***Update***: The Florida student didn’t steal the wafer. He just took it out of the service after it had been given to him. A few changes below reflect that. … You’ve heard more than enough on Wafergate. But I wanted to add one more (one last?) comment. To briefly recap the story: PZ Myers made fun of the Catholic Church’s overreaction to a kid taking a communion wafer from a service. Then PZ (tongue-in-cheek) requested a real consecrated communion wafer… Read more
Microbiologychick went to a public school but remembers a number of church/state violations from her childhood: In Jr. High, a few teachers gave extra credit for attending talks at churches or other large-scale religious activities that had no educational component … On a Jr. High school-sponsored Spring Break trip, prayer happened before meals on several occasions. … We had a Bible History class that was not critical or neutral, and we used a textbook created for Christian schools Those are… Read more
That’s the tag line for A Beka Book company (owned by Pensacola Christian College). They provide textbooks for fundamentalist Christian homeschooling parents. They’re not too bad when it comes to Math (PDF): The text presents a Scriptural view of working, tithing, saving, paying taxes, and budgeting time and money and gives a positive introduction to the American free-enterprise system. I don’t even mind the English (PDF): Selections from Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe are presented, including the often-omitted record of Crusoe’s spiritual… Read more
Not atheism related. It just pisses me off. Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL) is one of the supporters of a bill that would “close loopholes in the prohibition on the sale or rental of sexually explicit material on military installations.” In other words, he wants to legislate what our troops are allowed to read. No nudity would be allowed. Specifically: The term ‘nudity’ means human genitals, pubic area, anus, anal cleft, or any part of the female breast below a horizontal… Read more
The Secular Student Alliance is now hosting a flyer exchange. It allows members of atheist/Humanist/Freethought campus groups to swap their advertising posters with one-another. Students can submit their own or just get some great ideas from others. Here are a few of my favorites among the few submissions so far: I’m sure they love to have your ideas even if you’re not part of a campus group. If you can design anything eye-catching and interesting, please send it along. [tags]atheist,… Read more
You know how the Bible says a lot of crazy things and can be interpreted to mean whatever you want it to mean? Bradley LaShawn Fowler, a 39-year-old from Michigan, said he was reading a Bible or two and found that — wait for it — they called homosexuality sinful! I know. I know… Shocking. I’ll let you soak that one in… Not only that, the claim caused him (a gay man) to “suffer discrimination, emotional pain and mental instability.”… Read more
By now you’ve heard of the PZ Myers’ take on the news of a stolen communion wafer. And you’ve also heard nutcase Bill Donohue’s response in which he tries to intimidate the president of PZ’s university into fire him. Back to the issue at hand. Here’s what PZ said he would do if he were given a communion wafer: Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There’s no way I can personally get them — my local… Read more
For anyone who enjoys religious humor and lives in New York City, there’s a show for you this Saturday night at The PIT. This show also went on a few months ago but it’s back by popular demand and with a slightly different cast! The show begins at 11:00 p.m. and tickets are $8. And the lineup of comedians? Mike Drucker (23/6, McSweeney’s) John Knefel (Huffington Post) Eric Andre (Live at Gotham) Harry Terjanian (Disney’s “So You Think You’re Funny”)… Read more
Discuss, praise, criticize, do what you will. My list of the five most significant moments in atheism from the past ten years: 5| March 16th, 2001: The case of Madalyn Murray O’Hair’s disappearance finally closes: More than five years after O’Hair, her son, and her granddaughter had “vanished” from the Austin, TX headquarters of American Atheists (which O’Hair had founded), forensics experts identified a set of bones found at a ranch outside San Antonio as those of the murdered atheist… Read more
Each school year, the Secular Student Alliance helps young, non-religious students across the country create, maintain, and sustain campus groups. This school year is no different — however, with over 130 SSA groups in the U.S. and abroad, we may be in the unfortunate position of seeing explosive growth of these clubs without the ability to help all of them! You can help us remedy this situation. In order to give these group members the funding to bring an atheist… Read more
