Atheist Alliance of America is establishing network connections with El Paso Atheists: seen here at their usual gathering place, a Unitarian Universalist Church on Byron Street. It's a charming location, but it still seems paradoxical for me to give anti-sermons in any sort of church setting.I'm interested in uniting unbelievers wherever I go, if I can, and El Paso is way away from everyone else in our community. So I want to give them a shout out. … [Read more...]

After being elected president of Atheist Alliance of America, the first thing I wanted to do was to find out just how many allies we really have.According to a Pew poll in 2014, only 3.1% of Americans identified as atheists while another 4% identified as agnostic. Agnostic is a word that means "atheist in denial". If you think agnostic means that you don't know, then you don't know that you're an atheist.Yes it’s impossible for anyone to actually know anything about the supernatural, b … [Read more...]

I was quoted in an article on Vice talking about exorcism. That article talks about how there are only a limited number of Catholic priests in the International Association of Exorcists who are approved and authorized by the church to chant the official incantation that will expel demons. Try to ignore for the moment that there is an international association of people who pretend to do this, and that they're taken seriously and even trained and authorized by the single most popular and … [Read more...]

When I was elected president of Atheist Alliance of America, I had to resign my previous position, creating a vacancy: one that will be filled by a much more accomplished activist than me. She is the executive director of South Texas Atheists for Reason, the founder of Atheists Helping the Homeless of San Antonio, the director of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and acts as a Humanist chaplain at Lackland Air Force Base -where she draws several hundred recruits to her weekly services. … [Read more...]

I happened across a video of a couple of Christians reviewing my debate with John Lepp. They said it wasn't very polished or professional on either side. I agree, but the biggest fault I have with myself is assuming that once I give the clues, my audience should be able to connect the dots and understand the implications that I think are obvious without further explanation. That has consistently proven not to be the case. Experience has shown that no matter how obvious I think that was, I will … [Read more...]

This was my first formal debate ever. I mean, I've argued with a few evangelicals online or on someone's radio show, and some of those were called "debates". But this was the real deal, two people sharing the stage with a proper moderator -addressing a live audience in the same room. I've never done that before.I misread the format of the debate. I thought that each of us would have a first and second presentation, one for opening statements and then one to rebut the opponent's claims … [Read more...]

I was invited to protest Ken Ham's ark park by Jim Helton, Kentucky state director of American Atheists and president of Tri-State Freethinkers. It was such a well-organized and successful protest that I knew it wasn't over when it was over. There were more ripples coming after the waves that he made. So I knew then that I'd have to wait a week or so and talk to him again. … [Read more...]