The echoes of the ARIS survey findings are still being heard. In a Newsweek article titled “The End of Christian America,” Jon Meacham talks about how power is shifting away from the Religious Right. Before we get to the article, though, let’s talk about this cover: It’s complete exaggeration, similar to the overblown Time cover from 42 years ago, which asked, “Is God Dead?” The shift may be happening, but there’s no doubt as to where the power still rests…. Read more
Comedian Keith Lowell Jensen riffs on the Islamic notion of martyrs receiving 72 virgins in the afterlife… and the idea that you might actually get something else: (Thanks to Ashley for the link!) Read more
Afghanistan women are far from getting equal rights. This new law doesn’t help — it would apply to the Shia minority: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has just signed a law that forces women to obey their husbands’ sexual demands, keeps women from leaving the house — even for work or school — without a husband’s permission, automatically grants child custody rights to fathers and grandfathers before mothers, and favors men in inheritance disputes and other legal matters. In short, the… Read more
A new poll suggests that Canadians are pretty apathetic when it comes to the atheist bus ads. The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey suggests Canadians are largely indifferent, although similar campaigns have sparked anger in Britain and parts of the United States. The poll found 32 per cent of respondents opposed the ads, 20 per cent supported them and 43 per cent didn’t care one way or the other. Support for the ads was strongest among respondents in British Columbia and… Read more
I’ll be giving a talk at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh next week! What better way to spend Good Friday than with the atheists? 🙂 Here’s the info: Date: Friday, April 10 School: Carnegie Mellon University Sponsoring group: Carnegie Mellon AHA: Atheists, Humanists & Agnostics Time/place: 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. in UC McConomy (Reception in UC Dowd) Facebook Event page! If you come, I’ll give you a piece of gum and possibly my second-born child. Hell, there’s free pasta. Now… Read more
If you’ve been checking out this site but haven’t made any comments yet, consider this an open invitation to say hello and introduce yourself! Tell us who you are, where you’re located, what you do, and what your blog is (if applicable)! All new commenters must be approved/moderated by me, and once that happens, you’re free to comment whenever you’d like. It’s always nice to hear fresh opinions, whether you’re religious or atheist. As long as you’re respectful to the… Read more
Why are college atheist groups important? Because their members will take a stand when no one else can/will. Ashley Rose Mockett is the founder of the Free-Thinkers Club at Saddleback College (in California). She received a scholarship to attend the school and was surprised by what she found at the ceremony to honor scholarship recipients: I was asked to stand for the invocation, followed by the pledge of allegiance. At first, I did not hear what it was I was… Read more
Last week, I posted an interview with Kevin Roose, the author of The Unlikely Disciple. He was the student who spent a semester at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. His book has since been released… and after a bit of controversy, Liberty is actually selling the book in their campus bookstore. But it comes with a long disclaimer (emphases mine): Readers of the Unlikely Disciple should be aware that many factual inaccuracies were identified in this book by Liberty University faculty… Read more
Bart Ehrman, the New Testament scholar, recently released his latest book Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don’t Know About Them). An article in the Charlotte Observer sheds light on Ehrman’s biography — he calls himself “a happy agnostic,” for example — but this particular sentence got to me: His last three books, he said, took him two weeks each to complete. And he has ideas for half a dozen more. Two weeks?! And… Read more
According to new research from the Pew Center for People and the Press, there are still people who think Barack Obama is a Muslim and not a Christian. Most likely to believe the lie? Evangelical Christians — nineteen percent of them think he’s a Muslim. (That same percentage of people disapprove with the job he’s doing… coincidence?) Not only that… only 38% of Evangelicals said he was a Christian! The only group scoring lower in that category? People of high… Read more
