Lisa Swinehart is compiling a collection of “secular short stories” written by current and future leaders of the atheist/agnostic/Humanist/what-have-you movement. Since many of you are popular bloggers who fit that description, you might already have a story that is perfect for this… or you’ve been waiting for just the right time to write it all down. The short stories should be non-fiction and discuss challenges that the author has faced as a nonbeliever. Submissions should be no longer than 4,000… Read more
… Don’t go crazy and start screaming that you want to talk to God in the middle of a flight. It scares people. An Air Canada flight made an emergency landing in the Irish Republic after a pilot apparently suffered a breakdown. A passenger said the pilot was carried from the plane shouting and swearing, saying he wanted to talk “to God”. … One of the passengers, Sean Finucane, said he saw the co-pilot being carried into the cabin in… Read more
Julia Sweeney, the former Saturday Night Live actress who now performs her one-woman show Letting Go of God, addressed the crowd at the Freedom From Religion Foundation convention in October. Her remarks are hilarious. She presents them around the theme of what she has learned since she started performing her show. You can download the audio here (MP3). The transcript below is courtesy of Freethought Today It’s lengthy, but well worth the read: I want to just talk about the… Read more
The Atheist and Agnostic Group on MySpace (once, technically the largest atheist group in the world) is still deleted. The Secular Student Alliance issued this press release: “MySpace refuses to undelete the group, although it never violated any terms of service,” said Bryan Pesta, Ph.D., the group’s moderator. “When the largest Christian group was hacked, MySpace’s Founder, Tom Anderson, personally restored the group, and promised to protect it from future deletions.” “It is an outrage if Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation… Read more
Josh and Karlene are seminary students looking to speak to non-Christians as part of a class project: We are seminary students who have been given an assignment in one of our classes to have a series of conversations with others who do not share our Christian faith. The purpose of these conversations is NOT to convert anyone, but to practice talking about traditional elements of our Christian faith in ways that make sense, and even more importantly, listening to others… Read more
They are! Kinda. One year after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican, in a reversal of church doctrine, is prepared to allow the use of condoms to combat AIDS. In a victory for reform-minded critics of the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI has now reversed the Catholic Church’s long-standing position with regard to the use of condoms to combat the spread of the HIV virus. The Vatican’s “health minister” Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who is close to the pope,… Read more
The Coalition of Secular Voters has a few goals: “raising voter awareness, empowering voters with information, and raising the visibility of voters who support secular government.” The CSV is not affiliated with any other secular organization. It was begun by someone who had a specific mission: This group and website are focused specifically on issues of voting and legislation, namely encouraging citizens who support separation of church and state to vote and get involved in the legislative process at every… Read more
Last week, I ran this contest: What would have to happen for you to start believing in a God? Thanks again to Patrick for the question! Here are the Top 5 responses (with submitters)! 5| Adriana Lima turns out to not be a virgin, which means that some man has sold his soul to the Devil of that privilege, which means the Devil must exist, which means God must exist. (Paineroo) 4| Automatic Orgasm Button! And, um, World Peace? (Jen)… Read more
On a recent post Donna (aka writerdd) made this comment: As I said on skepchick recently, it’s important to remember that most fundies “are not the evil, bigoted fools portrayed by the media. Although these people do exist, primarily as hypocritical leaders who care more about power or money than they care about spirituality or charity, the layperson sitting in the pew is much more likely to be sincere and compassionate, with a burning desire to please God and to… Read more
Crap Hound is a clip-art zine. It’s described on Boing Boing like this: Each page is a kind of collage of stark, black-and-white imagery of these things, laid out with a lot of wit and yet with a solemn appreciation for the subject. The new issue comes out today and it’s called: Crap Hound #7: Church & State. Here is one of the images from the zine: Beautiful. If you’re like me, you’re going to make a *huge* poster of… Read more
