There have been plenty of people in the news throwing hissy fits after seeing atheist bus ads like this one: Most recently, Iowan Angela Shiel was suspended from her job because refused to drive a bus with those ads on the side (she’s back to work now). Reader Peter wonders if other ads would evoke the same type of emotion. He made a couple of his own: Yep. I’m offended. Can’t do my job anymore… Of course, there’s no reason… Read more
Back in May, the Maine legislature legalized same-sex marriage. This November, voters in the state will have an opportunity to overturn that law. We can’t let that happen. Just as we saw with Proposition 8 in California in 2008, Maine voters will see Proposition 1 on their ballots this November. Hopefully, the majority will vote No on 1 and same-sex marriage will be protected. Greta Christina explains why your involvement is so crucial: The right isn’t wrong about this one…. Read more
Richard, We have a very close family friend that is like a second mother to our children. She is a devout Lutheran (Missouri Synod) and so are her children. They likely suspect I’m atheist, but we don’t ever talk about it. The only thing they know is that I don’t allow our children to attend their church, Sunday school or vacation bible school. Recently we were asked for money, by one of her children, to support a summer college trip… Read more
The point of atheist bus ads is not to make anyone angry. It’s to provoke discussions about a subject many people find uncomfortable and let closeted atheists know that they are not alone. Last week, Iowa bus driver Angela Shiel refused to do her job because there was an atheist ad on her vehicle and she refused to drive it. She was rightly suspended for that. Today, she was back on the job… but that may change soon enough: DART… Read more
Bobby Henderson, the founder of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is hosting a nice question-and-answer session over at Reddit. He’s answering everything so get your questions in there! Read more
I can’t imagine any American professional sports team doing this. So kudos to the Australian Wallabies rugby team for supporting a campaign to fight discrimination against the GLBT community. (Thanks to Scott for the link!) Read more
Hey, Ron Gold here. An Islamic model in Malaysia–yes, they do exist–has been sentenced to be caned for her henious crime of drinking beer in public. She was set to receive the beating only a matter of hours ago, when suddenly, it was delayed for Ramadan related reasons. However, this was not a welcome decision: The first woman in Muslim-majority Malaysia to face caning for drinking beer was reprieved Monday because of the holy month of Ramadan. Her family said she… Read more
The latest issue of The Humanist (Sep/Oct 2009) includes an interview with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible for him to say anything that isn’t interesting, but a couple things he said stood out: The Humanist: Do you consider yourself a humanist? Tyson: I’ve never identified with any movement. I just am what I am and occasionally a movement claims me because there is resonance between my writings and speeches and what they do, and that’s fine;… Read more
I realize there are some Christians who are not fans of the atheist bus ads in Iowa. I realize that some religious people think they’re clever by saying “we don’t believe in atheists” in response to atheists saying “we don’t believe in a god”… even though that first statement makes no sense. I realize that, while I may be a Grammar Nazi, not everyone cares about proper spelling and punctuation and where the apostrophe is supposed to go. But this… Read more
Crispian Jago has already made skeptically themed cards, but he has trumped himself this time around. Now, he brings us Simpsonized Skeptics: You now have a goal in life: To get drawn by Crispian. Read more
