Florida Governor Charlie Crist knows exactly why there have been no major hurricanes in his home state the past few years: “Do you know the last time it was we had a hurricane in Florida? It’s been awhile. In 2007, I took my first trade mission. Do you know where I went?” said Crist, a Methodist, referring to a trip to Israel. He then told of going to the Western Wall and inserting a note with a prayer. He said… Read more
Fathima Rifqa Bary is the 17-year-old girl who converted from Islam to Christianity. She packed up her things and ran away to Florida because she feared an honor killing — her own family members killing her because of what she had done. Her parents say they just want her back safely, but reports say that her mother said Fathima was “dead to her”. The girl also said her father threatened to kill her after learning she had been baptized. Right… Read more
In case you missed Real Time with Bill Maher last night, Sam Harris was a guest on the show. The video is below: The good: Harris made the important point (we’ve heard it before from him) that the reason smart people like Francis Collins can believe ideas like “morality is instilled in us from God” is not because they have a “neurological disorder” or are compartmentalizing. Instead, it has to do with the social taboo we have on criticizing religious… Read more
You may remember Roy Zimmerman’s fantastic song “Creation Science 101”: Now, several atheist vloggers on YouTube have joined together to cover the song: I love it! (Thanks to Jeff for the link!) Read more
You may have already seen this photo at PZ’s site from our visit to the Creation Museum: The Secular Student Alliance needs a good caption for this image for our own nefarious purposes 🙂 Something short, sweet, and hilarious would be greatly appreciated. We might as well generate the collective wisdom of the internets. You will be duly rewarded if you have the best entry, I assure you. Read more
First, a comment to everyone who’s been following this drama… thank you for your support. Your emails and comments have been incredible. Your offers to pitch in for legal defense if needed are so very appreciated. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that so many people have your back in a situation like this. … Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute has issued an open letter to me. It’s tempting to just ignore it… but if she’s going to… Read more
A reader sent in this story (identifying info has been removed). It shows how simple it can be to correct a policy you think is illegal — without the use of lawsuits, angry words, or drawn-out battles: My state university (I graduated a few years back) has a pretty good football team, is almost always in the top 25, and has a head coach who is very well respected in the university community. Like any other football program, we have… Read more
Finally! Sears took my suggestion seriously: They’re claiming their website was just under attack. But we all know they’re just caving in to some customers’ complaints… 🙂 (Thanks to Wendy for the link!) Read more
The Illinois Family Institute’s Laurie Higgins is going after me (and my job) again. … parents really should spend some time perusing… math teacher, Hemant Mehta’s website to determine whether he is the kind of man with whom they want their children to spend a school year. He absolutely has a First Amendment right to promote any feckless, destructive, offensive, and immoral ideas he wants via his blog, but, as I mentioned in my earlier article, parents have the right… Read more
The atheist tram campaign (trampaign?) in Zagreb, Croatia was up… and down, all within one day. The ad read “No Gods, No Masters.” Reader Enola was kinda enough to translate this article and give it some context. Here’s Enola’s translation: ZAGREB – “Without God, without a master” is Croatian Women’s Network’s slogan which was supposed to be displayed for a month long on trams number 14. However, it lasted only for a day, after which ZET [Zagreb Electric Tram] decided… Read more
