But this story is still disturbing. Nearly a third of the inmates in the Creek County Jail were baptized Thursday night in a corrugated steel horse trough set up in the jail’s kitchen. … Seventy men and 12 women were baptized Wednesday, the second time baptisms have occurred in the new jail, which opened nearly three years ago. The Rev. Luis Torres, chaplain of the Creek County Jail and pastor of the First Assembly of God in Sand Springs, said… Read more
In Japan, Conan, a male chihuahua, has been imitating Buddhist priest Joei Yoshikuni in the prayer stance. Since Conan started doing this, the number of visitors to the temple has increased 30%. “He may be showing his thanks for treats and walks,” speculated one priest at the Jigenin temple on Okinawa island. Priest Joel Yoshikuni said it took Conan just a few days to master the appearance of prayer. “I think he saw me doing it all the time and… Read more
The Cumberland County Courthouse in Tennessee has several expressions of free speech on its front lawn. The displays include an Iraq and Afghanistan Soldier’s Memorial, Statue of Liberty, chainsaw-carved monkeys and bears, Jesus carrying a cross, and the most recent display added — a Flying Spaghetti Monster. Yep. An FSM sculpture has been added to the mix: The FSM sculpture was created by David Safdie and (sister) Ariel Safdie. We are lucky enough to live in a country that allows… Read more
From the forums. Some of you may recall the “Smut for Smut” campaign a college atheist group ran a while back. If you handed the atheists your Bible (smut), they would give you back pornography (smut) in return. Because, really, it’s the same thing… Lots of publicity. Negative publicity. It’s cute and clever, but it doesn’t get the point across to the people you’re trying to reach. If anything, it offends them. Jennifer at Purdue University is thinking of doing… Read more
That’s the title of the piece from a recent Nightline story. It refers to the “atheist Sunday school” held in Palo Alto, CA and other locations around the country. It’s also the topic of an article in Time magazine over four months ago. (Nice job being current, Nightline!) At first, I was a bit taken aback — disturbed — by the comparison to a church. To most atheists, that would be an insult, given the churches many of us are… Read more
The tragic story of Madeline Kara Neumann never needed to happen. She’s the 11-year-old girl who needed medical help for her ketoacidosis but got prayer instead. Thanks to her ignorant parents, she’s dead. Charges against the parents are pending. The girl’s parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, attributed the death to “apparently they didn’t have enough faith,” the police chief said. They believed the key to healing “was it was better to keep praying. Call more people to help pray,” he… Read more
Pat Condell is quite analogy-happy today. And spot-on with his wit and words as usual. If nothing else, watch the ending, beginning with the 6:10 mark. [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
Harvard’s Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein was featured on Speaking of Faith, a show from American Public Media, this weekend. The website says Greg “is passionate about articulating an atheist identity that is not driven by a stance against religion but by positive ethical beliefs and actions.” Some of the transcript with host Krista Tippett: Mr. Epstein: Well, Krista, the most important thing that I can say about this issue is that I am in fact a believer, but I’m not… Read more
I go away from my computer all weekend (putting posts on autopilot), and as soon as I leave, PZ Myers gets into another Expelled kerfuffle. If you haven’t heard, the Expelled folks held a one-way conference call, and PZ managed to acquire the code which allowed two-way conversation… Good times were held by all. (Except the liars behind the movie.) Rebecca has the audio/transcript. I’m going to be away from the computer this Thursday when I speak at the University… Read more
