11-year-old Madeline Kara Neumann died over a year ago. She suffered from undiagnosed diabetes and didn’t have enough insulin in her body… she hadn’t even visited a doctor since the age of three. She drifted into a coma one night and soon died. Her parents never bothered to call a doctor — they just prayed. Why didn’t this work? According to the parents, “they didn’t have enough faith.” Now their trial is underway. And guess what happened 20 minutes into… Read more
There’s a movie coming out at the end of the year called Agora — it just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this past week. Here’s the basic synopsis: A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hopes of pursuing freedom while also falling in love with his master, the famous female philosophy professor and atheist Hypatia of Alexandria. Hypatia was a little-known but brilliant woman — a… Read more
Here’s why I can’t stand Jews. They’re boring. They keep complaining about being oppressed. They keep talking about the same damn things all the time — Holocaust this and Israel that. They always claim they’re victims. They only constitute a small percentage of Americans — probably because they can’t win over any converts. They still complain about how state Constitutions bar them from holding office — really, only six of them do — even though the Supreme Court has said… Read more
During the initial invasion of Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld’s office produced intelligence reports for President Bush and his team. These cover pages were remarkably pro-Christian with Bible verses adorning them. GQ magazine got ahold of samples of these sheets. (If you have an AdBlocker, you’ll have to turn it off to see the page.) This is not a joke. These are real. Is it any wonder Bush referred to his war as a “Crusade”? Worst. TPS Reports. Ever. It’s incredible they… Read more
Perhaps you saw this article in your Sunday paper today. Parade magazine had an article on “Who Should Help Struggling Churches?” Last month, the Department of Homeland Security announced that $100 million from the economic-recovery package will go to emergency food and shelter programs, including those run by religious organizations. Billions of dollars more have been set aside for education, neighborhood-stabilization programs, and affordable child care—all services offered by many churches and other places of worship. … But some believe… Read more
I mentioned last week that science writer Simon Singh had lost his preliminary hearing in a case against him. He was being sued by the British Chiropractic Association because he had written an article trashing the supposed legitimacy of chiropractics: The British Chiropractic Association claims that their members can help treat children with colic, sleeping and feeding problems, frequent ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying, even though there is not a jot of evidence. This organisation is the respectable face… Read more
Herb Silverman, the president of the Secular Coalition for America, has a piece on the On Faith blog about the Catholic Church and their misguided views on sex. You can learn about when and why the Church created its rules about sex. Celibacy didn’t become Church law until the Second Lateran Council in 1139, when every priest’s marriage was declared invalid and priests were ordered to separate from their wives. This was more about capitalism than spiritualism, since property that… Read more
This was among today’s collection at PostSecret: I wonder how that works… to not believe in a god, but still think that your disbelief will result in something bad… Isn’t that a contradiction? Has anyone else ever felt that way? — You don’t believe in the supernatural, but you fall into irrational, superstitious thinking… Maybe you don’t believe in horoscopes, but when you come across them in a newspaper, you instinctively scan for your own astrological sign. Or maybe you… Read more
The Frisco Independent School District in Texas allows Gideon volunteers to distribute Bibles to schoolchildren: The district permits free Bibles to be put out for students; but there’s a fine line between non-school literature that’s “put out” and “given out.” … Gideon volunteers have visited both her children’s campuses with Bibles in tow. It’s part of the Frisco ISD’s rotating schedule that permits the religious group in some schools for one day. … The Gideons once handed out their Bibles… Read more
I posted this on Reddit and it’s getting decent discussion there, so I’ll post it here as well. Joshua Witter is an atheist in Orlando who is offering to deliver messages for Christians who believe they will soon be Raptured. For about $5 a pop, Josh promises to pass along the Christians’ letters to relatives and friends. Witter started his website — postrapturepost.com — as a joke, a satiric jab at those who see things like the swine flu, economic… Read more