It’s another case of religious parents killing their kids, but this time, it’s not because they denied them medical care. No, in this case, Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz just whipped their 7-year-old child Lydia to death. Police found a 15″ length of rubber tubing in the Schatz’s home which the children say was used to discipline them; sometimes for “hours” at a time. According to the district attorney, Lydia and Zariah sustained deep bruising and multiple “whip-like” marks on their… Read more
I don’t know who makes these boots… but I want to do business with them: Maybe the makers of these boots should merge with the makers of the baby slippers. (Thanks to Matt for the link!) Read more
Kevin Stanford walked into a Schlotzsky’s Deli in San Angelo, TX recently and he was disturbed to hear what was being played on the store’s stereo system: Christian music. And lots of it. He wrote to the restaurant’s website and explained why this bothered him: … This was not instrumental music that I happened to recognize as religious, this was vocal with references to Jesus. I am not a Christian, and I was offended, as I am sure any other… Read more
Helen Kagin, the co-founder of Camp Quest (along with her husband Edwin), died yesterday from complications following cancer surgery at the age of 76. She had been unconscious for days and her family decided to take her off life support, as she had requested in her Living Will. She was one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met. Her eyes would light up every time we saw each other and she was often seen at atheist conferences and events. It… Read more
Because of my own situation last summer involving a religious nut going after my public school teaching job, a lot of people have sent me the story of Melissa Hussain, the North Carolina 8th grade teacher whose job is in jeopardy because of how she handled her über-religious students. She’s currently suspended with pay. And there’s very little information on her story other than a one-sided article against her by T. Keung Hui. *Very* one-sided. Case in point: Hussain wrote… Read more
I would hope people come to their senses well before they hit the second panel…: (via nakedpastor) Read more
Greta Christina has an excellent piece on what the atheist movement can learn from the gay movement. There’s another lesson that I think atheists can learn from the LGBT movement; one that the LGBT movement took a little while to learn. And that’s to let firebrands be firebrands, and to let diplomats be diplomats. We need to recognize that not all activists pursue activism in the same say; we need to recognize that using both more confrontational and more diplomatic… Read more
It’s not the worst act of vandalism you’ve ever seen, but it happened nonetheless, and it just shows why these billboards are so important: We’re not lost at all. Atheists are proud of knowing precisely where we stand, even if it may seem insignificant to others in the grand scheme of the universe. It’s honest and inspirational, as Richard Dawkins said so beautifully in Unweaving the Rainbow: We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most… Read more
The Mercer County School Board in Western Illinois knows exactly how to help students achieve their full potential: They’re now starting all board meetings with a useless, potentially illegal prayer. … Last week a local minister asked whether the board should pray before their meetings. “We did look into legal counsel to see what they would have to say about the issue and they said it is permissible as long as the prayer is non-sectarian and as longs as the… Read more
The Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago is playing host to DJ Grothe, president of the James Randi Educational Foundation, on Sunday, Feb. 28th. His talk is on “Secular Ethics: Darwin Made Me Do It.” D.J. will discuss how secular ethical systems can replace outmoded, even destructive, religious beliefs about right and wrong, and explore what evolutionary theory tells us about morality. More details will be up at the EHSC website soon! Read more
