Don’t believe the evening news. Especially in Virginia. WSET (The local ABC affiliate) did a story on the Blasphemy Challenge and the response given from a professor at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. More on that in a sec. If you want to watch the segment, click here, then click on “Watch the eVideo.” They interviewed Brian Sapient, Blasphemy Challenge co-founder, over the phone. Here’s what they showed on the screen as they interviewed him: In case you can’t tell, that’s… Read more
Of course, this had to be reported on Darwin’s birthday… According to the New York Times, Creationist Marcus R. Ross recently got his doctoral degree from the University of Rhode Island. Surprisingly, his dissertation contained sound science. How does that happen? For him, Dr. Ross said, the methods and theories of paleontology are one “paradigm” for studying the past, and Scripture is another. In the paleontological paradigm, he said, the dates in his dissertation are entirely appropriate. The fact that… Read more
Between the eBay auction and writing the book, I’ve been to many different churches in the the past year. This is a compilation of the things I’ve seen and heard in the churches that simply annoy me. I’m sure they annoy other Christians as well. They detract from what could be a very positive message. It’s not a complete list by any means, so feel free to comment and add to the list! (By the way, for those who think… Read more
Play zefrank’s atheist game! I can’t get past the first level… [tags]zefrank, atheist, atheism, game[/tags] Read more
You know you want some Sunday reading material. Here you go: The ongoing email battle between Sam Harris and Andrew Sullivan. [tags]atheist, Christian, religion, atheism, Sam Harris, Andrew Sullivan[/tags] Read more
A couple reminders: Tomorrow is Evolution Sunday! And Monday is Charles Darwin’s 198th birthday! How are you celebrating?! Here is a giant (but not completely comprehensive) list of planned Darwin Day activities around the world. [tags]atheist, atheism, Darwin Day, Charles Darwin, Christianity, religion, evolution, Evolution Sunday[/tags] Read more
The editors of the Philadelphia Weekly, the city’s alternative newspaper, came out with its 2007 list of “Who We ♥.” And topping their list was Margaret Downey, president of Atheist Alliance International! Here’s the writeup (apparently, the PW doesn’t like paragraphs): Who’s that woman dressed in Colonial clobber clattering around City Hall? It’s godless she-devil Margaret Downey, the woman who once sued the Boy Scouts of America for discriminating against atheists during her crusade to win rabble-rousing Philadelphian revolutionary Thomas… Read more
The Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University along with the Secular Student Alliance are teaming up for a once-in-a-lifetime conference. The conference will take place on the Harvard campus on April 20 and 21. Speakers include: Novelist Salman Rushdie 2002 International Humanist of the Year Amartya Sen 1999 American Humanist of the Year E.O. Wilson 2006 American Humanist of the Year Steven Pinker 2003 American Humanist of the Year Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine folk/rock star Dar Williams Professor Tu Weiming, Director… Read more
(Via Pharyngula) Mark Fisher is the editor of the Faith & Values section of the Columbus Dispatch. There are often complaints from atheists that we are never featured on these pages. For some reason, “values” exclude non-religious people. Fisher wrote about the types of stories run in the F&V section: During the last two years, Faith & Values has had 290 cover stories, of which 183 (63.1 percent) have been about Christianity. Another 39 stories, or 13.4 percent, have discussed… Read more
To the surprise of no one, Obama is poised to announce tomorrow morning that he’ll be running for president. If only Springfield, IL wasn’t 3 hours away, I’d be there for the announcement. Oh well… You can watch Obama’s preview announcement here. And tomorrow morning, you can watch Obama’s official announcement live on his website beginning at 10:55 am EST. In regards to understanding church-state separation and respecting atheists while still being able to reach out to the religious community,… Read more
