In a survey conducted by Britain’s Opinium Research, people were asked who their children should look up to. “A family member” topped the list. Jesus came in third. Richard Branson came in second: More than one in 10 people (12 percent) chose the Virgin Group boss as the ideal role model for youngsters, and he was more popular with men than women. Jesus lost out among younger people, with nearly double those over 55 years choosing him than those aged… Read more
Mississippi atheists began one the other day. Now, a group of Iowa Secularists are starting a blog. Hey, Montana atheists: We’re waiting. I like the Iowans’ multi-dimensional title, too: The name JustAtheists.com has a triple meaning drawing from three definitions of the word “just”: We are atheists who are honorable and fair in our dealings and actions; merely atheists; and exclusively atheists (in that the bloggers are not of other worldviews). Check them out and support atheists in a state… Read more
An atheist from Colorado was working the Boulder Atheists tent at the Boulder Creek Festival last summer. These types of festivals are a great way to promote your organization and it can be hard to get people to come to your tent instead of the competing ones. So the Boulder Atheists had a marketing plan: … they brought palettes of bottled water, and inkjet labels with “Boulder Atheists” on them as well as the URL of their web site (boulderatheists.org)…. Read more
The brilliant comedian’s latest special It’s Bad For Ya aired this weekend. Here are some excerpts dealing with religion: (via RichardDawkins.net) [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
First Freedom First, a joint project of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and The Interfaith Alliance Foundation, is sponsoring a national simulcast advocating church-state separation: 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… Read more
My interview with Air America Minnesota’s Atheists Talk is now up. You can download it here (MP3). Thanks to Jeannette Sorensen and Bjorn Watland for making it happen! [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
The Exterminator honors Dr. Seuss’ birthday by telling us how the evangelicals are going after Horton! The Who Jews and Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists The Who Vegetarians, Wiccans, and Nudists, The Who Presbyterians, Baptists, New Agers: All spread the sad news on their cell phones and pagers. A Who Evangelical fell to his knees And he said, “Oh no, Horton! I beg of you, please! We always have liked you. We all think you’re swell, And we can’t stand… Read more
You might have heard this story a couple months ago. A high school student had ripped up a Bible in English class as part of a project and was facing consequences from the administration as a result. Maggie Ardiente has the full story in the new issue of The Humanist. To set it up, Christopher Campbell was given an assignment where he had to take a Ralph Waldo Emerson aphorism and explain (with a visual aid) what it meant to… Read more
Jesus doesn’t like obese people. It seems he doesn’t like vegetarians, either: But when was the last time you saw an obese vegetarian? Now, I don’t know what Jesus wants me to eat… (via Dwindling in Unbelief) [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
You exist! At least a handful of you. And judging by the (at least) ten — ten! — atheist groups in the state, that’s a pretty big handful. vjack of Atheist Revolution is one of the people starting the new Mississippi Atheists blog: Living as an atheist in Mississippi can be a lonely experience. Evangelical Christianity is pervasive here, and one can expect to encounter frequent proselytizing, anti-atheist bigotry, and even discrimination based on one’s lack of belief in ancient… Read more
