (Obviously, I’m not referring to the “Fags are Beasts” sign.) Is that a prediction or a command? Too late, in either case… How did they know!? (Thanks to Spencer for the pic!) Read more
Dear Richard, My entire immediate family, from my parents down to my eight-year-old sister, is completely atheist. However my dad’s family are deeply Catholic, and ever since I was a child we’ve been pretending we are as well, to the point of actually attending church occasionally so we could lie convincingly and not trip ourselves up when attending family weddings/funerals/etc. We lived far enough away from my grandparents and visited them infrequently enough that we could get away with it…. Read more
Want to apply for Seminary? According to the New York Times, you’ll have to answer an interesting string of questions…: “When was the last time you had sex?” all candidates for the seminary are asked. (The preferred answer: not for three years or more.) “What kind of sexual experiences have you had?” is another common question. “Do you like pornography?” Depending on the replies, and the results of standardized psychological tests, the interview may proceed into deeper waters: “Do you… Read more
***Update***: Hayes has apologized: It’s not an on-air apology, but it’s better than Leonard Pitts non-apology. … Earlier tonight on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, frequent guest Chris Hayes (the Washington editor at The Nation) used the “no atheists in foxholes” line. Video’s not up yet. I’ll put it up when it’s available. Video’s up. Here’s the relevant portion: In the meantime, @kevingreencorn on Twitter sent Hayes this image: Hayes’ response? Which is really the same thing Leonard Pitts said earlier…. Read more
Actor Morgan Freeman had an interesting interview on CNN this morning, as he was talking about his new show “Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman.” He correct the anchor who refers to him as a “man of god” and tells her he’s a “man of faith” — faith in science (the segment begins at the 1:11 mark): The relevant part of the transcript: Kiran Chetry: And you’ve said before, Morgan, that you’re a ‘man of god.’ When you did this… Read more
This is about as disgusting a church as you’ll find. Trinity Baptist Church in Concord, New Hampshire tried to cover up their shady past. But that’s only the beginning. In 1997, Ernest Willis, a man in his late thirties, raped and impregnated 15-year-old Tina Anderson. Both belonged to the same church and pastor Chuck Phelps was informed of what had happened. So what did he do? He made her apologize. The victim said Phelps told her she would be put… Read more
Miami Herald syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts recently wrote the following passage: As there are no atheists in foxholes, it turns out there are no small-government disciples in massive oil spills. No, with BP oil soaking the sands of his coastline, Jindal turned righteously to that big, sometimes bloated, often intrusive federal government, and asked for help. He said: Send money, send resources. Was it purposely anti-atheist? I didn’t think so. Just an honest mistake — using an unfortunately common cliché… Read more
***Update***: Here’s a fact sheet released by CFI (PDF) regarding their financial situation and the lapsed donor in question. ***Update2***: You can read a response from one person with more knowledge of what happened here. … There’s been a lot of bitter back and forth between the Center for Inquiry and founder Paul Kurtz (who recently resigned). This time, Kurtz is reacting to the unceremonious downsizing that is happening: I arrived at the Center for Inquiry at shortly after 1:00PM… Read more
