Lauren Smith is the outgoing Communications Assistant for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. She’s on her way to law school (congratulations to her!) after three years at AU, but before leaves, she shares a few valuable lessons she has learned in her position: Here’s just one example: 4) The Religious Right will never truly die. The Religious Right isn’t just a political movement, it’s a mentality. Books abound about the movement’s demise, but I’m not buying it…. Read more
Some bittersweet news. Ellen Johnson is stepping down as president of American Atheists. In the spirit of obtaining all that she (and any other Atheist) can from one life the elegant, energetic and outspoken Ms. Johnson will now focus her passions on a new adventure. Just what that might be we do not yet know. We know, however, that it will be something splendid! No real reason is given. But there doesn’t seem to be any animosity or bad blood…. Read more
At Minnesota State University Mankato, the Campus Atheists and Agnostics recently hosted an “Ask an Atheist” panel. It’s like an open forum where people (religious or not) can pose questions to a group of atheists in an effort to dialogue and learn a bit more about who we are and what we do (and don’t) believe. They happened to tape the exchange and you can watch the whole thing on YouTube. The first part is below and the other parts… Read more
Like Kathy Griffin, I won an unexpected award! Outreach Magazine — a magazine “designed to inspire, challenge and equip churches to connect with their communities and show the love of God to people both locally and globally” — just announced the winners of its annual Resource of the Year Awards. Guess which book was named “Leadership Training Resource of the Year”?! *Hemant dances* “In a year where several angry atheists were loud and proud in bookstores, Mehta’s gentle approach and… Read more
You know some of the churches are heading in this direction anyway… Connection Metro Church, which used its foyer coffee bars to attract visitors to its eight satellite churches in the Denver area, has decided to abandon ministry altogether to focus on coffee. “People liked the coffee a lot better than the ministry, according to congregational surveys, so we’re practicing what we preached and focusing on our strengths,” says former teaching pastor and now chief marketing officer, Peter Brown. …… Read more
It doesn’t matter if you’re an atheist or Christian or Muslim. If you’re teaching high school students, don’t tell the kids your personal thoughts on religion. It just makes everyone uncomfortable. Chad Farnan, a sophomore at Capistrano Valley High School, claims his Advanced Placement European history teacher, James Corbett, made hostile remarks toward Christianity. The Christian student cites an incident from last December when Corbett stated that conservatives do not want women to avoid pregnancies because that interferes with God’s… Read more
What is up with crazy superstitious Indian parents putting their babies in harm’s way?! First they threw their children to the snakes. Now, they’re throwing them off a tall building. The video is highly disturbing. Muslims in western India have been observing a bizarre ritual – they’ve been throwing their young children off a tall building to improve their health. The faithful have been observing the ritual at a shrine in Solapur, in western India’s Maharastra, for more than five… Read more
A number of years ago, a high school senior wrote to the Secular Student Alliance. He was heading to Brown University in the fall and he was hoping to start a group for non-religious students. Of course, the SSA wanted to help him. Our Executive Director, August Brunsman, told him to contact us again when he arrived at the school and we could take him through the steps from there. Fall came. He never contacted us. So the SSA wrote… Read more
Jeremy Hall and Mikey Weinstein have been getting incredible press coverage lately regarding their story of Evangelical Christian military proselytization and the harassment Jeremy faced as a result of being an atheist. Ever since The New York Times wrote about him, it’s been non-stop. You can catch the videos of their recent appearances on the Military Religious Freedom Foundation website. (via NoGodBlog) [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
If you go to Ted Haggard’s old haunts at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, you might be able to learn a valuable lesson from Pastor Brady Boyd: While charismatic evangelical ministers often speak prophetically, Boyd said he is attempting to empower his entire congregation to hear God and foresee their future paths. Boyd, who became the church’s senior pastor in September, is doing this through comprehensive instruction on prophecy — a first for this church. … Prophecy, Boyd said,… Read more
