For the past couple years, the Tree of Knowledge has gone up in West Chester outside the Chester County Courthouse, thanks to the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia. It’s a great monument to human thought: This year, new size restrictions were put in place that could’ve prevented the Tree from being put up (PDF). There’s good news today: The 10 foot high Tree of Knowledge was one of only three installations to be given a green light for this holiday… Read more
Ray Comfort is the man responsible for the recent distribution of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (with a 50-page introduction explaining why it’s all junk science and how Darwin is connected to Hitler) at college campuses across the country. He distributed the books a day earlier than he said he would. On Tuesday, he announced that his ministry will be giving away a million more copies of the book. He’s also the man speaking alongside ministry partner Kirk… Read more
Here’s video of children’s responses to the question: “What is Evolution?” It’s sponsored by Charlie’s Playhouse. The music’s a bit loud, but the responses are entertaining. My favorite is: “Then the monkeys turned into people monkeys” 🙂 It’s still more science understanding than most Creationists could give you… Read more
The Nampa Classical Academy, a charter school in Idaho, is still under fire for using religious texts as the primary sources for teaching material. They’ve already received five separate warnings from the state charter commission. The charter commission outlined the allegations for the most recent reprimand. The commission says the school has a shelf of Bibles, used photocopies of the Bible for an assignment, and school officials visited an Arizona school to observe how it used the Bible. The commission… Read more
This finally went up on their website so I feel comfortable announcing it. Ashley Paramore and some guy named Hermant are speaking at the (Christian) Jubilee conference in Pittsburgh this February. We’ll be participating in a panel discussion between Christians and atheists. (I apologize in advance for the music playing in the background of the website…) I’m looking forward to the event. There will be plenty to write about during and after the conference, I’m sure. Thanks to Jonathan Weyer… Read more
by Jesse Galef Our atheist billboards and bus ads have appeared all over the place, but there’s a certain repetition to the designs. In case you wanted something new, your non-prayers have been answered: the American Humanist Association is sponsoring a new nation-wide campaign with the words “No God? …No problem! Be good for goodness’ sake.” I absolutely love the line “be good for goodness’ sake” and I’m glad they kept it from last year. The only downside is that… Read more
A couple days ago, I heard about how city council members in Marietta, Georgia were debating whether or not to remove the phrase “so help me God” from the oath new police officers take. It’s a good move, of course, but it wasn’t a welcome one for city officials: Councilman Van Pearlberg floated changing the oath last week during a Public Safety Committee meeting as the lawmakers reviewed the police department’s operating procedures. Pearlberg said he personally did not object… Read more
I now know why 10-year-old Will Phillips isn’t standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. I have Matt Barber of the Christian Right group Liberty Counsel to thank for explaining why Will’s explanation — that we don’t have “justice for all” when it comes to the LGBT community — doesn’t make any sense: [Barber] believes the boy has been “utterly manipulated and exploited by adult moral relativists who are indirectly using him and other children as political pawns in the burgeoning… Read more
Sweden isn’t a very religious country — while a majority of people may belong to the Church of Sweden, that says little about how many people have actual “faith.” It works that way in a number of European countries. Reader Patrik lives in Sweden and he emailed me about what life is like for an atheist in that country. One particular bit stood out: Whether your family is Christian or not, it’s customary to have your kid baptized… Baptism is… Read more
