Believe it or not, those Jesus-in-the-food “miracles” don’t prevent catastrophes from happening. I’m shocked, I tell you. Shocked. (via Atheist Media Blog) Read more
This poll closes tomorrow. And the votes “Against” the motion are currently down… (Thanks to Richard for the link!) Read more
I suspect by now, you’ve heard about how a judge in Louisiana refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple. … [Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace for Tangipahoa Parish’s 8th Ward] told Hammond’s Daily Star in a story published Thursday that he was concerned for the children who might be born of the relationship and that, in his experience, most interracial marriages don’t last. “I’m not a racist,” Bardwell told the newspaper. “I do ceremonies for black… Read more
This is disturbing beyond belief. On several levels. A Canadian father tried to perform a circumcision on his son (because he believed the Bible wanted him to)… and failed. He should’ve known it would end badly, considering he had screwed it up before when he performed a circumcision on himself: In April, 2007, [father] D.J.W. dosed his son with honey wine, placed him on clean garbage bags and a diaper on his kitchen floor, and used razor blades boiled in… Read more
Today is the first ever National Secular Service Day, a brainchild of the Harvard Secular Society. A handful of organizations around the country are hosting events to mark the occasion, including hosting food drives, cleaning up highways, and donating blood. Good for them and I hope other groups will join in on the action. The event is also tied into the release of Harvard Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein’s forthcoming book, Good Without God. I hope the event is a success…. Read more
These costumes are cute… but I’d only buy them if the babies came included: Delicious. Why would anyone ever bother buying any other costume after seeing those? What will your baby (or whichever baby you borrow…) be dressed as this Halloween? (Thanks to Kriss the Sexy Atheist for the link!) … ***Update***: This baby just won the game of life: (Thanks, @jennifurret!) Read more
A reader — let’s call her Jane — is part of a message board where members discuss marriage and family. Jane recently posted that she and her husband needed marriage counseling because of communication problems. Some of the forum members suggested church counseling and Jane declined. She said she was an atheist and faith-based counseling wasn’t for her. That led to this unbelievable response from one woman: I respect your religious views. Don’t get it wrong but Girlfriend if you… Read more
***Update***: 10/25/09: Winners of this contest have been contacted via email. … Reader Richard recently started selling a product he calls The MemoMaid. It’s a nifty little document holder which attaches to your laptop or desktop computer. (You’ll never again have to hold up a paper with one hand and type with the other.) He has offered to give a few away and, to sweeten the deal, he created an awesome atheist version of the product just for readers of… Read more
Federal hate crimes laws currently do not protect people who are victims due to their sexual orientation. Conservative Christians keep complaining that if a current bill — the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act — gets passed, they won’t be able to spew their anti-gay rhetoric in church. Which isn’t true at all. Pastors could continue to say whatever they want against homosexuality. They have a right to free speech, including the right to sound like… Read more
This post is by Jesse Galef — Yesterday, Andrew Sullivan put up a post about an extremely brutal hate-crime attack on an openly gay man. The 2-minute news report he embeds is depressing, but there was something to laugh about at the end. The studio interviewed one of the attackers’ friends, who proudly displayed this tattoo: It’s a tattoo reading “[Thou] shall not lie with a male as one does with a woman. It is an abomination. Leviticus 18:22”. Who… Read more
