Apparently there are comic book characters who are Jains, Hasidic Jews, Catholic (lapsed), and everything else you can imagine. The list is thorough and extensive. The atheist characters? Meh. Never heard of them. Except for Spiderman’s “arch-enemy,” the Green Goblin. (Even in fiction, we’re considered evil!) ***Update***: As Joel points out below, the superhero The Atheist is listed as an agnostic. Why is that? More information is here. (Thanks to Joe for the link!) [tags]atheist, atheism. Marvel, X-Men, comic book[/tags] Read more
After my posting yesterday about the Rational Response Squad’s more aggressive tactics, you all had a lot to say. Brian Sapient is responding. And calling you out. An excerpt: As for “deconverting” success, we counted no less than 150 emails and 50 posts on our forum in the last year from believers who–in full or large part credit the RRS for their deconversion. I’d like to see how that stacks up against other atheist groups! And this: For a comparison… Read more
Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists and blogger at NoGodBlog.com, will be part of a four-person panel on CNN tonight. The show, What Would Jesus Really Do?, is hosted by Roland Martin. Wish him well! (It’s tough to speak in .00005 second soundbytes.) [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
The Halton Catholic District School Board in Canada recently banned Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (which includes The Golden Compass). Board chair Alice Anne LeMay said that a majority of the board voted against a committee’s request to keep the books in the library. Here’s the money quotation: “The board felt that because it really was in opposition of what we’re trying to teach the children, there is a lot of literature out there that is more appropriate for… Read more
After hearing about Kaleena’s story, this question naturally arises: Have you ever been accidentally discovered as an atheist by your family? Share some good stories 🙂 (Question via The Exterminator) [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
On the eleventh anniversay of Carl Sagan’s passing, Joel Schlosberg has the meta-posting for the second annual Carl Sagan Blog-a-thon. Lots of good reading and reminiscing in store for you. (My own posting from last year can be found here.) Thanks to Joel for organizing this remarkable endeavor! [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
It’s all fun and games until somebody (maybe/possibly/are-you-kidding-me?) dies. DEAR ABBY: I have found the man I will be with for the rest of my life. I knew from the moment I met him that he was The One. We are very happy and very much in love. Ever since I was about 9, my mother and I have had our palms read, our tarot cards done, charted our birth signs, etc. It’s a little superstitious, but hey — we… Read more
Blog reader John sent me an email about a recently-released book he was reading. It’s called Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist by economist Tyler Cowen. In the opening pages, Cowen talks about the unique marketplaces that are out there and how people take advantage of those situations. He rattles off a list of examples… Like this one (from page 2): A twenty-two-year-old atheist asks the religious to… Read more
Brian Sapient has a response for anyone who thinks the “aggressive” tactics they use are doing more harm than good for atheism: We wish we could be the passive atheist, and it’s only after many years of experience in this realm (and being the passive atheist for a while) that we decided a more blunt approach from a few intellectuals is necessary and vital. … … a passive atheist can spend compassionate dialogue time helping the theist overcome religion, and… Read more
Per reader suggestion (Thanks Bjorn!), here’s an open thread to serve as a follow-up for the Questions for Atheists and Questions for Christians discussions. What do you admire about atheists? If you’d like to respond to what you admire about Christians, go to this thread. [tags]atheist, atheism, Christian, Christianity[/tags] Read more
