Two college groups wanted office space in the University of Oregon student union. The Coalition Against Environmental Racism (CAER) just assumed they were going to get it. They put together no presentation and filled out no application. The Alliance of Happy Atheists (AHA) did both. Guess who got the office space? And guess who’s complaining? The difference between their applications, CAER co-director Adrien Wilkie said, was that CAER, because of encouragement from [Associated Students of the University of Oregon president… Read more
Note: When letter writers sign with their first names instead of a pseudonym or nickname, I change their name for added anonymity. Dear Richard, At the beginning of last year, my husband and I “came out” to my family as Atheists. Since none of them (besides my mother) are particularly religious and are, in fact, only Catholic by birth-title only, they all kind of just shrugged their shoulders and said, “Okay.” Most of them even welcomed philosophical discussions about religion,… Read more
There’s lots of stuff happening right now and I feel like spewing it all out. I have two more classes and then I’m *finally* done with my Masters degree. My grade doesn’t even really matter; I just need to pass… so hopefully, after June, you can all call me Master Hemant. It’s about time, too. This is a 1.5-year program that I began 4 years ago… the same time all the eBay weirdness happened. The classes work like this: you… Read more
Baba Brinkman explains evolution for the rap-loving youth: You can see a more recent freestyle rap here. I never thought I would be saying this but my list of pro-science and atheist rappers is growing. Awesome. (via New Humanist) Read more
Beginning next Monday at Oxford University (UK) is Think Week, a week of thought-provoking lectures talks on a variety of topics, organized by several atheist/Humanist societies. The aim of the week will be to expose the type of discussion and debate that these societies offer to a wider audience and raise the profile of the issues involved, among the whole Oxford community… The events will be intended to make people think about things they probably haven’t thought about before. The… Read more
Debbie Skomer runs the San Diego Coalition of Reason and recently attended a church at the urging of a friend — hey, why not? While at the church, Pastor David Hoffman made a challenge to his congregation: He dared them to find anyone who was a Christian for a significant amount of time and only in their old age decided to lose their faith. Debbie took him up on it. She felt confident there were many atheists in that position… Read more
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has put together a few helpful resources in the sad event you have to speak at the funeral of an atheist. (Or if you’re proactive and want certain things to be said about you at your funeral.) The poetry section is enormous, but here’s a sample memorial service: During the tribute or memorial portrait, a family member or a chosen speaker remembers the person who has died. This talk can incorporate personal anecdotes, achievements; whatever… Read more
During his football games over the past few years, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow would try to send messages via his “eye black”: Damn that Tebow, always trying to convert me with his eyes… Anyway, it seemed to be a double-standard that never got called out. No doubt some NCAA official would have put the kibosh on eye messages if an atheist player wrote “There Is” “No God” or a Muslim player wrote “Praise” “Allah.” It never happened, so there was… Read more
How did I miss this Onion horoscope last week? Does anyone else have the odd habit of beginning with your own sign when reading the Onion horoscopes? (Thanks to L for the link!) Read more
