Anne Davies in The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) has an article called, “A non-believer – say it isn’t so.” It opens with a (slightly erroneous) story about Pete Stark: Pete Stark found himself in a unique and slightly uncomfortable position earlier this year. The longtime Democrat congressman for the Oakland district near San Francisco had responded to a survey from the Secular Coalition for America which offered a $1000 prize to the person who could identify the “highest-level atheist, agnostic,… Read more
CNN is going to be airing a six-hour documentary over three nights beginning on August 21st. It’s called God’s Warriors. Christiane Amanpour will be hosting. For this documentary, Amanpour reports that during the last 30 years, each faith has exploded into a powerful political force, comprised of followers – “God’s warriors” – who share a deep dissatisfaction with modern society, and a fierce determination to place God and religion back into daily life and to the seats of power. Their… Read more
JKC is a Mormon who works as a law clerk. He can make several comparisons between those two parts of his life: Like my time as a missionary, I work with Latinos, mostly Mexicans, in the U.S., who live off of field work. Like missionaries, I visit my clients in their homes. Like missionaries, I have to gain my clients’ trust. Heck, I even drive a 1999 Sentra like when I was a missionary. One client he visited asked him… Read more
Max Blumenthal has a frightening piece in The Nation about “Operation Straight Up (OSU), an evangelical entertainment troupe that actively proselytizes among active-duty members of the US military.” As an official arm of the Defense Department’s America Supports You program, OSU plans to mail copies of the controversial apocalyptic video game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces to soldiers serving in Iraq. OSU is also scheduled to embark on a “Military Crusade in Iraq” in the near future. Left Behind: Eternal Forces:… Read more
The Oxford University Press (OUP) publishes a series of books called “A Very Short Introduction.” They cover a range of topics, from the Koran to Plato. The book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction is written by Julian Baggini. He recently did an interview with the OUPblog. OUP: Why do you think the recent books by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchins [sic] have struck such a chord with the public? Baggini: Christian fundamentalism in America, intolerant Anglicanism in west Africa, terrorism… Read more
The Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS) is hiring a 20-hour per week editor for the Humanist Network News (HNN) e-zine: Responsibilities include: writing original articles and editorials; assigning, soliciting, editing and copyediting news stories and columns; compiling letters to the editor section. … We are seeking candidates with news editing experience (campus newspapers OK). S/he must have demonstrated writing and editing skills, ability to research online, ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines. S/he must be computer literate, detail… Read more
Mike Jones is the former male escort and personal trainer who made international headlines late last year when news surfaced that Pastor Ted Haggard had been seeing him as a client for three years. Mike had not known who his client was — Haggard used the name “Art” when visiting Mike — so it was a shock to him when he was in the gym one morning and saw “Art” being interviewed on TV. Further research confirmed that “Art” was… Read more
Chicago Magazine came out with its 2007 “Best of Chicago” list. The best place to see comedy? Lakeshore Theater. (Which happens to be where I saw the Porn debate a couple nights ago, as well as opening night of Puppetry of the Penis a couple years ago. Long story on that one… one long, traumatic story.) Anyway, here’s what they write: Since spring—with a boost from friends like Paul Provenza, director of The Aristocrats, and Penn Jillette of Penn and… Read more
That is one strategically placed sticker. You win this round, clever Target employee… (Photo taken by Elizabeth S.) … (Update: For those who don’t get the joke, the book is called God is Not Great. The subtitle, How Religion Poisons Everything, might give away the author’s intent, but most people only notice the main title.) (via Doubtlessly.com) [tags]Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great, Target[/tags] Read more
Math class descriptions at Castle Hills First Baptist School: Students will examine the nature of God as they progress in their understanding of mathematics. Students will understand the absolute consistency of mathematical principles and know that God was the inventor of that consistency. Because when you study triangles, you’re really just studying the Trinity. And does anyone else start twitching when you realize they talk about God and proofs in the same paragraph? (via Reddit) [tags]atheist, atheism, mathematics, God, religion,… Read more
