A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Ava Worthington had died just months after her first birthday… because her parents “didn’t believe in doctors” and they thought a god would heal her. They prayed, fasted, put their hands on her, and anointed her with oil… which to me sounds like they knew something was wrong but actively chose to deny her real help. In another case with similar details, the mother was found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide. What happened… Read more
There’s an article in Christianity Today by senior managing editor Mark Galli called “Is the Gay Marriage Debate Over?” It’s not too hard to pick apart much of what he says, beginning with the very first paragraph. But he does make a very powerful statement to his fellow Christians, one that I rarely hear coming from the mouth (typing hands?) of an evangelical Christian: We cannot very well argue for the sanctity of marriage as a crucial social institution while… Read more
The New York City Atheists have had this ad running on Manhattan buses for the past month: I love the ad because if you get offended by it, then really, you’re the problem. The publicity continues with Clyde Haberman’s article in The New York Times: The message, in white lettering on a sky-blue background, is nonconfrontational by design. It doesn’t attack religion or say there is no God. It simply says: “You don’t have to believe in God to be… Read more
Dale McGowan’s working on a website for Foundation Beyond Belief, an organization that will focus on humanist generosity and allow for charitable giving from atheists. One web design firm Dale looked into sent him this letter in response to his inquiry: Hi Dale, I appreciate the time you took to fill out our website questionnaire. Unfortunately, I don’t think we are a good fit for developing your website as we are committed Christians. I think it would be difficult for… Read more
Looks like semi-atheist Angelina Jolie finally put her feminine wiles to some good use. Brad Pitt recently made the following comments about religion to BILD (a German newspaper): BILD: Do you believe in God? Brad Pitt (smiling): “No, no, no!” BILD: Is your soul spiritual? Brad Pitt: “No, no, no! I’m probably 20 per cent atheist and 80 per cent agnostic. I don’t think anyone really knows. You’ll either find out or not when you get there, until then there’s… Read more
I thought this was a promotional piece for an episode of MythBusters. It’s not. Discovery Channel ran an ad for the Creation Museum. Or to put it another way: A science channel ran an ad that said the programming on that channel tells you lies. Daniel Florien explains: Recently, one of our readers was watching Extreme Machines on the Science Channel with his son. The inevitable ads came on — and he saw an advertisement for the Creation Museum, the… Read more
You’ve seen those God billboards before, right? Now, you can make your own. I like this one: This is pretty good, too 🙂 If you come up with anything good, comment away! (Thanks to Adam for the link!) Read more
It made me laugh. And that’s why I’m going to non-existent Hell. If you can read the first comment on that website with a straight face and make sense of it, you get bonus points. (via nakedpastor) Read more
School will start up again shortly and atheist campus group leaders are planning out activities for the year. Jen is asking her group members for advice. They’re not helping: Member: We could have an atheist bacchanalia orgy Me: Why is that the number one suggestion I get from everyone? It would never work. No one would know what to scream during the action. (*rim shot*) The best option here is obviously strip-Dungeons & Dragons. Read more
The Park Bench has a short collection of questions designed to infuriate any astronomer: 4. To me, the Moon looks like a sort of light cheddar but I’ve heard others refer to it as a brie. What flavor do scientists think it’s made of? I believe the consensus is that the Moon is made of gouda. … 6. How much money did the government save by faking the Moon landing rather than actually going there? I believe the savings from… Read more
