A HuffPo article from yesterday (Friday, May 31) says: Kathleen Taylor, Neuroscientist, Says Religious Fundamentalism Could Be Treated As A Mental Illness An Oxford University researcher and author specializing in neuroscience has suggested that one day religious fundamentalism may be treated as a curable mental illness. Kathleen Taylor, who describes herself as a "science writer affiliated to the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics," made the suggestion during a presentation … [Read more...]
One Hundred and Five Thousand, Nine Hundred Eighty Nine. Dollars.
May 30, 2013 By 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 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...]
Finding the Real Villain in [Churches Hate Gay Boy Scouts]
May 29, 2013 By 2 Comments
Thinking about this story, Some Churches Say They'll Cut Ties to Boy Scouts Following Its Lifting Ban on Gay Scouts, a first reaction might lead you to lambaste the people who'd do such a thing. "If the Boy Scouts are going to support gays, we're not going to support the Boy Scouts." Of course they have every right to say that, to act that way, but it's not a decent reaction, not a reaction that recognizes equality and fairness. You'd be prone to blame the people who'd do such a thing. On … [Read more...]
Helping A Tornado Survivor, Atheist-Style
May 25, 2013 By 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...]
Beta Culture: Bridges and War and All Things Daft
May 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment
I know there are people who don't like driving across long, high bridges. I'm one of them, I guess, but my job requires me to gird my loins and cross the huge, 3-mile-long, almost-60-year-old Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River near New York City twice a day. The collapse of the Interstate 5 highway bridge in Mount Vernon, Wash., on Thursday, brought that roaring to mind over the past few days. On days when traffic is slow and you're standing still on the Tappan Zee — like … [Read more...]
Hawking T-Shirts at Funerals (More or Less)
April 8, 2013 By 2 Comments
If I die and somebody shows up to sell "Hug Me - I'm an Atheist!" T-shirts at my service, it would tickle me to death. (If I wasn't already dead, I mean, and was, you know, capable of being tickled.) [ Note: If you do this, you have to donate the money in my name — all of it — to a black bear rescue operation or sanctuary. ] But if it happened at any other funeral, I would expect the family to be furious. I feel the same way about selling religion at funerals. Even at second hand, … [Read more...]
Atheism In The News
April 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Columnist Lee Dye made the front page at ABCNews.com yesterday, with a book review titled Do We Need God to Be Moral? Are we moral because we believe in God, or do we believe in God because we are moral? Frans de Waal argues in his latest book that the answer is clearly the latter. The seeds for moral behavior preceded the emergence of our species by millions of years, and the need to codify that behavior so that all would have a clear blueprint for morality led to the creation of … [Read more...]
The Infiltration Makes Progress, Comrades
March 25, 2013 By 3 Comments
Saw this story on ABCNews.com today: Is Religion Good for Your Health? ... and got the shock of my life. Okay, well, it wasn't the shock of my life, but it was surprising, and more than a little pleasing. What would you expect from a story with that headline in any mainstream news medium in America? They wouldn't dare answer anything but --> YESYESYES!! <--, right? But this writer, Dr. Richard Besser, sort of DID answer something other than yes. … [Read more...]
Sorry, Change.org, I’m Not On Board
March 13, 2013 By 127 Comments
Got an intense email about a Change.org petition TSA: DO NOT allow knives on airplanes! ... to stop the TSA from allowing pocketknives on planes. Ian Funderberg's petition says: "I am a flight attendant and this news outrages me: the Transportation Security Administration just announced rollbacks of security rules -- allowing pocket knives to be carried on US planes, starting April 25. This policy would affect the safety and well-being of FLIGHT CREWS and PASSENGERS. This decision must be … [Read more...]
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