When I asked you which books helped you become an atheist, I expected a couple selections to pop up repeatedly. Instead, you all provided a variety of selections that led you to atheism. I grouped your picks into a few broad categories; it’s also worth noting that many people said it was a combination of the books (not just any one in particular) that pushed them away from their childhood religion. Here is the list for your perusal. (The list… Read more
Last week, I ran this contest: If religions were flavors of ice cream, what flavors would they be and why…? Here are the Top 5 responses (with submitters)! 5| Jehovah’s Almond Fudge because its flavor is just heavenly and more than a little nutty. (Laurie Soule) 4| I just envision someone with a picket sign reading, “It’s Ben & MARY, not Ben & Jerry!”… (Ray Harrington) 3| Judaism ice cream is whatever flavor your mother slaved over for days to… Read more
Hemant posted briefly on this back in October, but I thought I’d expand on it a little. From the Church of Google website: We at the Church of Google believe the search engine Google is the closest humankind has ever come to directly experiencing an actual God (as typically defined). We believe there is much more evidence in favor of Google’s divinity than there is for the divinity of other more traditional gods. We reject supernatural gods on the notion… Read more
How many Christians (or other religious) parents do you think would be able to say what Nica Lalli writes in an op-ed piece for USA Today? I may be raising my kids outside organized religion, but I am not raising them to be ignorant of religion any more than I am raising them to be atheists. I am not telling them that they have to follow my way of thinking, because as a parent, it’s my job to encourage them… Read more
Nadine edits crossword puzzles for a living and uses the Encyclopedia Mythica as a reference. If you browse through the articles on the site, you can read brief descriptions of various mythical creatures/people. The site just tells it like it is. Only one entry, though, gets its own disclaimer: Yahweh … This article is not intended as a religious discussion. It relates only to the mythological and historical aspects of the use and development of the name of God. No… Read more
Maureen Horcher of the Bradley University Scout has an opinion piece where she discusses how “the Newton prison in Iowa will no longer provide its Bible-based treatment program, InnerChange Freedom Initiative, come March.” She says that this is a bad thing. Let’s look at her reasoning: Sadly, not many people care about the physical and spiritual health of prisoners. We can safely assume most prisoners aren’t very spiritual – pre-prison at least. This likely plays into their ability to commit… Read more
Linda Staten has a piece in the The Kansas City Star where she sheds some light on atheism. The piece is unintentionally funny… mostly because the “truths” she shares with Kansas readers are so painstakingly obvious to all of us. You wonder about the implication that Christians in the reading area may not actually be aware of any of this. That is simply frightening. Nonbelievers know a lot about Christianity and Judaism, most having been raised in religious families. Believers,… Read more
The New York Times reports that “child-custody disputes in which religion is the flash point are increasing” over the past 30 years. In Oregon, a dispute between James Boldt and his former wife, Lia, was recently decided by the State Supreme Court. Mr. Boldt, the custodial parent, converted to Judaism after the divorce and sought to have their son, now 12, convert, and be circumcised. … Tensions can emerge when one parent takes a turn toward fundamentalism. In 2006, the… Read more
Julia Sweeney, the former Saturday Night Live actress who now performs her one-woman show Letting Go of God, addressed the crowd at the Freedom From Religion Foundation convention in October. Her remarks are hilarious. She presents them around the theme of what she has learned since she started performing her show. You can download the audio here (MP3). The transcript below is courtesy of Freethought Today It’s lengthy, but well worth the read: I want to just talk about the… Read more
Just Another Atheist and his roommate were discussing which Full House character represents which major faith. Because that’s what you do on weekends. The conclusions: 1. Danny Tanner is Islam – Fanatical about the rules. Wants total control of everything around him… Everyone knew of Danny’s controlling streak, and they all took great pains to avoid offending him. 2. Uncle Joey is Judaism – Great sense of humor, self-depreciating, often overshadowed by the other two housemates… 3. Uncle Jesse is… Read more
