Last week, I ran this contest: What other shocking statements will the Pope make in his next encyclical? Here are the Top 5 statements (with submitters)! 5| Galileo is back in hell. We retract previous papal decrees to the contrary. (Brett) 4| “We need to broaden our outreach to fertilized eggs. At least 50% of naturally conceived fertilized eggs don’t implant – that’s half of humanity! Although a corner of heaven is reserved for them, dying before baptism means they… Read more
Not to be outdone by any “War on Christmas,” Congressman Steve King (R-IA) introduced a House Resolution (#847) which would recognize “the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith.” No, really. Not kidding. It’s not a parody. Just a guy wasting our time with this worse-than-symbolic piece of legislation. Here’s the text: RESOLUTIONRecognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith.Whereas Christmas, a holiday of great significance to Americans and many other cultures and nationalities, is celebrated annually by Christians… Read more
The Economist suggests we are picking the wrong fights. Like this kind: No, we’re not trying to put “In God We Distrust” on currency. The article argues that atheists would be “tactically wise to accept the overwhelming majority’s comfort with such ‘ceremonial deism.'” Keeping the Ten Commandments out of an Alabama courthouse is one thing. But attacking a Christmas nativity scene on public property does more harm than good. Such secular crusades allow Christians—after all, the overwhelming majority of the… Read more
Tomorrow night (Wednesday), I will be speaking about my book and the subject of positive atheism for the Humanists of West Suburban Chicagoland. If you’re interested in coming (and you know you are!), the event takes place at the DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church and will begin at 7:30 p.m. Bonus points if you make it to the church in the middle of an icestorm! [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
Actually you all here probably do know these things, but this past Sunday the Chicago Tribune ran a fun little “top 10” list about atheism, springboarding off the “Golden Compass” controversy. Here they are from writer Mark Jacobs: 1. Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was expelled from Oxford University for co-writing a pamphlet called “The Necessity of Atheism” in 1811. When Shelley drowned in a boating accident at age 29, a British newspaper observed that “now he knows whether there is… Read more
By now most of you have probably heard about the shootings at a missionary center in Arvada, Colorado and later at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. The gunman died in a shootout with a security guard inside the New Life Church. He left three wounded and two dead. Because we must always be human beings before we are atheists, and because we are engaged in continuous dialogue with people of faith, it would be remiss of us to… Read more
The Generation Orthodox podcast recently had a “Ladies Night” and one of the topics that came up was books that the ladies were reading. I Sold My Soul on eBay popped up on the list (MP3)… (listen at the 38:30 mark) A couple thoughts: I am not an Agnostic. I *am* a real guy. 30 seconds? That’s all I get?! Come back, Orthodox girls! You left so soon… But all is forgiven because their mention me in the same sentence… Read more
First, read this excerpt from a story about a person becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen: Dozens of local residents were sworn in Friday as naturalized U.S. citizens, but one of the new Americans insisted on taking a special oath, one that removed all references to God. Thomas Kaenzig says he left his native Switzerland because of religious persecution. He had to file a lawsuit in federal court to get the attention of immigration officials concerning the oath new citizens must… Read more
Babs at Flumadiddle is getting good at this video thing. Gotta love the banjo-ey soundtrack. And the cow. (That’s my favorite part) Enjoy! (via Too Many Tribbles) [tags]atheist, atheism, Flying Spaghetti Monster, God, religion, Jesus, Christ, Christian[/tags] Read more
Credit should go to Lore Sjöberg for the image! (Thanks to Rachel for pointing that out.) (via Merit-Bound Alley) [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
