In case you missed The Simpsons this weekend, they aired their annual Halloween episode: “Treehouse of Horrors XX.” One of the shorts was “Don’t Have a Cow, Mankind,” and it deals with a zombie-creating burger that infects all who eat it. Bart eats a burger and manages to stay safe, though, so he is referred to as the “Chosen One.” They have to take him to the Safe Zone in order to create an antidote. When Marge gets him there,… Read more
This post is by Jesse Galef — Ray Comfort, shown here attempting to prove God’s existence You won’t hear me say this often, but Ray Comfort seems to have been smarter than I thought – in a devious way. About a month ago, we found out that Ray Comfort was polluting the waters of scientific integrity by releasing a copy of “The Origins of Species” with his own 50-page forward criticizing evolution. He decided to give these tainted copies away… Read more
I must have these plates. What better location to put my dinner babies? The creator of the Lysergic Christ® commemorative plates, Shane Swank, promotes them this way: These initial four designs would have looked right at home on your Grandmother’s kitchen walls, that is if your Grandmother was a psychedelic warrior. These are designed for both the twisted Christians or the Godless Pagans in mind. I’m not sure if I want them more because I’m a Godless heathen or because… Read more
I received two letters from non-believers considering baptizing their kids. Both are wondering about the ethics of the issue but they are brought to the question by different motives. Dear Richard, I was raised Catholic, but have not been religious for most of my life. I was fortunate to have very good parents who were happy to step back and let us grow up the way we chose. I chose to be good without God or Religion. My wife is… Read more
As I read through the article (originally a piece for NPR’s Morning Edition) by Barbara Bradley Hagerty, the constant thought runnin through my head was “that’s wrong,” “that’s wrong,” “that’s wrong”… Let us count the missteps. A Bitter Rift Divides Atheists The headline may not have been written by Hagerty, but it’s wrong for reasons I’ll get into in a moment. Last month, atheists marked Blasphemy Day at gatherings around the world, and celebrated the freedom to denigrate and insult… Read more
The press release wasn’t slated to go out until next week, and the ads aren’t even up yet, but word leaked to the local media and, all of a sudden, the Big Apple Coalition of Reason and their subway ads are a hot topic in Manhattan: I love the wording: “A Million New Yorkers Are Good Without God. Are You?” It’s not offensive in the least (unless you’re offended by the existence of people who disagree with you). Rather, it’s… Read more
Back in May, I posted this story: California teacher Jim Corbett lost his case against student Chad Farnan. Farnan had accused his history teacher of make anti-Christian comments during class and the court agreed. Based on the lawsuit and the comments I’d read Corbett had made, I wasn’t siding with the teacher (though I agreed with what he said). I felt his comments were inappropriate. In any case, there’s an interesting update to all this. The student, Chad Farnan, is… Read more
This post is by Jesse Galef — I feel comfortable saying that I don’t know something. True, on a midterm exam I’m likely to frantically scribble something down in hopes that might be correct. But when it comes to the big questions, there’s no shame in saying “I don’t know.” Neil deGrasse Tyson explains this in excellent fashion. Here he discusses the fallacy of argument from ignorance among other interesting topics (via Phil Ferguson on facebook): Somebody sees lights flashing… Read more
Khristian Oliver murdered a man in 1999 by shooting him in the face and then beating him with his own rifle. He is scheduled to be put to death on November 5th. I have no sympathy for him. He should be behind bars for an indefinite amount of time. But he shouldn’t be put to death. There are a number of reasons capital punishment is wrong, but the particular reason used in this case is especially horrifying: It later emerged… Read more
I rarely understand modern art, but I appreciate whenever traditional views are challenged, and this will certainly do the trick. Paul Fryer’s newest work brings together race, religion, and a gorilla… on a crucifix: [Fryer] insists he wants to highlight the plight of the Western Lowland Gorillas, and to challenge the Christian notion that animals do not have souls. But he does not want to cause offence. Right… I’m sure no one will take any offense at all. (Artists know… Read more
