FFRF puts a stop to high school principal who seemed to think his school was a Christian recruiting ground.

Last updated on: June 10, 2016 at 11:36 am By JT Eberhard

The principal of Mojave High School in Las Vegas (the last place you’d think would be having problems with too much fundamentalist religion) has some…um…interesting ideas about how to improve things at the school: Mojave High School Principal Antonio Rael and Grace Point Church Pastor Ty Neal were seen chatting in a video about the church’s “partnership” with the principal. Rael said he felt there was a “kingdom-moving opportunity inside the walls of Mojave.” Neal indicated that the church had... Read more

NASA gave a $1.108 million grant to a group looking into how discovering aliens would affect Christianity.

Last updated on: June 10, 2016 at 11:22 am By JT Eberhard

So…NASA gave a grant of over a million dollars to a group “studying” how the discovery of alien life would affect Christianity: In May 2015, NASA’s astrobiology program awarded $1.108 million to the Center of Theological Inquiry for “an interdisciplinary inquiry on the societal implications of astrobiology, the study of the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.” Center Director William Storrar stated at the time, “The aim of this inquiry is to foster theology’s dialogue with... Read more

Bangladesh police say they’ve identified two groups responsible for mass murders of atheist bloggers.

Last updated on: June 10, 2016 at 10:32 am By JT Eberhard

As many of you know, over the last few years there have been a series of brutal murders in Bangladesh. The victims include several atheist bloggers: The discovery of the weapons raised alarms. For the last three years, atheist writers, freethinkers, foreigners, religious minorities, gay rights activists and others have been terrorized and killed in Bangladesh by shadowy figures who have struck with machetes and sped off on motorbikes. Little was known about the attackers, except that they were Islamist radicals,... Read more

BREAKING: Federal court shoots down effort to send taxpayer money to Douglas County religious schools via vouchers.

Last updated on: June 10, 2016 at 9:37 am By JT Eberhard

ACLU making the magic happen: Federal District Court Judge Marcia Krieger today denied plaintiffs’ request to issue an unprecedented emergency order requiring the Douglas County School District school voucher program to divert taxpayer funds to private religious schools. The ACLU of Colorado, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, and the law firm Arnold & Porter – who successfully challenged the program before the Colorado Supreme Court last year –... Read more

MORNING HAPPINESS: An act of musical mastery.

Last updated on: June 10, 2016 at 9:23 am By JT Eberhard

Good morning one and all! Here’s a pianist trying to harmonize with a rendition of the national anthem at a Trump rally: Read more

GAMING: Overwatch is one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played in a long time.

Last updated on: June 9, 2016 at 12:59 pm By JT Eberhard

I recently picked up Blizzard’s new first-person shooter, Overwatch. Holy crap. I’m not usually one for FPS games, but this game is amazing. It has good lore and different characters with different abilities so team composition adds another level of strategy to the game. The characters feel so alive, deep, and unique, and this is for a FPS which usually just revolves around having enough mechanical skill to shoot the other players. I don’t even care that I can’t aim... Read more

Bomb explodes in the women’s bathroom of a Target store.

Last updated on: June 9, 2016 at 12:07 pm By JT Eberhard

Last night a bomb went off in the women’s bathroom of an Illinois Target store: A small bomb exploded in the women’s bathroom at a Target store in Evanston on Wednesday, and officials are investigating whether it’s connected to the company’s policy allowing transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice. Commander Joe Dugan says no one was inside the bathroom when the small explosion happened a little after 4 o’clock. It caused minor damage and no one was... Read more

Victory for the FFRF! Crosses come off police cars in Brewster County.

Last updated on: June 9, 2016 at 11:25 am By JT Eberhard

The sheriff in Brewster County, Texas fought this last year to put crosses on his county’s police cars — an obvious church/state violation. The Freedom From Religion Foundation asked him nicely to not do that. He did it anyway. Now they had to ask not-so-nicely for those crosses to come off the cars. The not-so-nicely approach worked: The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a nationwide group that promotes the separation of church and state, and two of its members sued... Read more

Franklin Graham’s rant about the Reason Rally kind of misses the mark.

Last updated on: June 9, 2016 at 10:33 am By JT Eberhard

Franklin Graham took to his Facebook page to rant about the Reason Rally: Isn’t it ironic that they met on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial where these words are engraved in stone: “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–that this nation UNDER GOD shall have a new birth of freedom.” President Abraham Lincoln acknowledged the inherent role God plays in establishing our rights and freedoms and so did many of our founding fathers.... Read more

Singing the national anthem, and what goes through a singer’s mind.

Last updated on: June 9, 2016 at 11:35 am By JT Eberhard

As most of you know, I spent the last weekend in DC at the Reason Rally. It was loads of fun. If I had to guess, at peak there were between 12,000 and 15,000 people in attendance. It was hard to gauge because I think people treated it differently than Reason Rally. In 2012 people made it a point to plant themselves there all day. Mingling with the crowd here I got the feeling they treated it more like a... Read more