Monthly Archives: December 2011

Another Bold High Schooler Speaks Her Mind About Religion and Politics

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Hemant Mehta

High-schooler Elise Brown recently wrote this fantastic opinion piece for her community’s local paper regarding celebrating Christmas as an atheist and the importance of religious pluralism in our country. While it’s not online at the paper’s site, she reposted it … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Politics, War on Christmas | 25 Comments

God Hates (Penalty) F(l)ags

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Megan Wells

Robert Wilonsky, blogger for the Dallas Observer, reports that Westboro Baptist Church will protest the TicketCity Bowl in Dallas on January 2nd. Why that game in particular? Well, the participants are Penn State and the University of Houston: You can … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Sports | 52 Comments

Catholic Adoption Agencies Whine Because Illinois Isn’t Giving Them Tax Money to Discriminate

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Hemant Mehta

When it comes to church/state separation, the #1 rule is (usually) pretty simple: If you’re getting taxpayer money, you can’t discriminate against a group for their race/gender/orientation/etc. for any reason. If you’re paying for everything on your own, go do … Continue reading →

Posted in General, GLBT, Lawsuits | 71 Comments

A New Year’s Resolution That Will Benefit Others

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Hemant Mehta

My friend Danielle and a couple of her colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania are working on a neat project called Resolution12. The idea is simple: Instead (or in addition to) making a resolution for yourself — lose weight, get … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheist Generosity, General | 23 Comments

Future Book Alert: Candidate Without a Prayer

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Hemant Mehta

Two decades ago, Herb Silverman ran for Governor of South Carolina in order to challenge the state law which said atheists could not hold public office. He may have lost the race but succeeded in raising people’s consciousness about that … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, General, Secular Coalition for America | 11 Comments

Christian Proselytizing in Public Schools Is Becoming An Epidemic

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Hemant Mehta

The New York Times has an article in today’s paper about the recent proliferation of incidents in which public school teachers/administrators are proselytizing to students — or letting others do it on their behalf. It’s not enough that they can … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, FFRF, General, Lawsuits | 24 Comments

Forget Tebowing; Try Thinkering

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Hemant Mehta

Dave Silverman models the pose: What’s the difference between Tebowing and Thinkering? Dave responds: The difference is we don’t bow our heads in blind submission, rather we consider and conclude for ourselves. I’m sure a website dedicated to Thinkering will … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Sports | 17 Comments

Happy Woo-Woo Year!

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Bengie

Posted in General, Humor | 5 Comments

Get Yourself and Your Children Vaccinated

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Hemant Mehta

Steven Weinreb suffers from chronic lymphocytic leukemia and has new white blood cells in his body, making him vulnerable to diseases the rest of us don’t have to worry about. So he makes an important plea in today’s New York … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Science | 41 Comments

Why All the Focus on Tim Tebow?

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Hemant Mehta

The brilliant journalist Tom Junod tackles the question of why so many Americans are transfixed with quarterback and one-man-spokesperson-for-Christianity Tim Tebow and writes that, without the Christian storyline, Tebow would hardly be the athlete people are making him out to … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Sports | 25 Comments