Dear Richard, I’ve been dating my girlfriend for a year and, even though she is not religious now, she has said she wants to return to the Christian faith she had as a child. Her strong connection to her religious family is a large part of that. Within the last two years, I’ve become a non-believer and have no desire to return to my Christian roots. I told her about being a non-believer early in our relationship. She has said… Read more
If I had this product, making dinner would be *so* much easier. I suspect it would make playtime much more fun, too! (Thanks to Reid for the link!) Read more
This post is by Jesse Galef, who used to work for the Secular Coalition for America — There’s a slightly different tagline today, as I’ve been laid off from the Secular Coalition. They’re “restructuring” the staff toward a new vision for the future and it didn’t involve me. The reaction when I tell people has generally been surprise and disappointment. A line from Joss Whedon’s excellent Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog came to mind: “‘I can’t imagine anybody firing you.’ ‘Neither… Read more
It can be frustrating to talk to religious people, and Z at It’s the Thought That Count isn’t sure how worthwhile dialogue is: If everybody else gets to express their side, I want to express mine. At the same time, the dialogue seems futile. Nobody’s going to change their mind, and it doesn’t even feel like we’re speaking the same language. It just makes me exhausted and depressed, and obviously that’s no good either. He has a point. Neither side… Read more
The website for Amazing Grace Baptist Church in North Carolina is down right now… but there’s a reason for that. People are slamming the servers to learn about their upcoming Halloween book burning. Pastor Marc Grizzard and his church’s members will be banning “Satanic” books… Like all non-King-James versions of the Bible (or is it Kings James? Help me, William Safire!). They’re also burning books by Billy Graham, Rick Warren, and (really?) James Dobson, Bill Bright, and Tim LaHaye. At… Read more
The famed author and skeptic Simon Singh has been encountering setback after setback in his case against chiropractics. This all began when he wrote an article saying that the British Chiropractic Association “is the respectable face of the chiropractic profession and yet it happily promotes bogus treatments.” That led to a semantics battle over the meaning of the word “bogus.” Is Singh saying BCA members are liars? They say yes, and they’re suing him for libel. Singh’s defense is that… Read more
Christian video games are bad enough as it is. So often, they’re low-quality versions of real entertainment. (Remember Guitar Praise and Dance Praise 2 — The ReMix?) But if you’re trying to sell the Jesus kitsch, you might as well go where your customers are: Walmart. More specifically, Walmarts in Texas. That’s where Left Behind Games Inc. is now going to be selling their goods. Christian products have gained popular acceptance in the music and book sections of retailers over… Read more
Last month, I posted about a newly-minted lawyer named Jen who said an alternative oath during her initiation ceremony. Instead of saying, “So Help Me God,” she said, “On my honor.” Reader Sarah just began a new job and faced a similar situation. Jen’s story was in the back of her mind. Sarah writes this in an email: A few days ago, I was hired by a privately-funded homeless shelter. My first day of work I was asked to fill… Read more
This post is by Jesse Galef — The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Salazar v. Buono, the case about an 8-foot-tall cross erected as a war memorial on government property. Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State had a great write-up on it last week on the AU blog. Last night Stephen Colbert weighed in on the issue with a great segment: The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c The Word -… Read more
And you thought your atheism led to family drama?! Josh recently got a 33-page letter from his Christian grandma. It was prompted by Josh’s parents telling her he was an atheist. You can read it here, here, and here (PDFs). That’s just the first half. … She wrote me an epic letter with a dismissal of evolution on theological grounds and tried to scare me back into the fold by talking about how powerful Satan is. Well, I decided to… Read more
