Greta Christina felt excluded as an atheist during the Inauguration. And yes, she heard the shout-out to non-believers. Like many of us, she appreciated the gesture. But she wonders whether that is it. Is that all we get? Amidst the excitement of hearing the phrase “and non-believers” in Barack Obama’s speech, did atheists notice just how often we heard about God? The Inauguration told Greta Christina exactly where she stands in the pecking order and she’s not happy about it:… Read more
My birthday is in just over a month. And I like food. I’m just saying… (via Cake Wrecks — Thanks to the 39438923 people who sent me this link. You all know me so well.) Read more
I have an online friend named Anne. She’s a hardcore Christian (though anyone who works for a Church would fall under that umbrella for me). She’s a newly published author. From reading her website over the past year, it’s obvious her heart is always in the right place and that we’d be really good friends if she didn’t live in the middle of nowhere (Nashville) 🙂 Since much of her working life takes place in and among churches, she deals… Read more
I don’t see how this is very different from my current existence… (via Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal — Thanks to everyone for the link!) Read more
Comedian Ricky Gervais recently appeared on Inside the Actors Studio with host James Lipton. He discussed the origins of his atheism in the way only he can 🙂 (The relevant portion begins at the 4:33 mark.) Here’s a rough transcript of the exchange: Lipton: What are the lessons that you learned [from your family]? Gervais: That the truth doesn’t hurt. Whatever it is, it doesn’t hurt. It’s better to know the truth. I remember… My mom only lied to me… Read more
***The final Religious Word Count is at the bottom of this posting.*** As I said earlier, I’ll be making a donation to the Secular Coalition for America for every use of the words “Jesus,” “Christ,” “Lord,” and “God.” I’ll hope you’ll join me in doing that. We ‘ve already heard Rev. Gene Robinson, Rev. Rick Warren, and Rev. Joseph Lowery. Finally, we have Rev. Sharon E. Watkins from today’s National Prayer Service: Mr. President and Mrs. Obama, Mr. Vice President… Read more
I’m excited to say that my friend Dale McGowan’s new book, Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief, has finally been released! I had the chance to see a preview copy a couple weeks ago and it looked fantastic. In fact, it made me want to rush out and have babies immediately. The book is by the author of Parenting Beyond Belief and features co-authors Molleen Matsumura, Amanda Metskas, and Jan Devor. As I mentioned before, this book… Read more
This brief Inauguration anecdote from Chris Bodenner writing at The Daily Dish stood out to me: It’s just one anecdote, but: I stood with mostly African-Americans during the speech and the only time I ever heard booing of Obama, from many directions, was his shout-out to “non-believers.” Are we non-believers (*gasp*) not liked by everyone?! If it’s true, though, that’s pretty amazing. Not in a good way, either. On arguably the most historic day in American history for black people,… Read more
Because of Chief Justice John Roberts’ flubbing of the oath of office on Inauguration Day, Barack Obama retook the oath on Wednesday night. Not that either oath makes a huge difference — he’s President whether he says the words or not. But it should be noted that the revised Oath was said without a Bible: Roberts put on his black robe. “Are you ready to take the oath?” he said. “Yes, I am,” Obama said. “And we’re going to do… Read more
On yesterday’s episode of The View, the ladies were discussing the Inauguration and the (more liberal) Joy Behar made the following comment about how she appreciated the inclusive nature of Barack Obama’s speech (emphasis mine): I’ve never heard a presid — we were talking about this this morning — I’ve never heard a presidential speech where they also acknowledged non-believers. I mean, there was a lot of Jesus and a lot of religion, but to actually say we’re reaching out… Read more
