The pastor of the “Gay Exorcism” church has spoken. And she makes even less sense than you thought. An excerpt: Pastor Patricia McKinney: … I just wanted to tell the world out there that Manifested Glory Ministries Church is not against homosexuality. We do not hate them. We do not come up against them. We just do not believe in their lifestyle. We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. CNN: But could he have been a member of… Read more
If you’re like me, you’ve received those emails from Christian friends that have a Bible verse in the signature line. It looks like a variant of the following: Bob — The party starts at 7:00 p.m. — Christian ————————- John 3:16 Here’s a fun experiment you can try. Put a Bible verse in your signature line. But not a famous/inspirational verse. Instead, cite a passage that makes no sense out-of-context… or showcases something in the Bible that is downright disturbing…. Read more
Jesse posted here a little while back about H. Con. Res. 131: Directing the Architect of the Capitol to engrave the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and the National Motto of “In God We Trust” in the Capitol Visitor Center. At the moment, the bill now has 160 co-sponsors. Every single one of them, a Republican. The Secular Coalition for America wants you to take action: Building the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) has already cost American taxpayers millions of… Read more
An article by Konstantin Petrenko in ReligionDispatches discusses the “two faces” of new atheism. We know plenty of good things that have resulted from the atheist authors’ bestsellers. So no need to dwell on that here. But Petrenko points out a couple major problems with Dawkins/Harris/Hitchens/Dennett and the like: While plausible, this argument [that you don’t need religion to be moral] does not prove that religion has no effect on morality. In fact, study after study has shown that deeply… Read more
A reader emailed me about an issue she was having at work. She’s a summer intern who wants to be social with her colleagues. One of them (let’s call him Bob) invited her and the other interns to a gathering. Bob told her there would be a short prayer session, followed by hanging out and playing games. The reader hasn’t told Bob she’s an atheist, and she feels comfortable skipping the prayer session altogether. After checking into the gathering place,… Read more
By now, you’ve probably seen the “Gay Exorcism” video on YouTube… a pastor at Manifested Glory Ministries (in Bridgeport, CT) tries to de-gayify a teenager. The church had no real response, only saying that it wasn’t an exorcism — rather, it was a “casting out of souls.” I’d love to know what the difference is.. The video is sad, it’s disgusting, it’s disturbing… and it’s not shocking at all to me. Really, were any of you surprised to see it?… Read more
First, Richard Dawkins gets his own cologne. Now, Jenny McCarthy?! Well if they can have them, I want my own, too, dammit. It will smell like a mix of Chipotle, spaghetti, and Atomic Fireballs. (via Science, Reason, and Critical Thinking) Read more
My friend Neil Polzin served on the board of directors for the Secular Student Alliance a couple years ago. I got this message from him last night and it needs to be passed along. The short version: He was fired from his job with the Boy Scouts of America… likely because they found out about his non-religious beliefs. The letter from Neil (emphases mine): “We have received information that has compelled us to revoke your registration. You must immediately sever… Read more
This is a fun little unintentional game. Type in a word, and the program will tell you how many times it appears in the Bible. (The upper left part of the chart represents Genesis; the lower left is Revelation.) Zeus? He appears twice: Bonus points for anyone who can find dirty words. (via Glocal Christianity) Read more
Transpo is the public bus line in South Bend, Indiana. They were at the center of a public relations fiasco a couple months ago when they rejected (then later accepted) an ad from atheists. The oh-so-controversial ad read: “You Can Be Good Without God.” Yesterday, Transpo decided they didn’t want to deal with this problem in the future. The company will no longer allow ads dealing with the following: Demeaning or disparaging ads. Religious and social issues. Alcohol, tobacco and… Read more
