Last year, activist Helen Mitzman made a $100,000 matching offer to American Atheists. Whatever they could raise in a year, up to that amount, she would personally match. American Atheists (and donors everywhere) met that challenge. It was so successful that philanthropist Todd Stiefel is matching the match! “I was really impressed by the Helen Mitzman Challenge and the enthusiastic response to it,” said Mr. Stiefel. “So I decided to offer $100,000 on a dollar-for-dollar basis. I hope this helps… Read more
Hi Richard, I was baptized Catholic, my parents converted to Born-Again Christian when I was in 6th grade, and for quite a while after that I tried very hard to believe what they taught me and be a good little Christian girl. I’m now 26, and for the last few years, though I absolutely do not believe anything born-again, it’s been a “don’t ask, don’t tell” kind of situation with my parents. Until this past September. I outed myself when… Read more
by Jesse Galef – Should we organize around the word “atheist”? Yesterday I wrote about my disagreement with Michael De Dora Jr.’s “The Problems with the Atheistic Approach to the World” – only to have him publish a response to criticism a couple hours before my post was scheduled to go up. In his new post, he addresses one complaint that his statement “many atheists define their entire lives around unbelief and critique of theism” is untrue: In my piece,… Read more
Nearly twenty years ago, Sinéad O’Connor was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live and sang a song called “War.” While the original Bob Marley song talked about racism, O’Connor changed the lyric to “child abuse.” At the end of the song, unbeknownst to the SNL people, she held up a picture of Pope John Paul II, yelled “Fight the real enemy,” and tore it up. You can watch the video here (the incident takes place at the 2:55 mark)…. Read more
Kleine Zeitung, a newpaper in Austria, has some biting political cartoons discussing the child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church: I’d love to see more cartoons like those in American newspapers. This is hardly provocative: (via Slate) Read more
To all those religious people who tell us that atheists are offensive because we try to convince others our beliefs are more reasonable than theirs, or to the religious people who advise us to respect their beliefs simply because so many people hold them, or to the “progressive” religious people who tell us not to lump their faith in with that of the fundies when we criticize religion, Greta Christina has a response for you: It is difficult to avoid… Read more
by Jesse Galef – I’ll admit to being confused and disappointed by Michael De Dora Jr.’s post on the CFI blog last week entitled “The Problems with the Atheistic Approach to the World.” I’ve met Michael a couple of times and like him a lot, and I’ve found myself both agreeing and disagreeing with him in the past. Not only is he Executive Director of CFI-NYC, he’s also a new co-blogger on Rationally Speaking with Massimo Pigliucci and my sister,… Read more
When someone tells you that, despite some of the recent problems in the Catholic Church, the Church is still a force for good, show them this article. It’s evidence of how their hatred of gay people, cloaked in “loving” religious beliefs, has caused them to take money away from a charity for the homeless… because a bishop working with the group supported gay marriage in Maine. Preble Street’s Homeless Voices for Justice program has lost $17,400 this year and will… Read more
Which area is getting the latest atheist billboard? Northeast Florida! That sign can now be seen in Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Reaching out to the like minded isn’t the only goal of the effort. “We also want to let the general public know that those of us who don’t believe in a higher power live in the area, too,” added Stephen Peek, coordinator of Northeast Florida CoR. “Folks may not know that people like us can be found everywhere. We’re… Read more
Pastor David Hayward has a friend who is still a Christian, but she doesn’t want to go to church anymore. And it’s not because she’s suddenly an atheist. Why she doesn’t go to church anymore? Because her intelligence, deep thinking and independence are not respected. I don’t mean her feelings are hurt because people don’t applaud these things about her, but because they are simply not respected. Therefore she is not respected. Here’s what she intuits when she walks into… Read more
