There’s a passage in Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion that discusses morality: Five patients in a hospital are dying, each with a different organ failing. Each would be saved if a donor could be found for their particular faulty organ, but none is available. Then the surgeon notices that there is a healthy man in the waiting-room, all five of whose organs are in good working order and suitable for transplanting. In this case, almost nobody can be found who… Read more
Obviously, a god had nothing to do with this recession. But if you wanted to point a finger at someone, a god seems like an easy target. Maybe a god caused the recession… or a god wanted you to lose your job… or a god is preventing you from getting any new job interviews. But you won’t see any of that in this article by Niraj Warikoo and Christina Hall in the Detroit Free Press. The people quoted in this… Read more
Pat Robertson said on The 700 Club that if hate crimes legislation was passed, then weird people who like to have sex with ducks (or little boys) could be protected under that law. A couple women took that to heart and created this wonderful video: You know, if this happened every time the Religious Right said something idiotic, I probably wouldn’t mind so much… Read more
The headlines I read a couple days ago said that county officials in San Diego were trying to prevent Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary from holding a Bible study in their home. But that couldn’t be right. That sounds like the Christian Right’s distorted “I’m the victim! I’m the victim!” version of what happened. What was the real story? You definitely don’t get it all from the KGTV news station: Attorney Dean Broyles of The Western Center For… Read more
Most people plan in advance what will happen to their life-savings after they die — pass it on to the family, spend it before they die, donate it, etc. If they take the latter option, the group receiving is is usually the deceased’s favorite charity or a church. You rarely read about anyone giving all their money to an atheistic organization. That has happened now. The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has received a gift of $2,500,000, courtesy of… Read more
“Advice experts” rarely say positive things about atheists. Pat Robertson is no exception. But I was pleasantly surprised to see Amy Dickinson writing exactly the right thing for a teenage atheist who wants to come out to her friends: Dear Amy: I am 16 and an atheist. I’m sure of it. All of my friends are serious, hard-core Episcopalians. We’re all really honest with each other; I know their secrets and they know mine, except that I’m an atheist! I… Read more
Courtesy of Dante Shepherd at Surviving the World: And if you pulled off a miracle now? We’d find you in food products and sell you on eBay. (Thanks to James for the link!) Read more
Hey everyone, this is Ron Gold reporting: During his eight years as president, there was always speculation that George W. Bush believed his decisions were guided by God. Since leaving office, these suspicions have only intensified. For example, take this nugget: [There] are new accounts emerging from France describing how former president Jacques Chirac was utterly baffled by a 2003 telephone conversation in which Bush reportedly invoked fanatical Old Testament prophecy – including the Earth-ending battle with forces of evil,… Read more
Kelly Rosati, a representative from James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, recently met with the Obama administration to talk about adoption programs and children in foster care. Rosati actually had positive things to say about them after the meeting! But Josh Montez of CitizenLink can’t help but bring this conversation back to the fundamentalist right where he thinks it belongs: Kelly Rosati, adoptive mother of four and senior director of Focus on the Family’s Sanctity of Human Life department, was… Read more
Pop quiz: What is this author talking about? In some black communities it’s akin to donning a white sheet and a Confederate flag. In others, it’s ostensibly tolerated yet whispered about, branded culturally incorrect and bad form, if not outright sacrilege. Not that it’s much of a surprise on this site… but Sikivu Hutchinson is talking about being a black atheist. She also quotes blogger Wrath James White: In these communities you find more tolerance towards gangbangers, drug addicts, and… Read more
