In honor of Charles Darwin’s 201st birthday today, Diana Glennie of the McMaster Association of Secular Humanists (MASH) in Ontario made a wonderful cake: You’ll want to zoom in on that at her site. It looks even more delicious in higher resolution 🙂 Read more
The Onion explains: … Marvin Pewter, 45, was able to refinance his house after a radio station in Sioux Falls, SD played the favorite song of a local data-entry worker who, quietly singing along to the tune in her office, became distracted and missed a keystroke that eventually resulted in Pewter’s credit rating increasing by 200 points. “Thank God,” said Pewter, speaking to reporters from the large ranch-style home he purchased four years ago and has never been able to… Read more
Contrary to what you might expect after reading about honor killings and the mostly male-run societies, predominantly Muslim countries support equal education for women. This is according to The Pew Global Attitudes Project (PDF): Charles McAlpin summarizes the results: In a positive sign for women’s rights globally, overwhelming majorities in all nine countries said they believed education is as important for girls as it is for boys: 87% in Pakistan, 93% in Indonesia, 85% in the Palestinian territories, 71% in… Read more
The American Atheists annual convention is taking place in Newark, New Jersey from April 2nd-4th. If you’re a full-time student and a member of the Secular Student Alliance, registration is only $75. Even better — The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science has made $100 and $200 travel grants available to full-time students! I first began to get active with atheist organizations thanks to one of these kinds of travel grants. It’s a wonderful way to network with other… Read more
This looks to be good policy news: On Wednesday, Virginia’s House of Delegates passed a bill that forbids companies from forcing their employees to be implanted with tracking devices, a move likely to be applauded by civil libertarians. The sponsor of the bill has another reason for wanting it passed, though… Del. Mark L. Cole (R-Fredericksburg), the bill’s sponsor, said that privacy issues are the chief concern behind his attempt to criminalize the involuntary implantation of microchips. But he also… Read more
I’ve mentioned before about how Tim Tebow would never have been allowed to go onto the football field if his eye black read “There Is” “No God” instead of “John” “3:16.” The same standard that allows him to promote his faith on the field seems to apply to New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, too. After winning the Super Bowl, he said “God is great!” They aired it on TV. All was well and good with the world… But think… Read more
The Anglican Church in Canada is disappearing quickly: According to the report, the diocese -– “like most across Canada” –- is in crisis. The report repeats, without qualification or question, the results of a controversial study presented to Anglican bishops five years ago that said that at the present rate of decline -– a loss of 13,000 members per year -– only one Anglican would be left in Canada by 2061. It points out that just half a century ago,… Read more
It’s off-topic, but it’s the best explanation I’ve read about why Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell needs to be repealed, courtesy of Andrew Sullivan: Rich [Lowry] says that it’s no big deal to live hiding one’s sexual orientation. If you’re straight, try it for one day. Try never mentioning your spouse, your family, your home, your girlfriend or boyfriend to anyone you know or work with — just for one day. Take that photo off your desk at work, change the… Read more
We already knew this was true, but it’s nice to have some numbers behind it. An article in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences suggests, among other things, that morality and religion are not linked up as the Christian Right would have you believe. Citing several studies in moral psychology, the authors highlight the finding that despite differences in, or even an absence of, religious backgrounds, individuals show no difference in moral judgments for unfamiliar moral dilemmas. The research suggests… Read more
A reader — let’s call her Atheist Amy — has been out of work for a while. She’s two months past due on her mortgage, so it’s important she find work quickly. Turns out she has a lead on a well-paying job. She even has an interview coming up! … But it’s with a fundamentalist Christian group. Their job posting was seeking devoted Christians and I stuck some “Praise Jesus” in my cover letter, just to get my foot in… Read more
