A painting by artist Krista O’Connell: Before you read her description, what was the first thing that came to your mind? Love it? Hate it? Is it offensive to one group or the other? … Here is Krista’s own description of the work: This is a Hindu reinterpretation of Jesus and His resurrection! He has five arms to represent openness and equality towards each of the four castes of India and the untouchables, as Christianity does not promote a dharmaic… Read more
Tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams aren’t voting for Barack Obama. Venus just doesn’t get involved in politics. Serena wants to vote for Obama — she says she’s “excited to see Obama out there doing his thing” –but she won’t. Why not? They’re Jehovah’s Witnesses. And voting is forbidden in the faith. “I’m a Jehovah’s Witness, so I don’t get involved in politics. We stay neutral. We don’t vote,” [Serena] said. “So I’m not going to necessarily go out and… Read more
Shocker (PDF). Try reading the press release without laughing. You know Carlin would have loved it 🙂 Apparently, Keith Olbermann and Jerry Seinfeld are going to join him in Hell. [tags]atheist, atheism, George Carlin, Westboro Baptist Church[/tags] Read more
Over Spring Break this past year, a group called the Atheists, Agnostics, & Freethinkers from the University of Illinois joined forced with the school’s Campus Crusade for Christ group and went down to New Orleans. While there, they “rebuilt and gutted houses, revived lawns and gardens, painted, and even walked dogs at a local animal shelter.” The trip was such a success — the Secular Student Alliance gave the group its $300 Best Service Project award this year — that… Read more
I had a conversation recently that went something like this. Gotta love that logic. [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
You know this wouldn’t be a story at all if he had a different first name… But when you get caught selling cocaine near a church and your name is God, headline writers everywhere are smiling. Watch how they play with this…: ‘God’ arrested for selling cocaine (link) God accused of selling cocaine near Tampa church (link) Police Arrest ‘God’ On Drug Charges Outside Church (link) God Busted For Selling Coke Near A Church (link) God facing drug charges (link)… Read more
I know a handful of atheists who are vehemently pro-life, who say there are plenty of non-religious arguments to be made against abortion. Is that a contradiction? (picture courtesy of cbrinfo) [tags]atheist, atheism, abortion[/tags] Read more
Here I’ve been thinking that Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church was the epitome of evilness. I’ve completely ignored the horror that is Eastboro Baptist Church. It’s headed by the aptly-name Ben Bigots. He and Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church were both members of the local Boy Scout troop. There they were raped repeatedly by several other scouts and the scout master throughout their ten years of membership. This laid the foundation for what would later become their rampant… Read more
You may have seen Jeff Swenson’s cartoon work in Humanist Network News. Most notably, he’s the guy responsible for this (NSFW) cartoon, which also inspired a radio play. But his body of work is extensive and he’s put together a collection of his best freethought-related cartoons from the past several years in Freethunk!. Here are just a couple samples of his work: And no collection of anything is complete without a decent baby joke: He satirizes all religion (Islam included)… Read more
On the last day of classes this year, I gave my math students a brief questionnaire. It was a self-reflection for me, where I essentially asked them what they thought of me (especially since I was a first year teacher) and how they liked/disliked our class. I told them I wouldn’t take a look at what they wrote until after they took their final exams and their semester grades were submitted. I kept my word. I didn’t read them until… Read more
