The Memphis (Tennessee) City Council allows a “Chaplain of the Day” to open sessions with prayer. They also give clergy a goodie bag. The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter requesting the council to stop that practice, and a lawsuit is forthcoming if they don’t. You can read that letter along with some of the very-Christian prayers here (PDF). A local news station ran a piece about the issue: The highlights of the video include City Council Chairman… Read more
It’s “were.” I know. Tell that to the Creationist in this video… who can’t actually solve a Rubik’s Cube. And stick around to watch the nifty life an an atheist 🙂 That is *so* how I roll. (via Thunderf00t) Read more
It’s like the old saying goes: To get on the news, you must dress up as a Pastafarian and preach on campus. Something like that. I guess it makes news in Indiana 🙂 A very nice, brief piece. But wonderful publicity for Blag Hag Jennifer and the Society of Non-Thesis at Purdue University! (Yep. Thesis. That’s what the news-lady said.) Read more
The more I see images from the book, the more I can’t wait to read The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb. Check out this bit from Chapter 19 about when Lot suggests to men from Sodom that they can rape his virgin daughters: The full book is scheduled to be published in mid-October, though Boing Boing mentions that it could start shipping by next week! Read more
I’m totally getting these Halloween costumes this year. I’m also going to need a baby. All in due time. And there are plenty more pictures in the collection. There are also babies in lobster and turkey costumes. I may have to give up the vegetarianism for this. Don’t try to correct my flawless logic in the previous sentence. (Thanks to Kay for the link!) Read more
I really don’t understand how Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron can claim to be Christians — can we assume they follow the Ten Commandments? — and then proceed to lie with every breath. It’s not just their ignorance about evolution. I think they actually have deluded themselves into think it’s some evil conspiracy. I’m talking about knowing, purposeful lies. To “celebrate” the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Comfort is giving away 50,000… Read more
A group of organizations that support religious liberty sent a letter (PDF) to Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday. The coalition includes the American Humanist Association, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, American Civil Liberties Union, Interfaith Alliance, Center for Inquiry, and the Secular Coalition for America. The issue at hand is an Office of Legal Counsel memo from 2007 that states the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (“RFRA”) allows for religious discrimination. The coalition says the memo… Read more
Last night, my TV was on but I wasn’t really paying attention… all of a sudden, I heard some of the harshest criticism of fundamentalist Christianity I’ve ever heard on network television. I stopped doing my work and started watching. I’m pretty sure my mouth was gaped open the whole time. It was amazing to hear anyone say these things — even better that it came from someone who used to be a fundie himself. Frank Schaeffer was the man… Read more
South Carolina allows you to choose from many speciality license plates for your vehicle. Each plate has a certain additional fee and the description on the DMV website explains where some of the fee money may be going. For example, here’s part of the description for the plate for Anderson College: Anderson College License Plates are $70.00 plus the registration fee. Forty dollars of the special plate fee will be sent to the specified school for scholarships… As it turns… Read more
This is the worst dilemma I’ve had since getting a crush on a girl who turned out to be a fundie. Do I eat the baby? Or refrain because it’s made (entirely) out of meat?! (via This Is Why You’re Fat — Thanks to everyone for the link!) Read more