Earlier in the month, Texas inserted the words “Under God” in the state’s Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge is mandatory for schoolchildren to say, and if they want to get out of it, they need a note from home.

This was around the same time that Texas was forcing children to have a moment of silence in the classroom.

It all just reinforces the moronic, backwards-thinking stereotype of Texas.

At least one couple is doing something about it.

David Wallace Croft and his wife, Shannon, fought against both pieces of legislation. They have children who attend schools affected by these policies.

The latest lawsuit was against the Pledge. But now, that lawsuit has been denied.

U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade denied the request late Tuesday by David Wallace Croft and his wife, Shannon, for a preliminary injunction to stop the use of the pledge before any trial. No trial date has been set.

…

The Crofts announced earlier this month they were suing Gov. Rick Perry, as a representative of the state, over the pledge on the same day arguments were held over their separate lawsuit against the state’s minute of silence law.

In each case, the Crofts argue that actions by legislators are unconstitutional and amount to violations of separation of church and state. They argued legislators sought to reintroduce prayer in schools by mandating the moment of silence in 2003. The law gives children the option to “reflect, pray, meditate or engage in any other silent activity” during that minute.

The Moment of Silence case hasn’t been decided yet.

I don’t have a huge problem with the silence. But the Crofts are absolutely right with their Pledge case. That is blatant religion being forced upon everyone.

You can read David Wallace Croft’s blog here.

On a side note, I’m glad the atheist couple is fighting this battle, but why are there no religious people beating them to the punch? There are many who respect separation of church and state and who are as offended by the ruling as atheists. Why do we rarely see them taking the lead on these issues?


[tags]atheist, atheism, Michael Newdow, Under God, Shannon Croft[/tags]

The latest issue of Wired magazine (September, 2007) has a brief list of the “World’s Lamest Social Networks” on page 52.

On that list?

The Richard Dawkins Social Network:

What It Is: A place for fans of The God Delusion‘s author to meet and greet

Who You’ll Meet: Humorless atheists

What’s Annoying: Don’t these people realize the earth is only 6,000 years old?

Humorless?! Someone seems to have the impression that atheists are constantly pissed off… absurd, I tell you! Just absurd.

(Actually, I don’t know how reporter Mathew Honan got that impression from looking at the social network’s website… if anything, it’s a haven for pictures of smiling, laughing atheists.)

And it can’t be lame… I’m on it!

Now, so are you.


[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]

Reuters reports:

… the Vatican [recently launched] the world’s first airline for Catholic pilgrims.

…

The Vatican aims to serve 150,000 pilgrims a year on its chartered Boeing 737, run by Italy’s Mistral Air.

Destinations range from the shrine of Fatima in Portugal to Mount Sinai in Egypt, where Moses is said to have received the 10 Commandments from God.

Of course, the in-flight movies will be religious in nature.

The best part of this story comes via Ryanair, “Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier,” which also flies pilgrims from Rome to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Here’s their statement:

“Ryanair already performs miracles that even the Pope’s boss can’t rival, by delivering pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela for the heavenly price of 10 euros.”

*applause*

Nicely done, Ryanair.

Infideljoe (who submitted the link) also points out the potential irony if the plane crashes…


[tags]atheist, atheism, Catholic, church, Rome, Pope, Ratzinger[/tags]

PZ Myers at Pharyngula was getting sued for a variety of reasons by pissed-off author Stuart Pivar.

But it looks like the lawsuit has been dropped.

Good riddance.

PZ’s raging red horns must have scared Pivar away

Well, that, or Pivar realized the utter stupidity of what he was trying to do…


[tags]atheist, atheism, Lifecode[/tags]

PhillyChief strings together a lot of interesting thoughts in this post:

Bring up mormons and most christians say they’re not “real” christians. Bring up the Inquisition and catholics will argue it got out of hand by twisted people who “lost their way” whereas born agains and other protestants will say “well that’s the catholic church for you”… Muslims are also on the defensive having to argue that people like al quaeda who fly planes into buildings are extremists and not examples of “true islam”… Theists likewise will point to leaders like Stalin and show what horrors atheism inflicts whereas atheists will argue Stalin’s atheism was merely a tool for his quest for obtaining and maintaining power.

