The star of High School Musical 2, Zac Efron, says this in the latest issue of Rolling Stone (August 23rd issue, p. 41): “I was raised agnostic, so we never practiced religion, but my parents were very strict.” It wasn’t just a childhood phase, either. He still is an agnostic: Efron told The Shmooze that he’s an agnostic and that the red string he was wearing “is just a bracelet that a friend made for me that hasn’t fallen off… Read more
There’s now a scientific explanation for out-of-body experiences: Two teams used virtual reality goggles to con the brain into thinking the body was located elsewhere. The visual illusion plus the feel of their real bodies being touched made volunteers sense that they had moved outside of their physical bodies. The article nicely explains the setup of the experiment with visuals. For some reason, I’m still positive all those out-of-body books will still find an audience… but it’s very telling that… Read more
For a while now, Nigeria has been subsidizing religious activities even though it is not a religion-based nation: Nigeria is a secular nation under the constitution, but the government nevertheless pays about 25 percent of the cost for over 100 000 Muslim and Christian pilgrims to travel to their holy sites every year. It also provides free pilgrimages for thousands of government officials and politicians. As of 2008, those subsidies are no longer in effect. They have been withdrawn by… Read more
Not news: Ted Haggard is still making $138,000 this year courtesy of his settlement with New Life Church. The house he still owns in Colorado Springs is estimated to be worth $715,051. News: He wants more. Ted Haggard his moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona since the sex scandal. According to a letter he sent to reporter Tak Landrock of station KRDO in Colorado Springs, he could use financial help: Gayle and I, along with Alex (16) and Elliott… Read more
The Washington Post ran a terrific profile of atheist activist Ellery Schempp the other day. If the name isn’t familiar, his Supreme Court case certainly is: His protest began a half-century ago, when Ellery Schempp opened the Quran during his high school’s mandatory Bible reading time and silently scanned passages he was too nervous to actually read. That minor rebellion led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that outlawed school-sponsored prayer. Ellery is also one of the nicest atheists… Read more
Richard at 20 Gram Soul points out how you can help the Secular Party of Australia during their upcoming elections. If you’re Australian or you know someone who is, keep reading. As long as a certain quota of members is met, the group’s name can be used when its members run for office (instead of them having to run as independents). So help the group out by getting Australians to fill out this form (PDF) and send it in. It’ll… Read more
Teresa sent in this amusing picture of the Larry King Live poll and it had to be posted for the obvious reason 🙂 [tags]atheist, atheism, Larry King Live, poll[/tags] Read more
I’m having issues with the Internets. I’ll be back shortly. In the meantime… ponder this one: Atheists are a minority of the population. The best-selling atheist authors would love to see that change, as would most atheist organizations around the country. I’m sure many like-minded bloggers would want to see that as well. How would society be different if atheists were in the majority? [tags]atheist, atheism[/tags] Read more
An article in tomorrow’s Time magazine talks about Mother Teresa’s “crisis of faith.” … [I]n a letter to a spiritual confidant, the Rev. Michael van der Peet, that is only now being made public, [Mother Teresa] wrote with weary familiarity of a different Christ, an absent one. “Jesus has a very special love for you,” she assured Van der Peet. “[But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, —… Read more
Am I missing something or is this person just a bigot? Dear editor, A few days ago I found a kitten on the sidewalk at the end of Cotton Street. It was dehydrated and very weak. It had laid down on the sidewalk to die. It has a 50 percent chance of survival. I am doing everything I can to save it. To the person who committed this horrendous inhumane act, I have a question for you. Are you an… Read more
