Reader Ben Dreidel wrote this on another forum and I wanted to share it: I know of 3 instances where atheism was an “issue” in the most recent 2008 election. First, Pete Stark. He is the first openly atheist member of Congress in U.S. history. The revelation was met mostly with yawns when it happened. This most recent election was his first campaign since outing himself: Election results 1992 Pete Stark 60.2% 1994 Pete Stark 64.62% 1996 Pete Stark 65.2%… Read more
I’m speaking at a couple schools in Illinois over the next couple weeks. Consider this a heads up: I’ll be at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL on Wednesday, November 12th at 7:00 p.m. More information can be found here. Also, I’ll be at Elmhurst College on Tuesday, November 18th. More information on that event coming soon! Anyone who comes to my events gets a big hug and a free infant. … While I’m on the topic of talks, Dan… Read more
The headline is too enticing to ignore: Priest ‘smashes chair’ over Italian restaurant owner’s head as nuns kick him in the stomach What the heck…? “I came down to try to calm things down but the priest hit me with a chair and I ended up on the floor. Then the two sisters started kicking me, insulting me with unrepeatable words,” the unnamed [restaurant] owner said in a statement. He was taken to hospital with injuries to his neck and… Read more
We all know there is a serious problem for atheists in the military. From Jeremy Hall to Dustin Chalker to the Free Day Away program to the Christian Embassy videos to the many cases that never get reported at all, military atheists are subject to proselytization, denied promotions, and belittled by their superiors. Today, the Secular Coalition for America and the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers are issuing policy recommendations for president-elect Barack Obama so he can help fix… Read more
Best Facebook group status ever: Two people left the group…? What will the group’s creator do now?! JT has an interesting way of putting it: I wonder if that’s anything like swallowing Jesus at communion only to throw him up fifteen minutes later. (via DisComforting Ignorance) Read more
This isn’t as juicy a story as Kay Hagan’s Senate seat opponent in North Carolina. But it’s still interesting. Pete Stark (D-CA) won his district handily this week, making him the first openly non-theistic person to be elected to Congress. As for Stark’s opponent? Barely made a blip on the scene: Raymond Chui didn’t even know that Esquire Magazine had endorsed his effort to unseat Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, until I e-mailed him weeks after the magazine hit the stands…. Read more
Shocking news to all of us, I’m sure: Users of social bookmarking sites like Reddit and Digg are overwhelmingly non-religious. Well, that, or we all just enjoy looking at pictures/articles/websites that poke fun at religious people and their beliefs. A 2-year-old survey of Digg users showed a significant concentration of atheists and agnostics. Because Digg’s content is submitted and voted on by the users, the stories promoted to the website’s homepage reflect the audience. … Digg isn’t exactly religion-friendly, so… Read more
By now, we know Kay Hagan — a Christian — overcame anti-atheist bigotry from her North Carolina Senate opponent Elizabeth Dole. Rob Christensen of The Charlotte Observer has a behind-the-scenes look at how that ad came to be. In a nutshell, the Dole campaign never intended to create the ad because they never thought Hagan would attend a fundraiser hosted by two prominent atheists. … Certainly not after the Dole campaign had sent out a news release attacking Hagan for… Read more
On November 4th, Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, was elected president. On November 5th, these were the winning numbers in the Illinois Lottery’s Evening Pick 3 game: If I were a religious man, I’d be freaking out right about now… Instead, I’ll just smirk at the thought that somewhere a religious man is probably freaking out right about now. Read more
