I wrote recently about religious people getting freaked out the introduction of yoga in the elementary schools of a California school district because of its associations with non-Christian religions such as Hinduism. [Read more…]
One of the qualities of large institutions like churches is that they are incapable of making sudden changes in their policies even if they know that their current policy is wrong. Instead what they do is slowly edge towards a new policy by incremental steps, each time claiming that it is as far as they can go or is theologically justified. [Read more…]
The Catholic Church continues its war on women in ever-more bizarre ways, tying itself into all kinds of knots as it tries to enforce its policies on the people over whom it has some authority. For example, the church seems to hate the thought that women might be getting pregnant in ways that it does not approve of based on its medieval ways of thinking. As a result, it finds itself embroiled in legal cases that do not show it in a good light. [Read more…]
Ryan Andresen had dreamed of becoming an Eagle Scout from the age of six and had steadily worked towards it, creating as a project in high school a ‘tolerance wall’ of 288 unique tiles is an effort to create awareness of the need to combat bullying. He was devastated when his troop leader said that he could not be made an Eagle Scout because he had come out as gay. [Read more…]
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about what not to say to people after they have suffered a personal loss or a tragedy, and some of you added your own suggestions. But this does raise the difficult question of what we, as nonbelievers, can and should say to such people that might give them some comfort at such a difficult time. [Read more…]
A group of comedians in the UK have launched what they claim is the first atheist church (though Unitarians might quarrel with the claim). [Read more…]
The Center for Inquiry has a great new ad as part of its ‘Living Without Religion’ campaign.
When Muslim congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) was elected in 2006, some people were outraged when he said that he would take his oath of office by swearing on the Koran. Dennis Prager even urged that he should be forbidden from doing so, saying “Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.” Prager then went completely bonkers, saying that allowing Ellison to carry out his intentions would signal the end of America as we know it: “If Keith Ellison is allowed to change that, he will be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11.” [Read more…]