Councilman under fire for atheism 12/21/09 Cecil Bothwell, a member of the Unitarian Universalist church, declined to mention God in his swearing-in ceremony.
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Idiot of the Week 11/4/09 Warren sparked outrage from almost everyone outside his extremist circle when he refused to condemn Ugandan legislation that would make certain homosexual acts punishable by death
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Healthcare provision seeks to embrace prayer treatments 11/4/09 A little-noticed measure would put Christian Science healing sessions on the same footing as clinical medicine.
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Faith-Healing Parents Get 6 Months in Jail 10/6/09 A central Wisconsin couple who prayed rather than seeking medical care for their 11-year-old dying daughter were sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail and 10 years probation in the girl's death.
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Jimmy Carter talks about losing his religion..... 7/25/09 More
7/10/09 I happened to pick up a copy of the June 28th CSM and on page 22 was a full page article entitled, Ranks of Atheists grow, get organized. by Jeffrey MacDonald, Chelmsford, Mass. The jist of the article was:
1. Atheists don't like structure or rituals of any kind.
2. The ranks of non-believers is growing and new groups are springing up all the time.
3. Atheists are organizing science outings and enrolling in community service programs.
4. Dale McGowan, author of Parenting Beyond Belief: Raising Ethical, Caring Kids without Religion." says that this is a transition moment for Atheism. There are 15% of the US, declaring themselves Atheists, up from8.2% in 1990. In the first 5 months of 2009, 95 new Atheist groups have formed through meetup.com bringing the national total to 373 groups.
5. Groups are growing all over the US. says American Atheist spokesman David Silverman. Where they used to be virtually in hiding, the groups are now becoming much more visible helping with community service and participating in town parties and activities.
6. Secular Humanist, Rebecca Grieve says that Atheists are not making enough of a difference, though. They need to show thru example that Atheists are decent people.
7.In Florida, Atheists are pinoeering a new ritual: de-baptism, where Florida state director Greg McDowell has been donning a mock clerical robe and conducts services where family and friends come to watch the baptized renounce their baptisms. Instead of holy water, they use blow-dryers, culminating the services in De-Baptismal Certificates. Then they ask churches to remove the names of the de-baptized from baptismal rolls.
It was a pleasant article and was in no way judgemental or negative to Atheism. It was written just as a newspaper article would be written, with no opinion as to Atheism being right or wrong.
Toothpick Acupuncture Works Just Fine. 6/10/09
Acupuncture research keeps showing that the ancient practice relieves pain, and yet scientists become more and more mystified by just how it works.
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Dr, Tiller was assassinated in his church, where he was an usher, by a man with a Jesus Fish on his car.6/1/09
DUBLIN The suspect in custody for the slaying of Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller was a member of an anti-government group in the 1990s and a staunch opponent of abortion More
Catholic Church shamed by Irish abuse report 5/20/09
DUBLIN After a nine-year investigation, a commission published a damning report Wednesday on decades of rapes, humiliation and beatings at Catholic Church-run reform schools for Ireland's castaway children.
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Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible 5/15/09
He says he's not trying to destroy your faith. He's not trying to bash the Bible. And, though his mother no longer talks to him about religion, Ehrman says some of his best friends are Christian.
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Is religion a threat to rationality and science? 5/13/09
SANTA ANA A Mission Viejo high school history teacher violated the First Amendment by disparaging Christians during a classroom lecture, a federal judge ruled today.
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High school teacher's anti-Creationism comment violated law 5/4/09
If religion isn't the greatest threat to rationality and scientific progress, what is? Perhaps alcohol, or television, or addictive video games. But although each of these scourges - mixed blessings, in fact - has the power to overwhelm our best judgment and cloud our critical faculties, religion has a feature of that none of them can boast: it doesn't just disable, it honours the disability. People are revered for their capacity to live in a dream world, to shield their minds from factual knowledge and make the major decisions of their lives by consulting voices in their heads that they call forth by rituals designed to intoxicate them
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Orange County Atheists show has expanded! 4/30/09
Our show is now in Westminster, Stanton, Garden Grove, Midway City, Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley
on the public access station on Fridays at 2:30 pm and at 8:30 pm on channel 6 - Times Warner Cable.
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Survey: Support for terror suspect torture differs among the faithful 4/29/09
The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according
to a new survey. More
Researchers find common genetic variations in autistic people 4/29/09
Findings show that many autistic people have a deviation in a portion of their DNA that affects the way brain cells connect with one another. The discovery may lead to treatments. More
The Devangelist Group , 4/27/09
If they are the Evangelists, we are the De-Evangelists. Our purpose is to hold functions and events that spread the word of common sense, free thinking, & the ability to disprove many outdated religious beliefs.
