Ariane Sherine’s new book The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas is finally available in America. If you need any incentive to get it, all the money from the advance and royalties are going to the UK HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust. Read more
This is a post by Jesse Galef. … Why do we pretend that we can learn some great truth by studying works of fiction? In school I was always made to analyze and overanalyze novels. When their elusive meaning was found, it was handed to us as if we should treat it with reverence. I hope to use VorJack’s interesting post at UnreasonableFaith as a jumping-off point. Starting with one of my favorite fantasy authors, Robert Jordan, he notes that… Read more
A reader would like to run for public office, but there’s a major question he’s not sure how to answer. He writes in an email: I live in a very conservative, religious part of the my state and am very active in Democratic Party politics. I am considering running as a Democrat against our incumbent U.S. Representative (a Republican) who is an ultra-conservative, reactionary, theocratic politician who is an embarrassment to many of us, but unfortunately fits the bill for… Read more
We now know how much time you have to spend in jail if you kill your own child: Six months. Last time we heard of the saga of Madeline Kara Neumann — the 11-year-old who died from untreated diabetes, after slipping into a coma, because her parents prayed instead of calling a doctor — both her parents were found guilty of “second-degree reckless homicide.” They faced up to 25 years in prison. Today, we learned they would only be sentenced… Read more
Yesterday, the oral arguments in Salazar v. Buono took place in the Supreme Court. Some background to the case: In the 1930s, the Veterans of Foreign Wars put up a cross in the Mojave National Preserve in California as a war memorial. No other religious group is allowed to put up symbols in the area. Ten years ago, a former employee of the National Park Service, Frank Buono, sued, saying this was a violation of the establishment clause. In the… Read more
There are several cults in existence which still prophesize the end of the world — in the relatively near future. Maybe others would take them more seriously if they just pushed back their end date a little bit… We’re all going to die in a few billion years, anyway 🙂 (Thanks to Sami for the link!) Read more
I’ll admit, when I heard about this story, I was just surprised to learn that anyone actually takes the Shroud of Turin seriously. Are some Christians really that gullible? What’s that? Ken Ham, you say? *sigh* Never mind. Read more
The last time dating website OKCupid released data about its users, we discovered that saying you’re an atheist can help you get a date! Recently, they released a few more charts that are revealing both for what they tell us and don’t tell us. For example, a lot of people put their astrological sign on their dating profile. You would assume that some of them take it seriously enough to actively seek out people with whom they’re “compatible.” So what… Read more
Yesterday was the International Day of Prayer. (Not to be confused with the National Day of Prayer, which is a yearly political stunt with ties to Focus on the Family.) In honor of it, the Campus Crusade for Christ chapter at Indiana University – Bloomington prayed for 24 straight hours… The Secular Alliance of IU had a response ready to go. They put up flyers advertising their upcoming meetings that countered the notion that the prayers would be helpful to… Read more
***Update***: If you’d like to donate to Mr. Barbour to help him recoup the cost of the campaign, information is here. There is no PayPal link just yet. … Yesterday, I posted about Don Harris, a member of the Albuquerque City Council in New Mexico, who was being challenged in the local election by a man named David Barbour. Harris had gone after Barbour for having ties to atheist organizations and donating money for a science scholarship. There are some… Read more