Where does this take us? Do bad examples influence the merit of a particular ideology?

The post awaits your thoughts.


[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]

A lot of people rushed to get tickets to September’s Atheist Alliance International convention in Washington D.C. the moment they became available. No one expected that level of interest and no one knew that so many “atheist luminaries” would be able to speak at the convention. It sold out in a hurry (so did a second batch of tickets) and there are still over 500 people currently on the waiting list to get in.

But now, you can watch the entire convention proceedings from your home at a fraction of the cost. It will be streamed live via the Internet, but it will only be available to those who purchase a special password.

The details:

… you can purchase an Internet password through AAI for the cost of $35 for one event (selecting either the Thursday, September 27 Fundraiser, the Friday, September 28 Dawkins and Harris Program, the Saturday, September 29 Plenary, the Saturday Night Awards Banquet, or the Sunday, September 30 Secular Ceremonies Event), two for $70 or $95 for all 5 events (Thursday, September 27-September 30 as described above).

A convention schedule is here.

If you’re interested in this option, go here. Click on “Crystal Clear Atheism” and follow the directions.

For those who take this route, there is a perk:

As an extra bonus, you will be able to log on after the show and download the WMV file so that you can watch it from your own hard drive. The shows will be posted after the live broadcast, and the convention activities will remain on the server for a week to be viewed or downloaded only by people who have purchased passwords.

The deadline to sign up is September 19^th.

One idea would be to host a big party (this convention’s like a pay-per-view event!) and invite other freethinkers to pitch in for the costs.

If none of this works for you, the DVD of the convention will go on sale in October.


[tags]atheist, atheism, atheist, Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, Sam Harris, The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great, Daniel Dennett, Breaking the Spell, Charles Darwin, Matthew Chapman, Eugenie Scott, Pastor Deacon Fred[/tags]

Michael Vick.

Allow me to just quote Dan Savage, who put it so well:

How come no one ever finds Jesus before they get caught doing something criminal?

…

Why is this I’ve-found-Jesus detail trotted out, uncritically, in news reports? If a close reading of the news tells us anything—and I’m hoping that news reporters read the news closely—it’s that people who’ve made a big public fuss about “finding Jesus” are no less likely to commit crimes than people who are incapable of locating this Jesus person.

[tags]atheism, atheist, The Stranger[/tags]

Here’s another survey courtesy of the social bookmarking site Digg (See question number 9).

That poll has atheists at 43.2% of the responders.

(And who knew there were more Pastafarians than there were Jews?!)

It’s still not scientific, but it’s probably more reliable than the Larry King Live poll.

And if it’s even remotely accurate, it explains a lot about who visits those bookmarking sites and why certain links get voted to the Digg front page (as well as its competitor Reddit).

(via Reformed Chicks Blabbing)


[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]

I received this email recently. I did send some of my own suggestions to the parent, but I told her I’d also put the message on here and see what others have to say:

After struggling with issues of faith for a while, my husband and I have recently “de-converted”. Our boys (ages 10 & 12) have been raised in the church and are true (fundamentalist) believers. For example, I recently heard my son say that evolution was stupid, so I asked him why he thought that. He cited the Bible and became very upset when I suggested that there might be some truth to evolution after all. We want to teach them to think critically and especially not to have blind faith in the Bible or church leaders, but we really don’t know how to broach the issue or even whether we should at this point. We’ve been reading a lot of books, articles, web material, etc. but haven’t come across anything that addresses this issue. Do you know of any resources for this?

If you have any advice, please leave a message in the comments!


[tags]atheist, atheism, parenting[/tags]