I’m catching up on some work for the rest of the night. Consider this an open thread… or, if you haven’t seen it yet, check out the Forum! (Be nice!) [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
Here’s a novel approach to sharing the atheist viewpoint. It comes from the secular student group at The Ohio State University. On Thursday, Students for Freethought plans to have brief, but worthwhile, conversations with religious people who pass them by (kind of like speed-dating without the dating): We’ll have atheists manning tables and basically just being atheists. Then people can join them at their tables for for about ten minutes and ask questions, make statements, and ideally try to stump… Read more
The Secular Coalition for America has had one lobbyist — Lori Lipman Brown — since its inception. Now, it has two. Sasha Bartolf will be the second full-time lobbyist for the SCA. She begins her duties on March 31st. Bartolf has previously worked for Congressional Quarterly as researcher, fact-checker, and writer. According to the SCA, “her knowledge of the Congressional process, the workings of the various committees, as well as her ease in speaking with members of Congress and congressional… Read more
Got a punchline…? Knock, Knock. Who’s there? Stick to the topic of (non-)religion! [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
Ben points out that a Boy Scout group in Alaska is about to get nearly $1,000,000 worth of federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Both HUD and White House websites have rules that say no grant-receiving group can discriminate against anyone who wants to use the service. If our organization receives Federal funds, can it choose not to provide services to some people? No. If you take Federal money you may not discriminate against a… Read more
Austin Cline has created a series of satirical Christian Right propaganda posters in the image of those from WWI/WWII. Austin says this about the posters: … The intention is satirical, not sympathetic, but even so I believe that both the images and the words accurately reflect what some on the Christian Right belief and advocate. They’re all very well made and don’t sound too far-fetched when compared to what the Religious Right actually says. You may have already seen this… Read more
Susie Shellenberger is no Dan Savage. She writes the advice column for Brio, a Christian girls’ magazine. Here’s a recent question posed to her: Dear Susie: OK, I have a boyfriend, and I kind of want to have sex with him, but I sort of don’t want to because I know it’s wrong. He told me if I wanted to, he’d do it. But he’ll also wait for me if I don’t want to. I don’t know what to do…. Read more
Being a teacher and having Spring Break off has its perks. I’ll be doing a bit of traveling next week to speak about eBay/Friendly Atheism/blogging/goats/etc. If you’re in the areas, please come by! I’ll post more details when I have them. Where: Northern Illinois University for the NIU Atheists, Agnostics and Free Thinkers (AAFT) When: Tuesday, April 1st, 7:00 p.m. NIU engagement has been cancelled. Where: University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) for the Campus Atheists and Secular Humanists (CASH) When:… Read more
A church youth pastor dazzles us with his intelligence: A couple of years ago, the youth director at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church in Houston was snacking in the church youth offices when he noticed an odd-shaped Cheeto. Upon further inspection, Steve Cragg determined he could see a familiar image of Jesus in the shape of the cheese curl. One of the church youth named the item in question ‘Cheesus.’ ‘Cheesus’ has remained on a bookcase in Cragg’s office since… Read more
All the details on this simulcast are here. Actors, musicians and comedians will join church-state activists from across the country March 26 to put church-state separation on the national agenda during the 2008 election season. In movie theatres in 25 cities across the nation, interested citizens will gather to learn about the threats to church-state separation and to demand that presidential hopefuls and candidates for other offices answer questions about key issues dealing with individual freedom. A list of 10… Read more
