An atheist blog reader (wishing to remain anonymous) sent me an email. The person (“Bob”) often receives messages/emails/calls from a close friend who happens to be Christian. The Christian ask Bob how he is doing, if work is going well, and oh yeah, if he is attending church now. It gets annoying. And even though the Christian is aware of Bob’s atheism, the evangelism doesn’t stop. Bob can’t just blow off the friend. Too much would be lost if the… Read more
Publishers Marketplace reports (via email) that Don Piper’s book 90 Minutes in Heaven has been sold to a production studio. Meaning you could be seeing the movie version before long… NYT bestselling authors Don Piper and Cecil Murphey’s 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN, in which Baptist minister Piper recounts his death, passage to heaven, and return to earth where he endures a long and grueling recovery and spiritual awakening, to Dawn Parouse Productions (PRISON BREAK, TRU CALLING) for a feature film,… Read more
Over the weekend, a Texas rally for state/church separation occurred. There wasn’t a huge turnout (is there ever?) at the rally — only about 100 people — but American Atheists Texas State Director Joe Zamecki says this: The old joke used to be “Atheists held a picket today, at which all 12 Atheists in America attended.” Well that number has had to be upped a little bit many times in the last few decades. It still takes a lot of… Read more
Half of the Olsen twins appeared on the HBO series Weeds and talked about God… and God’s love: So let’s recap what in included in “God’s love.” Wine, yes. Weed, yes. Premarital sex, no. Boners, yes. Got it. (via Outchurched) [tags]atheist, atheism, HBO, Weeds[/tags] Read more
If you missed This American Life over the weekend, the overall theme was “The Devil in Me.” It was about “people trying to exorcize their inner demons.” The third act was worth hearing. It features Dave Dickerson, who for a long while, was a member of a Charismatic Christian church (the faith healing, speaking-in-tongue types). He never saw an actual demon despite all the stories he’d heard from others. But he believed. His last year of college, he took a… Read more
Man, you go to work for a day and miss out on all the fun news… Kathy Griffin won a creative arts Emmy for her reality show “My Life on the D-List” the other night. Here was her acceptance speech: Can you believe this shit? I guess hell froze over… A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus…. Read more
Let me quote submitter Bjorn on this one: Who said fundies were boring? I’m sure Ted Haggard would approve. [tags]atheist, atheism, fundamentalist, Christian[/tags] Read more
Metroblossom was the victim of proselytization. Though he didn’t have to deal with anyone face to face. He got a letter in the mail. From a stranger. A handwritten letter: It probably won’t do much good, but it gets points for creativity. I’d at least read what the letter said. That’s more than I can say for most of the church marketing mail I get… Is this a common method of preaching to others about Christ? Has anyone else received… Read more
GQ has an article on The Barack which includes this lovely little anecdote: There are several black clergymen here, and when Obama encounters one of them, it’s as if they share a secret language, one Obama learned in the early ’80s, toiling as an idealistic college grad organizing churches on Chicago’s South Side. “Reverend, so nice to see you!” he exclaims to one pastor, vigorously shaking his hand. “Appreciate you! God bless you! Lift me up!” The pastor nods his… Read more
Comedian Demetri Martin has this one-liner: To me, a bumper sticker is… like a little sign that says, “Hey, let’s never hang out.” A few more thoughts also come to mind when I see someone still sporting a “Bush/Cheney ’04” sticker on their SUV… So I’m (pleasantly) surprised to hear a Christian urging other Christians to remove the religious bumper stickers and symbols from the back of their car. What are Steve Sjogren’s reasons for this? The Message of The… Read more
