Film critic Roger Ebert beautifully and eloquently discusses his eventual death: What I expect will most probably happen is that my body will fail, my mind will cease to function, and that will be that. My genes will not live on, because I have had no children. Perhaps I have been infertile. If I discover that somewhere along the way I conceived a child, let that child step forward and he or she will behold a happy man. Through my… Read more
A reader on this site came out as an atheist to his mother a few months ago. They’ve handled it like many families do — by ignoring it. That was fine by him, but lately, he’s been getting emails from his mom detailing her views on spirituality and religion… He writes: Usually I ignore this sort of thing, rarely replying. However, the most recent letter from mom actually scared me. In it, she disclosed her long kept secret that she… Read more
Occasionally, I receive books to review for this site. Some of them are good. Not all, though. Usually, I can tell if they’re bad within a page or two and I just stop reading. It’s just not worth the effort to read it. (Unless it’s *really* bad. Then that could be very entertaining.) I’d rather read the good ones and write about those. Jen was in the same position, when she got ahold of John Harrigan’s book, The Professor and… Read more
On Monday, Al Jazeera reported that American soldiers were illegally proselytizing in Afghanistan, distributing Bibles in native languages. On Tuesday, the military took action: Reuters News says the Bibles were confiscated and destroyed after Qatar-based Al Jazeer television showed soldiers at a Bible class on a base with a stack of Bibles translated into the local Pashto and Dari languages… … The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, told a Pentagon briefing Monday that the… Read more
Yesterday, Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA), the Founder and Chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, sponsored House Resolution 397: Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation’s founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as “America’s Spiritual Heritage Week” for the appreciation of and education on America’s history of religious faith. He has 24 other co-sponsors in the House. When a similar bill was introduced last year, it had 93 co-sponsors…. Read more
Here’s the ad that atheists in Indiana wanted to put on buses: I think it’s very uplifting. It says that morals are not synonymous with religious faith. It invites those who agree to check out the website. The bus campaign folks submitted the proposed ad to Crosstown Communications (an advertising group) who forwarded the proposal to Bloomington Transit. Bloomington Transit rejected it. They said it was “too controversial.” Of course, that term is very vague. It’s likely this ad was… Read more
I know that everyone here looks to only two places for relationship advice: Savage Love and Pat Robertson. Robertson received a question from a newly-Christian woman who has been with her fiance for four years. He’s an atheist. She asks a heartfelt question, too: How do you think we can interact with each other peacefully when it comes to spiritual matters? Instead of taking the route of seeking mutual respect and initiating lifelong discussion, Robertson offers this advice: Dump him…. Read more
If you want to denounce science, then you should first understand science. Mike Pence, a Congressperson from Indiana, can’t even come clean about his Creationist beliefs: A partial transcript: Matthews: Do you believe in evolution, sir? Pence: Umm… do I believe in evolution? I embrace the view that God created the heavens and the earth, the seas, and all that’s in them. The means, Chris, he used to do that, I can’t say. Matthews: Did you take biology in school,… Read more
This is some great Christian kitsch: The Submissive Jesus Talking Prayer Answering Head. You pray, you twist his crown of thorns, and Jesus will yelp in anguish while saying one of over a hundred random phrases. Just check out the promo video: The creators do have a sense of humor about it: Our Lord comes with: a 26 page instruction booklet (info on how to pray responsibly, troubleshooting, care and maintenence), a coupon for a dinner for two for you… Read more
There’s an interesting thread on the Friendly Atheist Forums started by wall0645. Many of us were raised with religion and it took some time before we became atheists. Which raises this question about your pre-atheism days: … when you looked at your religion and beliefs critically, was there ever a point where you thought to yourself, “Wow, there actually isn’t much evidence for what I believe”?… Were you ever discouraged or disappointed by the lack of evidence (if you found… Read more
