Comedy Central has a show in the pipelines for the future that may perk some ears up: “JC” A half-hour animated show about JC (Jesus Christ) wanting to escape his father’s enormous shadow and to live life in NYC as a regular guy. A lot has changed in 2000 years and he is the ultimate fish out of water. Meanwhile his all-powerful yet apathetic father would rather be playing video games than listening to JC recount his life in the… Read more
Remember Kurt Zimmerman? He was the Knoxville, TN father who wanted an Honors Biology textbook banned because it included the following passage: (You can find the context of that quotation here.) Anyway, the Knox County school board listened to a review committee’s recommendation and voted 6-3 in favor of keeping the book. … although board members voted to keep it in the classroom, they directed Superintendent Jim McIntyre to send a letter to the publisher ‘suggesting that they consider less… Read more
It’s easy to find examples of Christians playing the victim card when they really have nothing to whine about. Case in point: I know Christianity Today has a base they have to appeal to, but take a look at how this headline distorts the truth: Christians Defy Judge’s Ruling and Mark National Day of Prayer That makes it sound like Christians are standing up for their faith and going against the evil judge’s orders not to celebrate the Day of… Read more
In case you missed it, today’s New York Times includes a full page ad from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. It explains how the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional (click image for PDF): Talk about an advertising blitz. This ad plus the bus ads which go up in Madison today will no doubt generate a lot of discussion. Hopefully, the government’s appeal to the National Day of Prayer case will fall flat… it’s not likely, but the constitution is… Read more
Note: To better preserve their privacy, I have randomly given the letter writer and her friend different names. Dear Richard, I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian home, and was raised in the “nurture and admonition of the lord.” My parents sent me to a small, private Christian high school. While I was in college, I realized I was gay, left the evangelical church, and came out of the closet. I myself identify as agnostic and I am in a… Read more
Just a couple days after the Atheists, Humanists, & Agnostics group at the University of Wisconsin – Madison drew stick figure images of Muhammad on their campus, the word “Muhammad” has been rubbed away on several of their images. The AHA group doesn’t know who did this (and they’re not jumping to conclusions and blaming the Muslim Student Association). Still, they wonder whether the MSA is serious about standing up for their right to free speech. Will the MSA applaud… Read more
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is celebrating the National Day of Prayer by launching a brand new bus ad campaign in Madison, Wisconsin: The ad campaign’s theme is “America is not a Christian nation.” Signs on bus interiors and exteriors display seven different messages that highlight America’s secular heritage. Here are the six ads that will be featured: I like them a lot. They speak for themselves without going out of the way to insult non-religious people. It just speaks… Read more
Today’s the day right-wing Christians have labeled a National Day of Prayer. Many government officials across the country will forget that there’s a separation of church and state and declare their religiosity and pander to the base like crazy. To anyone who thinks this is legal, just read what President Obama’s proclamation might look like if all the sides were flipped and he were declaring it a National Day of No Prayer: Throughout our history, whether in times of great… Read more
You may have already seen the site RestoreStephenBaldwin.org: As far as I can tell, it’s a real site, not a parody. (Poe’s Law is in effect.) I love this response to it, though, from Robert Paul Reyes at NewsBlaze: I laugh when I hear born-again Christians complain that they are persecuted for their faith. Christianity is the predominate religion in America, and professing to be a Christian will open doors for you, not close them. If Stephen Baldwin wants to… Read more
Here’s an interesting email from reader Kristen: I was reading for a class on politics in the German Democratic Republic, and i found an interesting quote, which (roughly translated) means “one can have honesty, party loyalty, or intelligence, but only two of the three.” Kristen wonders if that also applies to religion. Would the following statement make sense? One can be honest, support religious dogma, or be intelligent. But at most, two of the three. Obviously, there are intelligent people… Read more
