One of the down sides of working on an election campaign is that you can’t always speak your mind until well after the election is over out of fear that it’ll hurt your chances of winning. By the time you do, it’s too late, and we’re wondering where that person was before the election when we needed that voice to be heard. Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s campaign manager, is no exception. He’s now realizing what so many Obama supporters have… Read more
After posting about the Roger Ebert article about religion, guest-blogger Jesse Galef reminded me of an old video with Ebert and the late Gene Siskel that turned up on YouTube a few years ago. In it, Siskel (a Jew) and Ebert (raised Catholic) joke around (with blunt and NSFW language) about Protestants and president at the time, Ronald Reagan. Siskel says Protestants run the country and their ought to be a rebellion. Only half-jokingly, it seems. Here’s a brief and… Read more
Except the Bible says he did do those things… And NonStampCollector makes this point about his video: We always hear about the many amazing things that Jesus of Nazareth apparently did, but nobody ever asks about the things that Jesus supposedly COULD have done, being omnipotent, but either didn’t bother to do or didn’t think were all that important. You know, things like… reducing human misery and suffering… that kind of thing. (via NonStampCollector) Read more
I’m pretty sure this is in reference to the Hitchens vs the Four Apologists panel at the Christian Book Expo last month. But it could apply to many of the debates in which Hitchens participates. It certainly summarizes the panel discussion well: (via Atheist Cartoons) Read more
In the debate over gay marriage, I’ve heard a lot of calls to keep the church out of the bedroom. In other words, the church shouldn’t have any control over what you do in the privacy of your bedroom. Modern Girl says that’s not enough. She wants to keep the church out of all the rooms in her house: Should the church be in the kitchen? … Do I want the Catholic church telling me I shouldn’t eat meat on… Read more
Film critic Roger Ebert doesn’t use the word atheist, agnostic, or Secular Humanist to describe himself, though he tends to follow the tenets of Humanism. He was a wonderful piece on his site today describing his feelings toward religion — it mentions the good and bad qualities of churches, how he came to leave his childhood faith, and the experiences from Catholic school that shaped him as he grew up. My favorite excerpt: Catholicism made me a humanist before I… Read more
You definitely don’t hear this side of the story very often. Daniel Everett was a missionary sent to meet the Pirahã tribe in the Brazilian Amazon, “translate the Bible for them, and ultimately bring them to Christ.” There’s a slight twist to the story: Instead, [the Pirahã] brought him to atheism. “The Pirahãs have shown me that there is dignity and deep satisfaction in facing life and death without the comfort of heaven or the fear of hell and in… Read more
This guest post is by Jesse Galef, who works for the American Humanist Association. He usually blogs at Rant & Reason. The Pew Forum is a reliable source of interesting surveys. This most recent one shows how strongly various religious groups believe that global warming is occurring and if so, whether the warming is caused by humans or not. One number that does puzzle me is that 36% of Black Protestants believe that the Earth is warming, but due to… Read more
In honor of the Day of Silence today, conservative Christian groups are trying to make their case for “True Tolerance” (i.e. gay-bashing should be allowed.) Focus on the Family has begun a website, TrueTolerance: Concerned about the pro-gay agenda in your child’s public school? It’s sad, but many public schools have, in the name of “tolerance,” stifled free speech and true diversity by silencing students of faith, and those with conservative perspectives. This isn’t true tolerance. True Tolerance means a… Read more
