Reader Melissa sends along this message: The majority of e-mails I receive from my grandfather, and even my mother on occasion, are religious themed e-mails. I’m not here to complain about them, it’s all a simple matter of deleting said e-mails. But I’m curious, have you ever come across any Atheist e-mails that have been forwarded to you? Like a chain letter of some sort? If so, what were they and would you have any of them saved? I’d like… Read more
Dale McGowan, the author of Parenting Beyond Belief and the upcoming Raising Freethinkers is the recipient of the 2008 “Harvard Humanist of the Year” award! Dale does himself a disservice, though, by mentioning his name with another relative unknown… The “Sarah Palin of Humanism”?… hmm. That sounds like an insult. Here’s a much more appropriate use of the phrase: Ray Comfort is the Sarah Palin of Humanism. Yes. I like that. Congratulations to Dale, someone truly deserving of the award…. Read more
Nice work, everyone! The atheists are currently topping the Kiva charts when it comes to number of group members, beating the 101 Cookbooks people. (Of course, the important thing is that we’re loaning more money than they are.) Take that, chefs! Read more
Vjack offers a solid list of steps anyone can take to become an atheist activist: Vote up good atheist-related material on Digg, Reddit, and/or StumbleUpon. This helps others find it.Take action on relevant action alerts you receive. This is typically as simply as making a phone call, signing an on-line petition, or sending a letter to an elected official.Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper.Learn about the Pledge Project and why it is so important to remove “under… Read more
Implied in his book God is Not Great and explicitly stated in debates, Christopher Hitchens poses a challenge to those who claim theists have some sort of moral superiority: Name one ethical statement made, or one ethical action performed, by a believer that could not have been uttered or done by a nonbeliever. Basically, it’s a rhetorical question. Everything religious people can do, non-religious people can do. So your religion doesn’t make you any more moral than the rest of… Read more
What is Kiva? Kiva Microfunds is an organization that allows people to lend money via the Internet to microfinance institutions in developing countries which in turn lend the money to small businesses… Kiva recently announced the concept of “leading teams,” which lets an individual donor give in the name of a specific group. Right now, a group called “Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers and the Non-Religious” is the second most popular team, with 320 members as I write this. In first… Read more
There are people who don’t want to ban books… and people who don’t like those trashy novels… Finally, we have a compromise: (via Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal) Read more
There are atheists in Idaho! The Boise State Secular Student Alliance is now open for business. (All they need is approval from the university… which should simply be a formality.) [President Lloyd] Lowe posted flyers around campus and found agnostic and atheist Boise State students on Facebook two weeks before the fall semester started. The BSSSA attended the Student Organizations Extravaganza Aug. 24 and held a booth on the first day of school with a sign that asked “Outgrown Your… Read more
In case you didn’t pick up a hard copy of today’s The New York Times today, you missed a full-page ad (PDF) placed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation: According to FFRF: “One of the lessons of 9/11 is that there is no greater source of terrorism, strife, bloodshed, persecution or war than religion,” the Foundation ad points out. “John Lennon was right,” comments Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president Dan Barker, author of the new book, Godless: How an Evangelical… Read more
Question for you vegetarian atheists out there: Who would you be more likely to date: Someone who was religious or someone who ate meat? Does one matter more than the other? Are there varying degrees of religiosity or vegetarianism that you would condone? Personally, I find myself to be *much* more passionate about atheism than I am about my vegetarianism. However, while I could see myself dating a somewhat religious girl, I think her eating meat would be a dealbreaker…. Read more
