I don’t understand 87% of this video, but it involves the ways religion is portrayed in video games:

Extreme religious groups actively make the world a less cool place to live. Whether it’s Islamic extremists detonating themselves, fundamentalist Christians gunning down doctors, or neighbours in Northern Ireland throwing stones at each other over different interpretations of the same book. These people hijack religion to enforce their own cultural beliefs, and it’s our misinterpretation of this reality that creates the divide between those with faith, and those without.

It’s also the reason games have largely avoided tackling religion, despite it being one of the most interesting aspects of life. Some games such as Mass Effect and Bioshock have done a great job of utilising it in interesting ways, but we still haven’t reached the point where Islam can be portrayed without a suicide bomb.

You’ll all have to help me understand if the statements in the video are accurate.

(Thanks to @WCK604 for the link!)

Kailyn Lowry was one of the teens featured in “16 and Pregnant” and (more recently) “Teen Mom 2″:

A few days ago, on Twitter, she revealed that she had no plans to go to church on Easter, choosing instead to spend time with her baby’s father:

She eventually admitted the reason outright (to another fan):

Word spread and Kailyn’s been responding to some of the inevitable pushback for a couple of days now:

Nice comeback at the end there But the insinuation that her atheism should be blamed on her mother? Her baby’s father? Anyone at all?! Ridiculous. It can’t be easy to be in the spotlight (even voluntarily) for something as serious as teenage pregnancy, but I doubt she signed up to have people preach at her. At least Kailyn seems like she can handle it:

Although she may not make headlines as often as some of the other girls, Kailyn Lowry is without a doubt, one of the strongest girls on the show. Even though she doesn’t have a great support system, Kailyn still makes it work and smiles doing it. The fact that she isn’t afraid to voice her beliefs speaks volumes. It proves that she knows exactly who she is and doesn’t care what others think.

Anyway, if you want to send her some atheistic Internet love, go for it.

There’s a Christian movie coming out soon based on Don Miller‘s book Blue Like Jazz. The filmmakers want to portray it as “not a Christian movie,” but when you take a look at the clip below, you can tell that they’ve failed.

During a debate between an atheist and a theist, the atheist character is basically a caricature, bringing together all those Christian stereotypes about us — we’re older, white, without any sense of compassion, only able to describe things like beauty and love as mere chemical reactions…

Even if there’s no god-given “meaning” to our lives, no decent atheist debater would ever treat someone’s question about our purpose so dismissively. At least I hope no one’s doing that.

So let me throw this out there: How would you have responded to the theist debater and the audience member asking a question?

Shawshank Redemption is my favorite movie ever. I’ve seen it several times and could quote entire scenes to you. And yet, I never noticed the connection between Brooks (the elderly inmate) and atheism until I read it at Talking Liberty:

Forget Brooks’ age. Forget his gender. Forget the literal setting. Brooks is a metaphor of a person imprisoned by his circumstance. He lives in “prison,” as all wondering theists do, and fears leaving its familiar setting. He has friends there. He knows the rules there. They tell him when he can and can’t do everything. In this structure, social network and “protection from the outside,” he is trapped — even as he loves and feeds the little bird of freedom that visits him from time to time.

This is story of every secret atheist and doubting theist in the world. They are trapped in a prison of their own custom, both internally and externally. To leave this prison is to leave everyone (and everything) they’ve ever known, abusive as it may be, behind them. And when the gates slam behind the new atheist, they know there’s no going back; not to their beliefs, and often, not to their family and friends.

Well, now I just have to watch the movie again…

If you’ve never seen Jesus Camp, prepare to be horrified.

The documentary is now available to watch via SnagFilms LLC:

(Thanks to Jamie for the link!)

Remember when singer Miley Cyrus tweeted a quotation from Lawrence Krauss (“… forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today”) and faced the wrath of many of her Christian fans?

Today, she retweeted a Kelly Osbourne quotation about religion…:

“Religion. It`s given people hope in a world torn apart by religion. ” -Charlie Chaplin

Osbourne wrongly attributes that line to Charlie Chaplin — it’s actually Jon Stewart who said that — but that’s besides the point.

Yes, people retweet things because a friend says it or the line is just funny. But that’s not a pro-religion quotation by any means. It’s another indication that Miley may not be as “Christian” as one would imagine. And having another pro-science/reality celebrity wouldn’t be such a bad thing…

(For the record, I *swear* I’m not stalking her Twitter feed just waiting for her to say something anti-religious or pro-science. But I find it fascinating how much people in the media care about this sort of thing — you know someone is going to bring it up — so might as well mention it here.)

I wonder how Billy Ray Cyrus will react…

(Thanks to @patrickptomey for the link!)