A couple weeks ago, I proposed on the blog that for every mention of the words “Jesus,” “Christ,” “Lord,” and “God” by the main pastors during Barack Obama’s Inauguration ceremony, I would contribute a dollar amount to the Secular Coalition for America. I asked you to join me in doing that and I’m thrilled to report that several of you did just that. The SCA informed me that they received $620 from readers of this site from that request alone…. Read more
Had server issues the past few hours. We’re back up now! Feel free to comment on the posts below 🙂 Read more
Last time, I ran this contest: The atheist bus ads are now in full force over in England. It begs the question: Where else will we be seeing ads about atheism in the future? Here are the Top 5 answers (with submitters): 5| On milk cartons. (Hemant’s note: I assume they would say: “God is missing” or something like that.) (Random Chimp) 4| The Pope’s hat. It’s a perfect place for advertising space. And after losing all that money in… Read more
Reader Craig has to file a health expense claim to get reimbursed from his Flexible Spending Account (FSA). But when he was looking at the list of things that qualify as expenses, he was surprised to see a particular item on the list (PDF). Christian Science practitioners. Craig was puzzled by this: So prayer is regarded by our government as a legitimate form of healthcare? And paying someone to pray is a legitimate healthcare expense!? But only if they are… Read more
In the latest issue of Free Inquiry, Richard Dawkins talks about evolution — specifically, the power of Charles Darwin’s theory. He calls evolution “a big idea, arguably the most powerful idea ever.” It echoes Daniel Dennett, who has called evolution “the greatest idea ever to occur to a human mind.” Specifically, Dawkins uses a formula which he calls the “Explanation Ratio”: Power of a theory = That which it explains That which it needs to assume in order to do… Read more
There’s still some weighing in on President Barack Obama’s use of the term “non-believers” during his Inauguration address. From Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition for America: Like most Americans, I felt a wonderful and profound chill watching Barack Obama become the first African-American president. I’m guessing that most nontheists voted for Obama and that we helped him win. With so many historical firsts this week, I wish I had seen a place on the inaugural program for one… Read more
Why are atheists so angry? Because it’s incredible what power religion can have over people. Most religious people aren’t violent and most wouldn’t admit to being as homophobic as Fred Phelps, of course. But too many are ignorant. They’re blinded by the Bible or the Koran or what-have-you. When any one book is seen as Truth, and Science and reason and common sense are ignored, this is what can happen: Greta Christina, as she so often does, eloquently explained why… Read more
Mike Jones is the gay male escort who ultimately exposed the hypocrisy of Pastor Ted Haggard. Last year, I interviewed him for this site — right when his book I Had To Say Something: The Art of Ted Haggard’s Fall came out. Mike has been watching the latest Ted Haggard drama unfold — including promotion of the new HBO documentary about him and the media blitz associated with it. There are still several aspects of the whole story that are… Read more
This isn’t quite what the creators of the Blasphemy Challenge had in mind… but it’s certainly persuasive. (NSFW language. And it’s loud.) Chalk it up to Poe, anyone? (via Reddit) Read more
