Last week, California teacher Jim Corbett lost his case against student Chad Farnan. Farnan had accused his history teacher of make anti-Christian comments during class and the court agreed. Based on the lawsuit and the comments I’d read Corbett had made, I wasn’t siding with the teacher (though I agreed with what he said). I felt his comments were inappropriate. Corbett speaks for himself, though, in a posting at Salon.com. Chad Farnan, the boy who sued me, was an average… Read more
Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) has introduced legislation that designates 2010 as the Year of the Bible. So many thoughts about this… The Year of the Bible already took place in 1983. So we should be done with it now. Isn’t 2010 a midterm election year? Don’t the Republicans desperately need their base to vote so they can win a few seats? Coincidence, I’m sure. If 2010 is the Year of the Bible, can 2011 be the Year of the Gospel… Read more
This is how those damn Pastafarians get you. They’re always preaching on campuses and stopping people who have somewhere to go… On the up side, Pastafarians look *much* better in pirate costumes than the Christian proselytizers ever could. Prophet Bobby would be so proud. (via healthyaddict) Read more
I haven’t had a chance to watch this video yet (it’s an hour long), but it looks incredibly interesting: David Domke, professor of communications at the University of Washington, explains how the union of government and religion tends to degrade the integrity of both. Here’s the video: If you see any part of it, feel free to share your opinion. Is it worth watching the whole thing? (Thanks to Karen for the link!) Read more
Miss California, Carrie Prejean, was on James Dobson’s radio show today, talking about the gay marriage question that made her an icon for Christian conservatives everywhere: Here’s a bit of the transcript: Dobson: It sounded, Carrie, like your first reaction was to hedge, to say “Well, this is a free country” and then something took over. Prejean: It really was a switch. Dobson: And you did one of the most courageous things I’ve seen anybody your age or anybody else… Read more
I mentioned a few days ago that 17-year-old Tyler Frost would be suspended if he attended his girlfriend’s high school prom… because Frost attends a fundamentalist Christian school that forbids dancing. Turns out he went to the dance, anyway. And the school has suspended him. Frost didn’t go to school Monday. Instead, he and his girlfriend are heading to New York for a Tuesday morning TV interview. The teen says he’s now getting Facebook and e-mail messages from around the… Read more
This clip is from the British sitcom Outnumbered. It aired in November, 2008. I need to start downloading this one… (via Daily Dish) Read more
Holy Hullabaloos is a novel approach to a book. Jay Wexler is a Professor at the Boston University School of Law and the separation of church and state is an issue that has always been important to him. The book documents his road trip to many of the battlegrounds of major church/state cases. You get both first-hand accounts of what these places are like along with the history of what happened. Among his visits: Wexler goes to Santa Fe, Texas,… Read more
Just as Catholics are protesting Barack Obama’s visit to Notre Dame next weekend, atheists are making their move. When the 48 buses of the Transpo fleet hit the South Bend, Indiana streets at 5:00 a.m. today, atheist ads will grace 20 of them. In other words, if you ride the bus in South Bend, chances are that you’ll see our ad somewhere along Transpo’s 180 miles of routes. The ads are the same ones that were banned in Bloomington: “You… Read more
Comedian Myq Kaplan is a “Jewy-ish vegan atheist” who has appeared on Comedy Central and has won a number of awards for his work. Next Monday, he’ll be taping a comedy CD at Comix in New York City. Here’s a sample of his work: It’d be great to get atheists (and other like-minded folks) in the audience to support Myq. The show is Monday, May 18th, at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door, but… Read more