After the 2002 “Godless Americans March On Washington,” Paul Geisert was upset. … the choice of the name “Godless” for the march [distressed Geisert]… and he [searched] feverishly for an alternative name to use in unifying such a gamut of individuals. Not long after the march, Geisert coined a new term for this group of people: Brights. (That link also explains the grammatical difference between lower-case “bright” and upper-case “Bright.”) What is a Bright? A person with a naturalistic worldview,… Read more
Here’s some black history you never heard about in school. Many of the great African-American leaders of the early 20th century were not religious people! This was surprising to me when I heard it considering the level of religiosity you see in the black community now. Mike Estes, a wonderful speaker, goes into detail about this history using the leaders’ own words and writings in this episode (mp3) of the Infidel Guy radio show. Go listen! [tags]black history month, African-American,… Read more
Over at the Skepchick blog, the results of the Darwin-themed pick-up lines contest are in! And they’re hilarious. Some examples: Why don’t you unzip my pants and let me show you the descent of man? Girl, you so fine, you make me want to do a Cambrian explosion between your strata. Without you, my organ would become vestigial. I’m not even going to mention #1. The full thread of submissions can be read here. That was a fun idea. Go… Read more
The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) has recently joined the Secular Coalition for America. As the SCA’s press release notes: In addition to community services, MAAF takes action to educate both the military and civilian community about atheism in the armed forces and the issues faced by atheist service members. MAAF identifies, examines, and responds to military practices that unconstitutionally promote religion over nonreligion or discriminate against the nonreligious as well as religious minorities. MAAF supports the First… Read more
Everyone go say hello to Newbie. Here’s what he says on his first post: I don’t worship satan, or sacrifice newborns, or kick puppies. I don’t go around hurting or killing people just because I don’t believe in a God. I believe in kindness, and my natural compassion and empathy leads me to treat people the way I would like to be treated. When you think about it, religions teach that God, and the beliefs of the religion are ultimately… Read more
Are you an atheist looking for love? Elaine Friedman writes in the Humanist Network News about her findings when talking to “secular singles” and mentioned one of the newest projects from the Infidel Guy: Freethinker Finder, a dating site specifically for non-religious people. Like Elaine says, the site’s biggest drawback is that it has not yet hit critical mass. There aren’t enough profiles that you’re bound to find someone you’re compatible with. (This has been the biggest problem for most… Read more
Humanist Network News published this interview Jeff Nall did with me last year as part of a series of interviews with Christian and atheist activists. Jeff’s the person who wrote a great article about “overcoming antagonistic atheism” in an issue of The Humanist last year. [tags]atheist, atheism, Jeff Nall, Humanist Network News, Christian, The Humanist[/tags] Read more
Just a heads up. In a few weeks (barring any change in plans), I’ll be heading down to Texas along with Jim Henderson. We’ll be promoting our books on a Christian TV show called Life Today. I think it’s like Regis and Kelly… (if Regis and Kelly were married). With a live studio audience. And maybe Jesus. I was looking through their website, and guess who was featured on the show a couple weeks ago?! My buddy Kirk Cameron. It’s… Read more
After posting the list of things that Christians do in church that annoy me, here is something slightly different. I should say that not all Christians do all these things. And not all the items are positive. But atheists could learn a lesson from Christians regarding some of these… Doing charity work. (I’m not saying atheists don’t do it. Of course we do. But Christians do it more frequently and they are much more visible in this realm, even if… Read more
After the embarrassing panel discussion from last week, CNN tried once again to talk about atheism… this time they even included atheists! OneGoodMove is on top of the video clips. Richard Dawkins’ segment was short, but he made his points well enough. The panel discussion, featuring Ellen Johnson of American Atheists, was also unbelievably short. And remember that absurd question from last time: “Why do atheists inspire such hatred?” It changed. Now, it’s “Are atheists morally compromised?” Thanks, CNN. That’s… Read more
