Mary Jo Coady is making news because she “sees” Jesus in her iron. Can you blame her? Not really… when so many other people see Jesus with even less to work off of, it’s only natural people like Mary would follow. Based on her quotations in the article, she seems to be the type who’d be easily duped by something like this. At least she’s not trying to make money off of it. But we can put some blame on… Read more
It’s evolution, flipbook-style: Not a bad stocking stuffer for a science-appreciating child. You can buy them at Charlie’s Playhouse! Read more
After reading about Patrik’s experience with Christianity in Sweden, Tom sent me an email describing life in Finland: I live in the neighbouring country of Finland and we have the same kind of cultural Christianity traditions going on over here. Basically a person visits church four times in his/her life: When baptized, when confirmed, when married, when dead. What really amazes me — it really does — is why people pay “church tax” throughout their lives, only for these four… Read more
by Jesse Galef I don’t often disagree with Herb Silverman but it does happen on occasion. The man is a constant source of clever phrases, inspiring ideas, and good humor. But there’s a reason I stopped quoting him where I did in my earlier post about the American Humanist Association’s new ad campaign. In his most recent On Faith piece, he made a case defending the new ads reading “No God? …No Problem!”. I didn’t want to get off-topic in… Read more
FOX News Channel can’t believe it. The Capitol Building in Washington state isn’t allowing atheist displays or Nativity scenes or anything else… How *dare* the state government treat all groups equally?! Essentially, they’re reporting on what is a lack of news. They cover it if no religious/non-religious displays go up. They cover it if atheist displays go up. They won’t be satisfied until a Nativity scene — and no other display — is prominently in all government buildings. In other… Read more
Note: When letter writers sign with their first name instead of a pseudonym, I randomly change their name to give them another layer of privacy. Hi Richard, I’m writing in because of a bit of a family happening I came upon this weekend while at my grandma’s 90th birthday celebration. To give you a bit of background, my grandma and my evangelical aunt and uncle don’t KNOW I’m an atheist, only that I’m not particularly religious and I “might be… Read more
Leslie Zukor runs the Freethought Book Project, which sends books about atheism to prisoners across the country. Recently, she received a letter from Michael L., a prisoner from Peoria, Illinois. She had sent him a book called American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll, about the Great Agnostic. Michael wrote a very moving letting back to her. You can see his writing for yourself here, but the transcription is below: Howdy, Thank so much so much for the books you sent. Please… Read more
Just a reminder to anyone who plans to shop online this holiday season: If you’re buying anything on Amazon in the near future, please use this link to get to the website! If you do that, a portion of your spending will come back to me and I will smile. Last year, a few people mentioned that they would’ve done this had they known about the link — I didn’t provide it and they bought their Amazon goodness regardless –… Read more
In Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, local officials have allowed a Nativity scene to be placed near a local public fountain. This is illegal, of course, but the PA Nonbelievers (PAN) took the high road in dealing with this. They wanted to put up a sign near the Nativity Scene which would read “Celebrating Solstice — Honoring Atheist War Veterans.” Nice. So how did that work out…? Earlier this month, PAN Capital Area director Carl Silverman of Camp Hill wrote the borough a… Read more
by Jesse Galef Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday. Its connection to religion is only peripheral so we atheists can participate easily, it celebrates one of humanity’s best attributes, and it only tangentially invokes our history of slaughtering the indigenous population (not as badly as Columbus Day, at least). I treat Thanksgiving a bit like liberal religious individuals treat prayer. Gratitude is a powerful emotion and I find it genuinely does me good to express it. There’s real value in… Read more