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More Atheists Shout It From the Rooftops, 4/27/09
Parents were coming out of the woodwork asking for family-oriented programs where they could meet like-minded nonbelievers.
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John McCain's Campaign Manager Backs Gay Marriage, Opposes GOP as 'Religious Party' , 4/23/09
the campaign manager for the 2008 Republican presidential nominee delivered a speech warning the GOP against becoming a "religious party." More
Columnist wrong about religion for kids, 4/22/09
Religion is not good for kids because it teaches them to believe extraordinary claims without compelling evidence. It teaches them to believe without questioning. It stunts critical and analytical thought. It instills an us vs. them attitude. It leads to regarding non-believers or people of other religious beliefs as bad, as morally inferior, as hell- bound. Such an attitude is axiomatically immoral. It is wrong. It is stupid. It is dogma More
Porn in the USA: Conservatives are biggest consumers 4/11/09
Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds.
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America becoming less Christian, survey finds
CNN) -- America is a less Christian nation than it was 20 years ago, and Christianity is not losing out to other religions, but primarily to a rejection of religion altogether, a survey published Monday found. More
American Religious Identification Survey 2008
ARIS 2008 questioned 54,461 adults in either English or Spanish. With a margin of error of less than 0.5 percent, it provides the only complete portrait of how contemporary Americans identify themselves religiously, and how that self-identification has changed over the past generation.
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Scientology 'Faith Healing?"
Well here's the latest "Tech" of the late L. Ron Hubbard being practiced on a patient. It seems that their methods change all the time. It used to be that when someone was hurt by something, his/her body part just needed to be touched by that object to feel better (see attached picture, where the lady being made better by touching the metal after slamming a car door frame on her hand) Try it at home !
Instead, Touch Assist is now some kind of finger fluff massage (but don't call it a massage ! You need a license for that !). Note the technique how they first repel all the bad stuff downwards only to bring it right back up again. Must confuse the body theathans to expel the body.
At least, it's got to be better than "Therapeutic Touch" where there is no touching !
http://www.vimeo.com/3535947
Atheists United is proud to be among the first organizations to join as a plaintiff in Newdow vs.
Robertswhich seeks to remove references to religion from the Presidential Inauguration ceremony. Michael Newdow is looking for 1000 new plaintiffs in the case. If you are interested in becoming one of them, click here to sign up:
http://1000plaintiffsfornewdowvroberts.blogspot.com/
Bill to Repeal Anti-Atheist Provision in Arkansas Constitution
Posted on: February 18, 2009 9:23 AM, by Ed Brayton
Rep. Richard Carroll has submitted a bill to repeal Art. 19, Sec. 1 of the Arkansas state constitution, which currently says:
"No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court."
Carroll's bill seeks to put a referendum on the ballot to repeal that language. This language cannot be enforced, of course. Under Torcaso v Watkins, it is clearly unconstitutional. But I'd be willing to wager that one of two things will happen: either the legislature will refuse to pass the bill and put it on the ballot, or it will go on the ballot and the voters of Arkansas will reject it.
Why? Because I bet there are enough people in that state who still favor such an idiotic law and want it to exist even if it can't be enforced. It's a symbol of their belief in their own superiority to those evil Godless heathens. This will be interesting to watch. Anyone wanna take that bet?
http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/02/
bill_to_repeal_anti-atheist_pr.php/
'Praise Darwin' sign in Dover: Creationism proponents have not 'moved on'
2009 - In the Feb. 4 edition of The York Dispatch, Larry Hicks wrote an opinion column concerning the Freedom From Religion Foundation's newly erected "Praise Darwin" billboard in Dover. While I agree with Hicks that both sides of the Evolution/Creationism (or Intelligent Design ... same thing) debate tend to get a bit touchy about opposing views and freedom of speech, there are a number of common misconceptions perpetuated in his editorial that I would like to clarify.
http://yorkdispatch.inyork.com/yd/viewpoints/oped/ci_11644074
"Imagine No Religion" Billboards Go Up in San Francisco
1-5-08 The Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has taken its national billboard campaign to San Francisco, posting colorful
"Imagine No Religion" billboards employing a stained-glass window motif, at three downtown locations: Broadway by Polk, Van Ness by Pacific and 9th by Folsom.
http://ffrf.org/news/
