There are a few questions about church/state separation that pop up more often than others: Are persons elected or nominated to serve as government officials required to place their hands on the Bible when making oaths or affirmations? May elected officials reference religious ideas and discuss their personal religious beliefs while operating in their official capacities? May the government erect temporary holiday displays that contain some religious elements such as a crèche or a menorah? May public schools lead students… Read more
Mark Schatzker of Ontario, Canada discovered a loophole when it came to buying wine in the area: Sacramental wine may be this province’s most glorious loophole. This sacred tipple, which is no different from regular wine -– it isn’t blessed or grown on holy land or anything like that -– is hardly tainted by the profane hand of government taxation. About 200,000 bottles of sacramental wine bottles are sold every year in Ontario, and the LCBO collects a mere 15… Read more
As an atheist, I am proud to endorse this product: Careful, though: Spread that baby on Jesus-branded bread and the world may explode. (via Savage Chickens — Thanks to Joe for the link!) Read more
A couple days ago, I mentioned the Christian ad now up everywhere in New York City: Vixen Strangely made a few alterations to it to make it more amenable to atheists. I like the new look! Read more
This post is courtesy of Ron Gold. Sanity has triumphed in the U.S. military, as they have pressured the company behind “Jesus Rifles” to only make normal rifle scopes from now on: Bowing to Pentagon concerns and an international outcry, a Michigan arms company said Thursday that it would immediately stop embossing references to New Testament Scriptures on rifle sights it sells the military. The company, Trijicon Inc., has multimillion-dollar contracts with the Pentagon for advanced telescopic sights that are widely used in… Read more
Pray4Trig — a site that wanted to you pray on a certain day so Sarah Palin’s son would be “healed” of his Down Syndrome — no longer exists. It’s been replaced by… pray4healing.com. As is noted in the FAQ, we’ve found that attempting to gather prayers for young Mr. Palin has accomplished little beyond gathering a collection of people who hate the Lord. So, we’ve changed the name of the site to Pray4Healing.com. Yes, people are mad because they hate… Read more
Hello Richard! I’m currently enrolled in nursing school in a college with no particular religious affiliation, but I seem to be having an existential crisis. My lab partner and I gave a (if I do say so myself) well thought out and very neutral presentation on the roles of spirituality in nursing. As a nurse you have to be prepared to encounter all types of spiritual beliefs, and sometimes we’re forced to answer some pretty hard questions. E.g: Why does… Read more
You know what you need to keep warm during the cold weather (which will last through April if you live where I do)? A Scarlet A scarf: The scarf was made by Amanda Metskas (the president of Camp Quest) and it’s for sale on eBay with all proceeds benefitting the Students For Freethought/Thomas Society (i.e. atheist/Christian groups) service trip to New Orleans this spring. Other items that are on sale can be found here! Read more
Ben Zalisko is starting a Secular Student Alliance group at the University of Chicago. He put up flyers for a meeting in his dorm, the “International House, where students from several different countries and cultures live together under one roof. You would think diversity would be more respected there. That doesn’t seem to be the case. Here’s what happened to one of the posters: In case you can’t see the writing, it says, “This makes no sense” and “Freak show.”… Read more
There’s a fundraising event for Skepchicamp this Saturday in Chicago and a few tickets are still left! What will a ticket buy you? Food Booze Fun The chance to enter a cashitty cash cash raffle. The chance to bid on a date with the Friendliest (and quite handsome) Atheist, Hemant Mehta The address to the location Hmm… about #5. Some ladies are trying to cockblock me: Oh, though if you’re a single lady, you definitely shouldn’t come. I don’t want… Read more
