Richard, I think it’s great you’re doing an advice column for us skeptics. My question: My wife’s office has become a maternity ward. Of the 10 eligible women, 5 are pregnant. In the last couple of weeks, they have begun passing books around and talking about their plans for their newborns. Unfortunately, one of the books they are reading is by the leader of the pro-disease movement Jenny McCarthy. These are all smart, educated women, but the fear mongering of… Read more
I mentioned yesterday that the Air Force did not fly over the God and Country Festival in Idaho last week. Here’s Bill O’Reilly talking about that festival tonight (beginning at the 1:38 mark): “No specific religion at play” at that festival? Here’s what the director — the freaking director — of the festival had to say last week: Organizers don’t deny the explicitly Christian nature of the annual patriotic rally. “Yes, it’s about as Christian as you can get —… Read more
This is an old video, but I hadn’t ever come across it. Bishop John Shelby Spong explains how Hell is completely fictional. He adds that the church has a vested interest in not letting people grow up — “you can’t control grown-ups” — which is why they use the term “born-again.” You’re still a “child” then. If you haven’t seen him speak before, you’re in for a surprise: Spong shouldn’t be let off the hook for his other beliefs, though…. Read more
Many atheists I know grew up practicing the religion of their parents. It’s a typical method of indoctrination. Your parents believe something (i.e. Jesus) and they want you to believe it. Of course, religious parents want their kids to think on their own as well. They don’t see themselves as “indoctrinating” their kids. But they obviously have an influence on them and inevitably, the kids will imitate their parents. When many atheists have children, they want to do something different…. Read more
Francis Collins, the famed geneticist, was selected to head the National Institutes of Health by President Obama. Here’s what I’ve been hearing from other atheists. Pro: He’s a brilliant scientist. Con: He believes in God. They all bring up that he’s an evangelical Christian and the author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. In that book, he explains how he came to Christianity after he saw a frozen waterfall separated into three parts — i.e…. Read more
This post is by Jesse Galef, who works for the Secular Coalition for America. He also blogs at Rant & Reason … Many of you have heard of William Lobdell before, and I know Hemant has written about him and his excellent book Losing My Religion. As it turns out, the latest issue of The Humanist magazine contains an interview I did with him! It’s one of the pieces not available online – I can only assume that it’s so… Read more
Dear Richard, Okay, I had to take the bait when I read your blog post. I am an atheist, and my boyfriend (who I live with) is Catholic. Normally, it is not an issue. He is not a devout Catholic, he never wants to go to mass, he doesn’t pray, he even told me he’s really not sure there is a god. However, he gets really offended if I say anything bad about Catholicism or religion and thinks I don’t… Read more
***Update***: For some reason, comments were turned off on this posting earlier. They’re back on, now! Sorry for the confusion. … Norma McCorvey was once known as “Jane Roe” in the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court case that legalized abortion throughout the country. For years, she was proud to be pro-choice. Most of you may know that that’s no longer the case. McCorvey now works with extremely religious pro-life groups. There was a fascinating article about her transition in The… Read more
I quote from her posting: Obama legally kills babies and now he can legally kill Grandmas! Hitler did this. He killed the weak, the sick, the old, and babies and races/religions he didn’t like. Hitler also controlled the media. (Where’s the public debate between scientists on “Climate Change/Global Warming?”) Hitler had the VW bug invented as the state car. What will O’s nationalized car be? So… kill off the weak. That’s the plan. Tax the workers to death. Erase the… Read more
In a dairy for the Daily Kos, Chris Rodda explains how, a couple years ago, she heard about how the American military was taking part in evangelical Christian events — a blatant violation of church/state separation. The military was regularly providing flyovers at countless evangelical Christian events all over the country, not only violating the regulations prohibiting military participation in religious events, but spending millions of dollars of taxpayer money in the process. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation exposed what… Read more
