Ben Stein was slated to give the commencement address at the University of Vermont — but he was replaced by Howard Dean. This happened after school officials received complaints from Richard Dawkins and several others who didn’t want to see someone who has no regard for science addressing students who do. Looks like Stein’s got another commencement gig now. He’ll be doing the honors at… Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. Yep. I know. Shocking. At least UVM said they were bringing… Read more
Hey, it’s Ron Gold here: One of the most out-of-touch-with-reality Congresspeople is Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican. She was first elected in 2006 after claiming God told her to run for office, which she explained during a speech at a church: “Twenty-two months ago, He called me to run for United States Congress. And my husband thought, you need to do this. This is a big deal to do something like this. So we set aside three days where… Read more
Dale McGowan recently visited the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture and discovered ten things that make a Humanist community successful. He goes into some depth on each item, but here is the short version of his list: 10. A great space. 9. Music. 8. Food. 7. A call to action. 6. Ritual. (Uh oh, I lost half the audience.) 5. Emotion. 4. Symbolism. 3. Diversity. 2. Multiple generations. 1. A warm welcome. Some of those really require Dale’s full explanations,… Read more
Gary Goodyear is Canada’s science minister who couldn’t give a straight answer when asked if he believed in evolution. In other words, he’s probably hiding his Creationist beliefs — which means Canada’s science minister may not accept science. Dan Gardner of The Ottawa Citizen satirically defends Goodyear: I believe the earth has existed for precisely 3,213 years, five months, seven days, and four hours… I further believe that scientific evidence to the contrary — geology, biology, and a couple of… Read more
Flickr user jaynedemarco has been putting some nifty artwork up on the site. The theme is: “This is what an atheist looks like.” The last time I posted about this, people had wonderful things to say. Jayne has since added a few more pieces of art to the collection. Here are my favorites: Ronald Reagan, Jr.: Steve “Woz” Wozniak: Daniel Radcliffe: There’s also Katharine Hepburn and Joaquin Phoenix. You can see the entire collection here. (via Jayne DeMarco) Read more
James Randi and JREF recently had their YouTube account suspended because of a copyright violation. The violation was addressed and resolved and their account is now back online. While this may have been a fair reason to suspend the offending video, YouTube may have crossed the line by suspending the entire account. JREF is fortunate in this case, too. They were able to resolve the issue amicably. It also helped that so many atheists wrote YouTube and complained. Other groups… Read more
A couple weeks ago, at the Christian Book Expo, four Christian apologists (including Lee Strobel and William Lane Craig) debated one atheist (Christopher Hitchens). I haven’t seen the full video yet, but I figure some of you may enjoy this: (via Atheist Media Blog) Read more
Campus Crusade for Christ does this sort of thing a lot. They start a meme, tell their affiliates to spread it, and next thing you know, it’s all over campus. It always seems to be a trojan horse. CCC knows if they used their group’s name or the name of Jesus, people will be turned off. So they trick you into learning about them. Peoples’ shirts might read “I Agree with Jared” and when you find out who Jared is,… Read more
I’m finally back home after trips to Indiana and California. The last of the writeups are also in! They say positive things along with some constructive criticism. Akusai at Action Skeptics has both a short and long review: Short version: Hemant was funny, personable, and an extremely talented speaker. While my irascible, sarcastic nature causes me to differ slightly with his take on positive atheism, there really is nothing in his approach with which to outright disagree. If all atheists… Read more
There was a nice article in the Dallas Morning News on Friday about Terry McDonald, chairman of the Metroplex Atheists. “When you tell someone you’re not a theist, it’s like saying I’m taking the issue that is closest to them and discrediting it,” said McDonald, chairman of Metroplex Atheists. The stigma attached to atheism, be it perceived or real, is part of what McDonald is trying to quell. “We’d like to show Christians we don’t have horns and a tail,”… Read more
