Robert Jago at A Dime a Dozen Blog offers his take on the top 10 atheist news stories of 2009. He goes into more detail for each item, but here’s the list: 1. The worldwide atheist bus ads 2. Obama’s ’shout out’ to atheists in the Inaugural 3. The March 29th vote in the French colony of Mayotte to become France’s 101st Department 4. Darwin Day 5. The Irish Blasphemy law 6. Berlin’s religious education referendum fails. 7. Renewed popularity… Read more
Hey everyone, Ron Gold here. This news isn’t a surprise, but now it’s official: Mississippi is the America’s most religious state, according to a Pew Forum study on the levels of devotion in America, which asked respondents whether religion is important in their lives. Eighty-two percent of Mississipians said yes. Mississippi also leads the nation in weekly church attendance (60%), in frequency of daily prayer (77%), and in the number of people who believe in God (91%). So does God reward the citizens… Read more
FOX News Channel’s Laura Ingraham interviewed Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The topic: FFRF’s new billboards in Las Vegas. This was painful to watch. Ingraham just gets me riled up because all she’s doing is trying to provoke Annie Laurie. She’s obnoxious, rude, and clueless. Annie Laurie was calm and collected throughout… but almost to the point of being timid. There were times I wanted her to just scream back at Ingraham… but she stayed completely… Read more
by Jesse Galef – Just when I think things can’t get crazier at the intersection of church and state, Senator Colburn decides to prove me wrong. This started out as a heartless political ploy and turned into something far worse. In the razor-thin supermajority in favor of the healthcare reform bill, every vote counts. When it comes to the vote of a 92 year-old senator, some understanding is warranted, but not given (via Ezra Klein): Another example came last night,… Read more
There’s some great publicity today and this weekend for Harvard Humanist chaplain Greg Epstein and his book Good Without God. Today, he’ll be appearing on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. And this Sunday, barring any major breaking news, a segment about his book should be featured on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer. Hopefully, it will all be a nice starting point for more public conversations about religion. Read more
Ada Calhoun has an article in Salon about how she has been a closeted Christian (until now). She kept her beliefs to herself because she was surrounded by atheists and those who joke about her faith. … Walking to the subway, I ran into a friend heading home from yoga class. She wore sweats and carried her mat over her shoulder. “Where are you going so early all dressed up?” she asked, chuckling. “To church?” We shared a laugh at… Read more
The Reason Project, founded by Sam Harris and Annaka Harris, is holding a video contest with a pretty sweet first prize: The prize for the Winning Video of 2010 will be $10,000. The prize for Second Place will be $4,000. The prize for Third Place will be $1,000. And what do you have to do to get the cash? Make a short video that in some way communicates the importance of critical thinking. Post it on YouTube (or some other… Read more
Buzz Aldrin was one of the Apollo 11 astronauts, the second person to ever set foot on the moon. In his book, Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon, he talks about performing a certain ritual immediately after the Lunar Module landed on the moon: … I wanted to do something positive for the world, so the spiritual aspect appealed greatly to me, but NASA was still smarting from a lawsuit filed by atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair after… Read more
If you’re home with the religious family for the holidays, might as well try to make a game of it! How will they all respond to your atheism? I think the winner has to be the person who fills up the entire board first. Otherwise this will end too quickly… (Thanks to Paul and Jason for the link!) Read more
The last time Iowa atheists put up bus ads, they were quickly taken down (and then later put back up), a bus driver refused to do her job because an atheist ad was on her bus, and the governor complained. All that because of this *horribly* offensive banner: So what are the Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers doing now? Well, with the publicity they got last time, they’re obligated to do a repeat performance! This time, they’re using the following ad:… Read more
