In Halifax, Nova Scotia, Pattison Maritimes (the group responsible for transit advertising) has a problem with the bus ad Humanist Canada wanted to purchase. The general manager sent this message to the group: … We are not able to accept your message as it currently reads. If you would like to submit an alternative message, we will submit that for approval. … All advertisements must meet acceptable community standards of good taste, quality and appearance. Furthermore, the ads will not… Read more
Courtesy of Harvard professor Niall Ferguson in Vanity Fair: The motto “In God we trust” was added to the dollar bill in 1957. Since then its purchasing power, relative to the consumer price index, has declined by a staggering 87 percent. That’ll make you laugh for a few seconds before you curl back up into the fetal position and get depressed again. (Thanks to Lexi for the quotation!) Read more
I’ve written about the topic before: Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs which require participants to submit to a higher power (PDF). You would think that, because AA is so famously known and its program so widely used, it would at least be effective… right? New research says otherwise. So what works better than AA’s 12 steps? In last month’s Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, University of New Mexico addiction specialist William Miller and his colleagues presented findings from two… Read more
The New Orleans Secular Humanist Association recently got approval for their own contribution to the unofficial atheism marketing campaign: An atheist sign on a streetcar! It’s one ad. It costs $550. And it’ll be up through Mardi Gras. Association President Harry Greenberger said his 100-member group, like others across the nation, is looking for like-minded individuals who support their statement of principles: “To reject efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms and to… Read more
The pictures of readers and their celebrity encounters are awesome so far 🙂 A very impressive roster of people. Keep them coming! Read more
Since Chicago Public Schools’ previous CEO Arne Duncan became Barack Obama’s Secretary of Education, there’s been a vacancy for the spot. Mayor Richard Daley finally appointed someone to the position yesterday — Ron Huberman: Already, [Huberman] has drafted a plan to bolster school security and laid the groundwork to install — first on the business side, then in the classroom — the elaborate performance-evaluation system he used as the mayor’s chief of staff and as CTA president. It produces a… Read more
Next weekend, I’ll be at The Ohio State University in Columbus to have a public discussion with Jay Gamelin (pastor of Jacob’s Porch) on various aspects of the Christian church. It’s sponsored by The Veritas Forum. Some of the questions we will be discussing: What do Christians think of when they hear about “church/state separation”? Atheism? What do atheists think of when they hear the words “church” and “Christian”? Are there ways that we can get beyond our differences and… Read more
I’m stealing this idea from Mental Floss. Why? Because it’s awesome and because a lot of commenters on this site have come to know each other so this may be entertaining to do. And because it’s always fun to stalk people. Send in your favorite pictures of yourself with a celebrity! — author, TV/movie star, politicians, etc. (Mild levels of celebrity are ok, too.) I’ll post my favorites next week 🙂 Send the pics to ! In the meantime, you… Read more
Looks like Columbus, Ohio has 903223 Darwin Day events going on throughout the area. I’m jealous. The celebrations are not without some controversy, of course. [Whitehall] Councilwoman Jacquelyn Thompson originally suggested declaring Feb. 12 Darwin Day in honor of the 200th birthday of the man who conceived the theory of evolution. However, she watered it down to “Science Month” and added Galileo’s name in a compromise two weeks ago. That watered-down idea got shot down by the Christians: Council members… Read more
I live on my own in an apartment. One of my work colleagues just bought his own place over the summer. He’s also a single guy. He knows I’m an atheist. He threw out a random question last week: “Hemant, if you don’t believe in God, do you ever get lonely?” It took me by surprise. I had to think about it for a second. I told him I didn’t. I tend to surround myself with things that I enjoy…… Read more
