Atheist Culture

Atheists at Albany Pride

June 9, 2013 By Hank Fox 7 Comments

My atheist Meetup group, Capital Region Atheists & Agnostics, rented a booth for Albany, New York's Gay Pride Day. Whew! Fantastic event! My own personal thank-you to all who organized the thing, and all who attended, and especially to the members of CRAA who made it all happen. (I'm hoping some of them will chime in here and tell me who sent all the great atheist/agnostic/humanist stuff that covered the table and caught so many eyes.) Photos follow. In order to see these large, you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheist Culture, Photography 7 Comments

One Hundred and Five Thousand, Nine Hundred Eighty Nine. Dollars.

May 30, 2013 By Hank Fox 6 Comments

You know the story: Helping A Tornado Survivor, Atheist Style — Oklahoma tornado survivor Rebecca Vitsmun admits she's an atheist during a TV interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, and atheists worldwide pitch in to help her and her family rebuild. The donation effort at Indiegogo is still roaring along. The total as I write this is, yes, $105,989. … [Read more...]

Time for Serious Outreach into Islam?

May 30, 2013 By Hank Fox Leave a Comment

Here's a story from the United Kingdom's online news site Mail Online, the heated subtext of which is "OMG MUSLIMS!!!" One country, two religions and three very telling pictures: The empty pews at churches just yards from an overcrowded mosque It's a story in pictures, with a small amount of text: What they show are three acts of worship performed in the East End of London within a few hundred yards of each other at the end of last month. Two of the photos show Sunday morning … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheist Culture, News and Views Leave a Comment

Helping A Tornado Survivor, Atheist-Style

May 25, 2013 By Hank Fox 6 Comments

There's a rather amazing story coming out of the Oklahoma tornado-aftermath. Moore, Oklahoma, resident and mother Rebecca Vitsmun, being interviewed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer, responded to a spray of goddy rhetoric: Blitzer: "Well, you're blessed, Brian your husband is blessed, Anders is blessed. [...] I guess you gotta thank the Lord, huh? Do you thank the Lord, for that split-second decision (to leave her home and get to safety)?" Vitsmun: "I uh, I am actually an atheist." Amid … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheist Culture, News and Views 6 Comments

Beta Culture: Earthman’s Journey – Part 8 of 8

April 30, 2013 By Hank Fox 6 Comments

[ Part 1 — 2 — 3— 4 — 5 — 6 – 7 — 8 ] The Final Doorway The payoff of going through the transition from the House of the Tribe to the House of Humanity is very large. If we can make it across the painful threshold from our small but formerly comfortable dwelling space into this new and grander place, we gain an entire fascinating WORLD of people. People to learn from, to visit, to photograph, to love, to sing to, to listen to, to argue with, to trade with, even to combine … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheist Culture, Beta Culture, Earthman's Notebook, Environmental, Phil Ossify 6 Comments

Beta Culture: Earthman’s Journey – Part 7 of 8

April 30, 2013 By Hank Fox Leave a Comment

[ Part 1 — 2 — 3— 4 — 5 — 6 – 7 — 8 ] The Houses of Man (cont.) As you’ve probably already figured out, there are other steps in this bigger-house progression. At some point we discover the door to yet another Outside, and find that our original family home is only a small part of a bigger place – our neighborhood or culture. For want of a better name, call this dwelling place the House of the Tribe. Again, there’s an uncomfortable period of adaptation in settling-in to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheist Culture, Beta Culture, Earthman's Notebook, Phil Ossify Leave a Comment

Shoving Orphans Away From the Table

April 22, 2013 By Hank Fox 2 Comments

How many times have you seen it? Someone convenes a panel of talking heads to discuss morals, justice, or any of the other “goodness” issues, and the speaker’s table is filled with a priest, a minister and a rabbi (and here lately, to prove our generous and inclusionary nature, an imam). As far as the organizer is concerned, and large swaths of the audience, atheists don’t exist. Because we don’t know anything about morals, you see, or deep human convictions, or even feelings. We … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheist Culture, Beta Culture, Godder Antics, Religion & Atheism 2 Comments

Drum Roll, Cymbal Clash, Fanfare of Vuvuzelas!

April 1, 2013 By Hank Fox 8 Comments

Hey there! Say hello to another FreethoughtBlogs alumnus, moving over to further infiltrate Patheos with steely determination, pointed wit, and violent, wanton godlessness. For those of you discovering Hank Fox (me) for the first time, an intro: I’m the author of Red Neck, Blue Collar, Atheist: Simple Thoughts About Reason, Gods & Faith. I’ve blogged as the Blue Collar Atheist at Freethought Blogs and elsewhere for a couple of years, but I recently changed my blog banner to A … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheist Culture, Meta, Religion & Atheism 8 Comments

Connecticut Shooting: Warm Lies, Cold Truth, Free Minds

December 17, 2012 By Hank Fox 13 Comments

This is a reaction to some of the goddy rhetoric surrounding the shooting in Connecticut: Even as an atheist good with words, I can barely express how repulsive I find the claim that those children are in Heaven, skipping along beside Jesus as he gives them a tour of Heaven. Yet we’ve heard exactly that, and more than once. When I posted on Facebook a day or so ago about a mental image related to the tragedy, one of my readers told me she almost threw up when that same image came to her: the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheist Culture, Beta Culture, Earthman's Notebook, Religion & Atheism 13 Comments

Asking a Bit of Support for a Fellow Warrior

October 18, 2012 By Hank Fox 1 Comment

Another unfortunate hit to our beloved Greta Christina: I have some more news of the crappy variety. It’s not as alarming as it’s going to sound: it’s probably going to be fine in the long run, and even in the medium run. So even though your first reaction may be alarm, try to not go there if you can avoid it. But I want to fill you in. And I’m going to ask you for some help. The bad news is that I was just diagnosed with endometrial cancer. I got the initial biopsy results Saturday, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheist Culture, Doing My Part, REALLY Serious Shit 1 Comment