This post is by Jesse Galef Sorry for the lack of posting; I’ve been guest-blogging for Daniel Florien at UnreasonableFaith.com. Stop by and say hello! I had a thought I wanted to share. In an earlier post here on FriendlyAtheist, I said that we’re not fighting against religious people, we’re fighting against the harmful memes that are infecting our society. Following the metaphor, critical thinking skills of various kinds build up a strong immune system against these mind viruses. I… Read more
Someone at UPI has a sense of humor. When reporting on the threats that resulted in Lamar advertising moving the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason billboard, the article first quotes the CinCoR coordinator: “Everything that has happened shows just how vital our message is,” Shawn Jeffers, co-coordinator for the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason, said. “It proves our point, that bigotry against people who don’t believe in a god is still very real in America.” The article then quotes some random voice… Read more
So let me get this straight. Catholic Charities, a part of the Catholic Church, helps over 68,000 people in Washington D.C., including the homeless. It’s not just volunteer work — they get paid for this. From 2006 through 2008, [council member David A.] Catania said, Catholic Charities received about $8.2 million in city contracts, as well as several hundred thousand dollars’ worth this year through his committee. But if a new bill gets passed by the city council next month… Read more
If all baptisms were like this, maybe I’d consider going to one… the religious would enjoy the baptism. I would enjoy the flushing of an infant. Everyone would leave happy. The cartoon is Freethunk! by Jeff Swenson. (via Humanist Network News) Read more
The Chicago Coalition of Reason billboard hasn’t evoked the same outrage as similar billboards have done in other areas. But that didn’t stop members of the (comedy group) Best* Church of God from protesting the sign! The pics, courtesy of nancydukereporting.com, are part of an article about the billboard by Nancy Duke. I like the part when she gets reactions about the message of being “good without God”: … definitely don’t tell that to homeless man Anthony Martin, who has… Read more
Two days ago, the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason billboard went up: Wait… what’s that? A crane? Yep. They took it down this morning. Around 2:00 PM yesterday, the United Coalition of Reason, which paid $3,875.00 for a one-month run of the billboard, was contacted byLamar Advertising of Cincinnati. Lamar reported that the landowner of the site had been threatened over the billboard’s message and wanted it taken down. Lamar only leases the land the billboard stands on. No word on… Read more
Last month, the Alabama Atheists and Agnostics group chalked their university with info about upcoming meetings… only to have it all erased by some unknown culprits. They re-chalked. It got re-erased. This cycle and the reaction to it earned the group lots of great publicity. And now, they’re able to spread their message to a larger audience: [AAA president Sam] Arnold said AAA’s mission has two parts. “We want to create a social hub for secular students,” Arnold said. “We… Read more
***Update***: Join the “Will Phillips – you are awesome!” Facebook group! … I have a new hero. His name is Will Phillips and he’s 10. Part of the reason I like him is because he doesn’t stand up during the Pledge of Allegiance. It has nothing to do with the “Under God” phrase, though. Listen to the wonderful way he articulates why he doesn’t want to do it: Will’s family has a number of gay friends. In recent years, [mother]… Read more
South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is quite pissed off that a judge ruled the “I Believe” license plates were unconstitutional. He writes on his website: For those who say proclaiming “I believe” violates the constitution by giving preference to Christianity, I think this lawsuit clearly discriminates against persons of faith. I will ask the state Attorney General to vigorously appeal this ruling because it is time that people stand up for their beliefs. Enough is enough. This is absurd…. Read more
