Jonathan Tilove of Newhouse News Service wrote about the religious firsts in the new Congress. The summary: The new Congress will, for the first time, include a Muslim, two Buddhists, more Jews than Episcopalians, and the highest-ranking Mormon in congressional history. Some other interesting points: Of the 43 Jewish members of Congress, there is only one Jewish Republican in the House and two in the Senate. … In the new Congress, two-thirds of all Catholic members will be Democrats. …… Read more
You know you have been wanting to give money to a good cause all holiday season. So before the year ends, consider giving a donation to the Secular Student Alliance! The SSA is the only democratic, national organization catering to atheist/agnostic/Humanist college students across the country. And the SSA’s budget is only a fraction of the $400,000,000 that Campus Crusade for Christ receives annually. (And by fraction, I mean one of those fractions with exponents in the denominator.) Full disclosure:… Read more
(Thanks to Logos for the link) Americans United for Separation of Church and State reports on an interesting case that backfired on the Religious Right. A public school in Virginia didn’t allow for religious material to be distributed to children. That is, until a church couple wanted to distribute a flier advertising Vacation Bible School in the students’ backpacks. The school told them no. So they went to Liberty Counsel, a group affiliated with Jerry Falwell. Liberty Counsel must have… Read more
Oklahoma State University’s The Daily O’Collegian published this editorial today. It urges students to express and explore beliefs while in college. College is certainly the time for people out on their own for the first time to re-evaluate the world around them and learn tolerance for those who don’t share the same beliefs they do. If a student decides to continue with the religion with which they were raised, that’s fine. Equally acceptable is if a student chooses a different… Read more
Sally Quinn, a reporter for the Washington Post and author of several books, wrote this article about what her son taught her about faith. Essentially, her 24-year-old son (also named Quinn… which would make him Quinn Quinn?) believes in God and Sally really doesn’t. When her son was growing up, though, Sally didn’t know what to tell him. Over the years I struggled with what to tell Quinn about God. I couldn’t teach him but I wanted him to be… Read more
The Supreme Court is going to be deciding if a group of taxpayers has the right to sue the White House for using tax money on faith-based initiatives. The case (Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation (No. 06-157)) is brought about by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). Why should FFRF win this case? The government has been saying for years that religious groups deserve taxpayer money to provide social services. This gives religion a special standing over non-religious groups… Read more
Far be it from me to make light of a tragic situation. But I was watching local Chicago news. They were talking about a serial killer, Ralph Andrews, who may have killed dozens of women over the years (perhaps more people than John Wayne Gacy). The reason they were talking about him was because Andrews died in prison. The reporter spoke to Betty Hanson, a woman who was attacked by Andrews, but managed to survive. Speaking of the killer, she… Read more
For all those people who say “Jesus is the reason for the season,” Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn has a response. Jesus is not the reason. It’s the sunlight. In addition, he elaborates on how December 25 is not the date accepted by scholars as Jesus’ birthday, nor do scholars agree on his birth year. He concludes by saying: “Seasons greetings” and “happy holidays” take nothing from the Christians who also chose this time of year to celebrate the birth… Read more
The cover of November’s Wired magazine featured “The New Atheists.” Obviously, there were going to be many letters in response… but were the letters angry? Were all the Wired editors told they’re going to hell? Nope. They got very little brimstone. And more response than ever before. They talk about the reactions here. They also posted every received letter here. Some random comments from the page: Since I’m a Christian and a life member of Mensa I was surprised to… Read more
The latest Humanist Network News Podcast is all about the sex. It features an interview with Certified Sex Therapist Dr. Marty Klein, an interview with Jeff Swenson (author of the comic Freethunk), and best-of clips from the first year of the podcast. But wait. There’s more! Don’t miss the (PG-13 explicit) radio play (at the 27:32 mark) featuring a Deist woman having orgasms while trying to avoid saying “Oh God!” One replacement: “Oh… Red Queen Hypothesis!” I promise you that… Read more
