Don’t forget to tune in to Atheists Talk radio at 9am Central! Today Mark Borrello will be talking about the grand Evolution 2008 conference that will be taking place this coming week in Minneapolis (I’ll be there — I’m even giving a talk in the education session on Sunday). You may recall Mark as the historian and philosopher of science who ably ripped apart John West’s claims that ‘darwinism’ leads to fascism.

Also on the bill: George Erickson, an author. I don’t know much about him; let’s find out!

Don’t miss this one! At 9am Central, Atheists Talk radio will feature the physicist James Kakalios — ask him your questions about superheroes. Then August Berkshire will discuss the problem of evil…it must have something to do with supervillains, I guess.

Dear Sir/Madam

I wish to complain about the fact that Katie Kish doesn’t like my kind. I am quite certain that the universe has a law that requires that everyone find me likable, and I am surprised that the internets allow disagreement. I would appreciate your attention on this matter as I consider this deeply offensive.

(OK, yeah, atheist meetings need much more diversity, and more spokespeople would be great so everyone doesn’t have to look at the same faces all the time. But we have to respect “spirituality”? Yuck. Bleh. Empty noise.)

I’m impressed: the car dealership has backed down on their offensive ad. Their apology is a bit disingenuous — they claim they really don’t remember approving the ad, and they intended it to be humorous, which I don’t really believe — but the letter writing was effective. The minority who phoned in a few cuss words … not so much.

A Ford dealership is taking a novel approach to advertising: by telling a small subset of their potential customer base to shut up.

But did you know that 86% of Americans say they believe in God? Since we all know that 86 out of every 100 of us are Christians, who believe in God, we at Keiffe & Sons Ford wonder why we don’t tell the other 14% to sit down and shut up. I guess maybe I just offended 14% of the people who are listening to this message. Well, if that is the case then I say that’s tough, this is America folks, it’s called free speech. None of us at Keiffe & Sons Ford are afraid to speak out. Keiffe & Sons Ford on Sierra Highway in Mojave and Rosamond, if we don’t see you today, by the grace of God, we’ll be here tomorrow.

One sad thing about that is that it is probably effective, and I would be unsurprised if the ad is doing well for them. The dealership is in a conservative part of California (Mojave), and I suspect the area has fewer than 14% in the group they’ve just kicked to the curb. In addition, the ad probably simply reinforces in-group loyalty for the dominant Christian audience.

Oh, well. There’s not much we can do, except boycott Kieffe and Sons Ford, and heck, boycott Ford altogether — Ford seems unconcerned about the fact that one of their dealerships is using bigotry to sell cars. You could also write to Kieffe and Sons, although they’ve already announced that they don’t give a damn about your opinion. If you do write, though, be polite.

I know we’re going to be in the market for a new car in the next few years. It won’t be a Ford. There was no risk that I’d be going to Mojave, California to pick it up, though.

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Tune in at 9am Central to Atheists Talk — this week, it’s humanists and godless soldiers. (In case you’re wondering what a Minnesota zip code might be, you can try 56267.)

There’s a whole site dedicated to polling visitors on one question: Do you believe in God?. Just as it is, it’s a testimonial to the worthlessness of internet polls (100% of the residents of Saint Lucia are atheists! n=1), so it seems superfluous to send the Atheist Legion in, but hey, go ahead, push this poll towards more disbelief. As a special bonus, if you come from a small country you’ll be able to wield greater unrepresentative power!

Yeah, I know, I already had you listen to our drecky Christian radio station earlier this week, but today at 5pm Central, KKMS-AM will have the president of Minnesota Atheists, August Berkshire, online for an interview titled “Understanding and Responding to Atheist’s Beliefs”. It could be interesting, just for the experience of seeing how these clowns treat August (I already know that August will be polite to them.)

Tune in at 9am for Atheists Talk radio — this week, there will be discussions of genetics and ethics, and just in time for your summer planning, you’ll learn more about Camp Quest.

I wish I hadn’t missed this when it come out a few years ago. A professor of sociology and comparative religion asked why women were more religious than men, and he ruled out socialization and cultural differences somehow, to come to a surprising conclusion.

“We looked for an obvious simple explanation, but nothing worked except physiology,” said Stark. “People studying crime also have looked at socialization and they can’t find a reason that explains the gender difference except a physiological one. Not being religious is similar to any other shortsighted, risky and impulsive behavior that some men – primarily young males – engage in, such as assault, robbery, burglary, murder and rape.”

Did this guy just compare atheism to murder and rape?

So not believing in Jesus is just like sticking a knife in someone?

Don’t cross me, man. I’m dangerous.