It’s bad enough that some school and governments have moments of silence parading as prayer. It’s even worse when someone takes a moment of silence and tries to officially make it a time for prayer. That’s what Councilman Anton Konev is trying to do in Albany, New York: Newly elected Councilman Anton Konev, sworn in four weeks ago, wants to amend the council’s rules to include an opening prayer at its biweekly meetings, right between the Pledge of Allegiance and… Read more
The Google is now working again. Censoring that search was a bad idea. It’s good to see Google fixing that mistake. Read more
SafePan is a cooking pan made without the “non-stick coatings made from toxic chemicals”: In light of recent findings on potential hazards of PFOA and PTFE (chemicals used to make conventional non-stick coatings) to our health and to our environment, SafePan has totally committed ourselves in making the best Eco-Friendly non-stick pans that are both safe to our health and to our environment. SafePan [uses]… nonstick coating derived from natural ceramics to produce our nonstick pans. We hope you love… Read more
Greta Christina has a few perfect examples of how being an atheist can often be a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t position: When atheists focus our critiques on conservative or extremist religions, we get accused of ignoring the tolerant progressive ones, and lumping all religions together. But when we do criticize progressive or moderate religions, we’re accused of mean-spirited overkill, of alienating people who could be our allies. … When atheists criticize Christianity, we get accused of being cowards for not criticizing Islam…. Read more
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has a fantastic speaker coming to their school next week. No, not injury lawyer Bill Marler. Above him. Ayaan Hirsi Ali. An outspoken defender of women’s rights within Islamic societies, Ayaan Hirsi Ali uses her enthralling life experience to explain her passion for equality and reform for Muslim women around the world. In her honest memoir, Infidel, Hirsi Ali recounts her disturbing experiences of abuse and intellectual and spiritual deprivation that led to her acts of… Read more
Richard Dawkins is responding to Christians who are looking in all the wrong places for some sort of supernatural “reason” that the earthquake in Haiti caused so much devastation. Obviously, Pat Robertson isn’t helping any Christian PR campaign, but neither are pastors who say “God did this for a reason”: You nice, middle-of-the-road theologians and clergymen, be-frocked and bleating in your pulpits, you disclaim Pat Robertson’s suggestion that the Haitians are paying for a pact with the devil. But you… Read more
Why? I. Don’t. Know. But I plan to buy several of these and then have my future army of children dance in them. It’ll be beautiful. And possibly NSFW… or queasy eyes. (more…) Read more
Note: When letter writers sign with their first names instead of a pseudonym or nickname, I randomly change their name for added anonymity. Hey Richard, I’m in the 9th grade and I’ve been reading and commenting on Friendly Atheist for several months. You and I have had some good conversations here. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’m a big fan of your advice. I’ve got some very religious grandparents. Actually, they’ve got maybe 10-15 images of… Read more
President of the Secular Coalition for America Herb Silverman has a piece in the new CQ Researcher (PDF) arguing that America is not a “Christian Nation” (p. 17): America is a Christian nation in the same way it is a white nation. The majority of Americans are white and Christian, but we are not now nor have we ever officially been a white or Christian nation. Those who believe otherwise might be harkening back to the first Europeans who settled… Read more
