Dear Richard I am a member of many online forums and LiveJournal communities. Whenever the subject of things such as ghosts, religion, astrology, homeopathy and other bizarre things come up, I often feel the need to make the lone dissenting comment. For example, occasionally the question of “Do you believe in Ghosts?!” comes up, and my standard response is “I prefer to live in a reality-based world.” I understand this probably isn’t the most unconfrontational approach, but on one level… Read more
If you’re in Washington, D.C. over the next couple weeks, you may want to check out this show at the Capital Fringe Festival: The Honest-to-God True Story of the Atheist. The show, written by Dan Trujillo and directed by Isaac Butler, has this description: When The Atheist steals a plastic Jesus to prove God doesn’t exist, all hell breaks loose. Or does it? This irreverent comedy leaves no sacred cow untipped, dismantling faith, disbelief and the play itself with songs,… Read more
Earlier this year, several pro-life individuals participated in a project called the Red Envelope Campaign in which they sent an empty, red envelope to President Obama at the White House. There was a message on the back saying that the envelope represented an aborted baby. This was supposed to get Obama to change his policies. Right… Obama reads ten letters a day, hand-picked for him. I’m sure the empty envelopes just went into a separate, “special” pile before being discarded…. Read more
When you’re watching the baseball All-Star Game tonight, you’re bound to see Albert Pujols get a great reception from the hometown St. Louis crowd. When that happens, think about this article about him by Jeff Passan that discusses Pujols’ Christian faith. First, some background if you’re not familiar with the player: His [Pujols’] transcendence is undeniable, even in a steroids-pocked era that infected record books like a virus. Pujols is the only player alive who could flirt with a .400… Read more
We already know the top two atheists are suing over the fiasco at the Capitol Visitor Center. Here’s the case in a nutshell: Last week, the House and the Senate passed resolutions directing the Architect of the Capitol to engrave “In God We Trust” and the Pledge of Allegiance in prominent places in the Capitol Visitor Center, which is “the entrance for the thousands of tourists who visit the Capitol every day.” The engraving project is expected to cost up… Read more
To no one’s surprise, I don’t think it’s productive for atheists to call religious people names. You want to attack the arguments, not the people making them. Sometimes, though, the religious people make a better case for atheism than we ever could… just by not shutting up. The more they explain (or we expose) all their absurd beliefs, the easier it will be for others to say they don’t make sense and maybe none of it is true. Bill at… Read more
Here’s an interesting book idea. S.A. Alenthony (a pen name) rewrote Dante’s Inferno, but from an atheist’s perspective — Same poetic style and everything. It’s called The Infernova. One major difference is that punishments would be offered to “televangelist-frauds, pedophile-priests, prophets” and more. And instead of Virgil as a guide, Alenthony goes with someone a bit more familiar: Of bushy gray hair he had no lack, and his moustache too was brushy and wild. He looked familiar. I tried to… Read more
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has been putting this billboard up across the country: The “Imagine No Religion” is hardly offensive… it doesn’t attack or mock a particular faith. It merely suggests the thought of life without religion using the words of John Lennon. But when the Alabama Freethought Association helped put that billboard up in Birmingham, Alabama, all hell broke loose. First, it was rejected by Lamar advertising. “It was offensive to me,” said Tom Traylor, general manager of… Read more
Mr. Wade, This may be an ordinary complaint from a non-believer, but every time I have had to stay in hospital for more than an hour, a “patient advocate” comes into my room and wants to pray with or for me, or leaves me with some sweet religious phrase or blessing in addition to asking me if there is anything I need. Some of these patient advocates wear crucifixes and I “believe” that a crucifix is a symbol of torture… Read more
This post is by Jesse Galef, who works for the Secular Coalition for America. He also blogs at Rant & Reason … I’ve been watching the confirmation hearing for Justice Sonia Sotomayor. It’s of particular interest to the Secular Coalition because she’ll be replacing Justice David Souter, who was one of the staunchest defenders of the separation of church and state, but we don’t know her views. We sent a letter to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee urging… Read more
