Some time ago I wrote about cereal maker General Mills coming out in support of same sex marriage. Their policy resulted in a protest demonstration in front of their corporate offices, where people were asked to empty their kitchens of all their GM foodstuffs and bring them to the protest site, where it would be collected and donated to food banks and shelters. [Read more…]
Via Pharyngula, I came across this article by Ian Murphy naming the five most awful atheists. Who are they? [Read more…]
As sure as sunrise follows sunset, any tragedy that captures the public’s attention, such as the Aurora shootings, will be followed by thumb sucking articles posing the question “Where was god?” and then using up a thousand words to essentially say, “Hell if I know, but you must keep believing anyway.” [Read more…]
Given the decades of conflict between Arabs and Israelis, it is perhaps not surprising, though still regrettable, that young people will grow up with racist attitudes towards those they perceive as ‘the other’. A new survey of attitudes among Israeli Jewish high schools shows a disturbing level of bigotry towards Israeli Arabs and that religion, rather than being a force for good and a driver towards peaceful coexistence as its supporters like to claim, only accentuates those attitudes. [Read more…]
Caspar Melville, the editor of The New Humanist, has a fascinating interview in the May/June 2012 issue with Richard Holloway, the retired Bishop of Edinburgh, which reinforces the point that I have been plugging away at for years, that there is good reason to suppose that there is a great deal of nonbelief among clergy, with the level of skepticism and disbelief rising with rank. [Read more…]
Israeli president Shimon Peres had to cancel his trip to the Olympics to attend the opening ceremony. Why? Because according to the rules of Orthodox Judaism, one is not allowed to travel by car on the Sabbath. He could only attend only if he could stay at the Olympic Village so that he could walk to the ceremony and back but the authorities would not allow it. What is interesting is that Peres himself is supposedly not Orthodox or even particularly observant but seems to feel obliged to show deference to the religious. [Read more…]
News reports say that the Democratic party platform committee has unanimously endorsed same-sex marriage. This reflects the fact that a new Pew poll finds two-thirds of self-identified Democrats support this position. [Read more…]
Samantha Bee interviews the head of the organization of American Catholic nuns that has earned the ire of Papa Ratzi for their emphasis on helping the poor instead of focusing their efforts on the things the Vatican considers far more important, like upholding the church’s doctrine against contraception and abortion and same sex marriage. [Read more…]
Pakistan is a country that seems to be standing at the intersection of secular and religious currents. One leads to a modern state that could become a powerful force in science, technology, and commerce. The other leads to a backward looking theocracy. Although modernism will eventually win out, as it always does, the signs are not hopeful in the short run. There are many signs that the craven political leadership is giving in to the clerics and religious fanatics. [Read more…]
Reader Mark of the Cleveland Freethinkers has asked me to try and rally support for Atheist Alliance International’s new scholarship fund for imprisoned Indonesian Alexander Aan who was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and a fine equivalent to US $10,600 essentially for denying the existence of god on his Facebook page. The news report says that “Ana [sic] was accused of writing ‘God doesn’t exist,’ and posting links to explicit cartons showing the Prophet Mohammed having sex with a maid, and being sexually attracted to his daughter-in-law.” [Read more…]