Mike Jones is the former male escort who exposed Ted Haggard’s hypocrisy. I interviewed him a couple years ago when his book came out. It turns out his past is still coming back to haunt him. After the whole Haggard debacle died down, Mike tried to get his life back on track. He went back to school and became certified as a Nursing Assistant. Two weeks ago, he got a job with Christian Living Communities. That came to an end… Read more
Usually, when I hear about someone getting duped into giving tons of money to a Tarot card reader or a “psychic,” I don’t feel all that bad for them. Yes, they were taken advantage of, but they were also gullible enough to believe in complete nonsense. This story is far worse than that: [A 15-year-old girl] told jurors that Hector Ayala, 59, tricked her into having sex with him by convincing her that it would get rid of any bad… Read more
You may have heard about the Kentucky pastor who urged his congregation to bring their (unloaded) guns to church last weekend. What did that pastor’s sermon sound like? David Martin offers up his version in today’s Chicago Tribune: Let us pray: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy sidearm. Thy kingdom come, thy arsenal be full on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily ammo. And forgive us our misfires, as we forgive… Read more
After several unfortunate child deaths due to negligent parents who turned to God instead of doctors, Wisconsin legislators are trying to do something about it. Wisconsin, incidentally, is the state in which Madeline Kara Neumann died. Currently, Wisconsin law (948.03(6)) allows an exemption for parents who kill their child because of failed faith healing: A person is not guilty of an offense under this section solely because he or she provides a child with treatment by spiritual means through prayer… Read more
Godless Girl left Christianity to become an atheist. She sees her transition as analogous to that between the end of middle school and the beginning of high school: For me, leaving Christianity was a lot like graduating from eighth grade to high school. My Christian walk had passed puberty: I was experienced, educated, well-rounded, and thoughtful. I studied the Bible voraciously, enjoying theological discussions and asking digging questions… And then I became an atheist… I was afraid of leaving my… Read more
Another child is dead because of religiously-inspired negligence. Ava Worthington was only 15 months old. As she died, dozens of members of the Followers of Christ Church — maybe even a hundred — were watching. None of them called a doctor. If any of them had, she would probably have been saved. When the detectives told [father Carl “Brent”] Worthington that the law requires a parent to provide adequate medical care, he said he had provided care. “I did everything… Read more
Kenneth Chang of The New York Times wrote about actual scientists visiting the Creation Museum the other day. He now adds one addendum to that piece. It appears the Creation Museum actually espouses evolution. Chang explains the Creationist view that Noah’s Ark did not hold “two of every animal,” rather it held “two of every kind of animal”… meaning it may have held one pair of dogs, which evolved into several variants of dogs, but not into new species. This… Read more
I’ve written before about corporate filters on websites. A fan of the Atheist Talk podcast explained to the host of that show that his company uses a filter called Blue Coat. One particular category they filter is “Alternative Spirituality/Occult”: Sites that promote and provide information on alternative spiritual and non-religious ideologies such as atheism, agnosticism, witchcraft, and Satanism. Occult practices, voodoo rituals or any other form of mysticism are represented here. Includes sites that endorse or offer methods, means of… Read more
Occasionally, I get emails that are both thrilling and depressing all at once. This certainly qualifies. It comes from Cadet Captain “Bob,” who is part of an Army JROTC program at his high school. He recently took part in an extra-curricular quiz bowl activity (similar to Jeopardy!) that resulted in his team making it to the national finals. The week-long competition just ended and his team placed very well. During the week, though, “Bob” noticed a problem. His story is… Read more
