You can be skeptical and friendly at the same time.
You may have seen rumors (like the one below) floating around on Facebook that A&E asked the family at the center of the show Duck Dynasty to stop praying on television after complaints from “liberals” and “atheists.” (And the family refused to listen! Aren’t they amazing?!)
Of course, none of that’s true.
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Earlier today, I posted about the Ten Commandments plaques that hang in every classroom in Muldrow High School (Oklahoma). As the story went, after an anonymous atheist student contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the FFRF contacted the school and the plaques will now almost certainly be taken down after the school board discusses the incident at Monday’s meeting.
…
During this whole debacle, which really picked up steam on Wednesday, the student who alerted the FFRF to the constitutional violation has been under the radar. Some commenters online have even insinuated that there was no student — that FFRF is just picking on them because they’re Christians.
Well, let’s put that rumor to rest right now.
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Pennsylvania legislators love their Bible.
They love it so much, they declared 2012 “Year of the Bible.” Since that wasn’t enough, they declared October, 2012 “Prayer Month.” And that was after May 3, 2012, which we all obviously remember was a Day of Prayer.
So what do they do for an encore?
They declare it week “American Religious History Week“…
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The classrooms in Muldrow High School in Oklahoma (right near the border by Arkansas) all have plaques of the Ten Commandments hanging on the walls. For some reason that probably have everything to do with Tradition and our Christian Heritage and “We Live In Merkuh.”
Recently, a junior at the school contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation and they contacted the school without exposing the student.
Somehow this has turned into a fight between Christians and the Constitution:
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During a Capitol Hill prayer event this week, Michele Bachmann (R-MN) spoke about how 9/11 and the attack in Benghazi were the result of God’s judgment on our country:
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I had to watch this, so now you have to watch this: A Christian version of “Thrift Shop“:
Apparently, that’s not the only version…
(via The American Jesus)
The Secular Coalition for America has a Washington DC-based office headed by Edwina Rogers.
The Center for Inquiry also has a DC-based Office of Public Policy headed by Michael De Dora.
And the American Humanist Association is based in DC and does public policy work, too.
And now, American Atheists is looking for someone to assist with the implementation of its public policy goals:
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In recognition of upcoming Mother’s Day, this is the third in a trio of letters I received from three young men who come from Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu backgrounds respectively. Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. Sir, I am 17 years old and I was raised in an extremely religious Hindu [...]
This morning on NBC’s Today, weatherman Al Roker visited Silver Spring, Maryland’s Forest Knolls Elementary School as part of his “Wake Up With Al” tour.
It starts off all well and good and cute. Roker even helps with the morning announcements. Then, at the 1:37 mark, they all say the Pledge of Allegiance together — even the Today show anchors join in via satellite:
That by itself wouldn’t bother me. Most schools say the Pledge and that’s really not the point of the segment.
But then they discussed what just happened and things got weird:
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Reader Lauren found this recipe in a Presbyterian Church Cookbook owned by her mother-in-law:
Anyone else get a little freaked out by the Leviticus reference on the list…? Feel free to look up the ingredients yourself, but you’ll be happy to know no homosexuals were harmed in the making of this cake.
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Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation just released a report on recommendations to revise the U.S. tax code (which hasn’t been comprehensively revised in over 25 years).
Wait! Don’t fall asleep yet!
In one section, the committee highlighted comments and suggestions they received in regards to charitable and tax-exempt organizations, and it appears they took the advice (PDF) of the Secular Coalition for America.
It’s not quite “Tax the Church” but the message is “Don’t give churches any special privileges.”
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You know how praying in schools is perfectly legal? Because it is. And no atheist group would even think about taking that right away from students who pray privately or in a non-disruptive way.
But that didn’t stop the North Carolina General Assembly from unanimously passing Senate Bill 370 yesterday. SB 370 is a Republican-sponsored bill that “clarif[ies] student rights to engage in prayer and religious activity in school.” As if people were trying to put a stop to that…
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Stuff Fundies Like has a horrific story of Pensacola Christian College’s treatment of a female student — Just one portion is below:
Of course PCC isn’t known for really caring much about fire safety anyway. For years the rule has remained on the books that all female students must be in “proper” attire before they leave their rooms for a fire drill. If you happen to be sleeping in pajama pants, you must take the time to put on a skirt before you try to escape the flames. If you should perish then at least you’ll know you died for the cause of not tempting the fire fighters to lust after you.
It only gets worse from there…
Just FYI, I’ve contacted PCC to find out what their actual protocol is in the case of a fire. I’ll update this post if I hear back.
(Thanks to Anu for the link)
A couple of atheists want to move from South Carolina to California but they could use some cash to help them out… so they’re selling some of their belongings at a yard sale this weekend. Their Craigslist ad about the sale is the best thing you’ll see all day:
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