What’s the connection between star athletes and mega-churches? Turns out the athletes help bankroll some of the largest churches in the country (as well as their pastors). Evander Holyfield and Kurt Warner are just two glaring examples of athletes who seem to be duped into giving as much as they do. This video is really disturbing on a number of levels: Suddenly, the words of Dwight Howard don’t seem so bad… though I haven’t heard anything about how much he… Read more
A couple months ago, Marie Lauradin did something horrible to her only child. She took rum, sprayed it in a circle around her naked six-year-old daughter, poured some on the girl’s head, and then lit the rum on fire. As the flames covered her body, she screamed in agony. Her mother and grandmother just ignored her. It was a full day before relatives convinced the mother to take the girl to the hospital. The girl thankfully didn’t die, but she… Read more
Remember Daniel Hauser? He was the boy with Hodgkin’s lymphoma whose mother refused to let him undergo chemotherapy because she wanted him to get better with “natural remedies” (like herbs and vitamins). This would likely have led to his death. Then a judge intervened and said Daniel had to undergo chemo. (Then the mother kidnapped him for a couple days… because how dare anyone try to save her son with modern medicine!?) Anyway… cut to this week. Guess what’s happening… Read more
If you (are forced against your will to) visit the Creation Museum, you will come across this sign: There’s a joke in there somewhere about how 1 in 3 is not actually 30% and how they should really say “Almost 1 in 3…” or “Approximately 1 in 3…” Anyway, museum founder Ken Ham commissioned a study (so take it as seriously as you do Ken Ham) which explains why all these people leave the church. If you accept his findings… Read more
New York City is finally joining the Atheist Bus Campaign! This month, some two dozen buses will roll through Manhattan, debuting our 12-foot long, three foot high message, “You don’t have to believe in god to be a moral or ethical person”. Look for the signs the first day our buses maneuver through the city in late June. Now, we just need a ginormous building-sized atheist poster in Times Square. I like the message: Simple, straight-forward, unoffensive. It targets people… Read more
Let’s say you’re having a conversation with a theist. You’re trying to point out inherent contradictions in God-belief. God is omniscient and supposedly knows everything we’re ever going to do, yet still we pray to change our fates… how does that make any sense? Or: We pray to survive in a war while the other side gets annihilated… where was their God? What good were their prayers? Was God listening to them? Then, at some point, the theist says this:… Read more
The conservative Christian group Focus on the Family is becoming slightly rebellious… maybe because James Dobson is no longer steering the ship. They’re changing up the dress code for employees: Beginning [this past Tuesday], men who work at Focus no longer have to wear mandatory business attire, including tie, and women employees don’t have to stick with just dresses or skirts and hosiery. Men can now come to work donning an open collar shirt — but no spandex — and… Read more
If you missed Richard Dawkins’ last American tour (or couldn’t get tickets to the sold-out events), his talk can now be seen on YouTube: Josh Timonen of RichardDawkins.net explains: During Richard Dawkins’ American tour in March 2009, he gave a talk titled “The Purpose of Purpose”. I travelled with Richard to these cities and filmed the talks, which I’ve edited together here. The content of the talk remains intact, while the editing moves between the different locations and Richard’s Keynote… Read more
I’m positive that if they mass-produced these Flying Spaghetti Monster cars, the whole industry would recover: (via Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster) Read more
Recently, Shaun McGonigal (the Philadelphia Reason & Religion Examiner) took a trip to the South with his girlfriend. Shaun normally wears atheist t-shirts while in Philadelphia, but he thought he’d continue wearing them during his trip. He wondered what differences he’d find. Would the reactions be that much worse in the South? Turns out things weren’t so bad: Yes, I got looks, double-takes, and even a few people becoming less hospitable after reading them. But surprisingly few actual comments or… Read more
