After the Creation Museum trip, there was a surprise waiting for PZ Myers. He was led to the front of the museum, just outside the gates, and presented with… his certification for being named an official Kentucky Colonel! The award was presented by American Atheists legal director Edwin Kagin. This is the video I was able to shoot: Read more
These three letters share a common theme, the difficult choices of being open or secretive about one’s atheism to family and friends. The issues in the letters overlap. Much of what I suggest for one case will apply to the others. Dear Richard, First off, thank you for starting this “Ask the Atheist” advice column. It is nice to have a place where we can get advice from someone without the “god will guide you,” and “pray about it.” Secondly,… Read more
It was a very long weekend, between the Creation Museum trip, the Secular Student Alliance conference, and the two-day SSA board meeting. Thankfully, lots of wonderful things happened on the trip. I’ll post my thoughts on the Museum/Conference soon enough. For now, I have a day to play catch up on everything I missed. If you attended either event, I’d love to hear your feedback! If you didn’t attend, what would you like to know about the weekend? Read more
JulietEcho, our resident Forum admin, has been hiding something from me. She finally sent it along: Oh. My. God. It’s a Pumpkin Baby. You *know* how much I love babies dressed as food. Or as anything else cute and adorable. If you have adorable costumed baby pictures of yourself, please send them my way! Maybe we can make a giant collage of them… Read more
I remember reading Lorraine Hansberry’s “Raisin in the Sun” the summer before I entered high school. Which means I read it before I became an atheist. Maybe that’s why the following passage didn’t stick out in my mind (video below) back then. A reader brought it to my attention recently, though, and I’m just in awe of it… Mama (Kindly): ‘Course you going to be a doctor, honey, God willing. Beneatha (Drily): God hasn’t got a thing to do with… Read more
The Northwest Freethought Alliance is a group of 30 atheist organizations in the (surprise!) northwest part of the country. They just announced that their 2010 NFA Regional Conference will be held at Renton Technical College (in Washington state) on March 26th, 27th, and 28th. All the details have yet to be announced, but reserve the dates, and check this site for future updates! Read more
This post is by Jesse Galef … I’m taking today off work after having been on the road for nine of the past ten days. For you, that just means I have the time to write up a quick post about the Secular Student Alliance Conference! Highlights of the trip: Seeing 50 people turn out to hear my new boss, Sean Faircloth, speak in Cincinnati. I had expected closer to 20, so the crowd was exciting. Visiting the Creation Museum…. Read more
Dear Richard, I am an atheist who became an atheist after getting a job working for a church. I enjoy my work and it is well paying with good benefits (something I need as my wife has had many health problems). My job is not really religious in a major way. I do mostly clerical work. Yet, I still feel like a hypocrite. I do look for other jobs, but have not been successful so far. Should I come out… Read more
Based on the emails I’m getting and the comments I’m reading, I guess I should explain the opening story of my Atheism & Dating talk. The point of my story was to give a funny story involving an awkward date. It wasn’t awkward because she was a little person (the preferred nomenclature, I’m told). It was awkward because she was a little person who didn’t tell me that about herself. I think that was kind of shady and dishonest. Similarly,… Read more
Well, this should pose a problem for devout Catholics everywhere… The Virgin Mary has been found in a–well, see for yourself: Of all the places for a virgin to appear… I would love to know if someone noticed that post-coitum or if they just shaped it that way. Either way, I’m disturbed. (I don’t know where that image comes from, and I can’t find it elsewhere, but I’d like to give due credit… if you have any idea, please let… Read more
