De-Baptising Ceremonies? Srsly?

I don’t get it. According to USA Today the idea seems to catching on.

A Brilliant Take On Pareidolia

This is excellent:

Another Reason Not To Like The Yankees

Not content with inflicting that detestable “Gob Bless America” on their fans, they have to chain the exits so folks can’t leave while the dreck is being sung:

Crackers and Chocolate Jesus: What a Difference A Year Makes

The Cracker kerfluffle reminded me of the the Chocolate Jesus affair. In each case Bill Donohue played a prominent role.

Illinois and the Mandatory Moment of Silence: Playing Games with Legislation

You may have noticed the red “A” on the sidebar of my blog. I am, of course an atheist. I tend to lean towards the militant side of the atheist family, although I am a lot less feisty about it than some, but more than others. At any rate, it is a subject I have [...]

Framing Things Correctly: What Should PZ Have Done?

This NPR story comes at a perfect time given the current discussion over framing. Although ostensibly about rumors, the story makes several good points that can be applied to the current “troubles”.

The Fallacy of the Excluded Middle: A Response to Mooney and Nisbet

There have been a wide variety of responses to the PZ incident. Quite a large number of us a busy laughing at the irony of it. There has been some criticism, for example see here, here, here, here, and here. The critics argue that we are playing into the creationists hands by providing free publicity [...]

I Find Mitt Romney Deeply Disturbing

Consider this exchange on Meet the Press:

Mitt Says Atheists Can Still Be Free People: Lucky Us

Lucky us we won’t be denied our freedom if he gets elected president. On the other hand, apparently the Constitution was written for people of faith and religion and not for us atheists. So, although we can be free we have no constitutional rights, or something, it’s all very vague and defensive. So I will [...]

The Simpsons and Religion

Last nights episode had Homer and Bart converting to Catholicism. Marge, at one point, kidnaps Bart to try and show him that Protestants can have fun too. Says Homer “why does she always interfere with my occassional interest in my children” and wants to know why he can choose his own faith. Lisa chimes in [...]

Religion in Public Life

Via Abnormal Interests comes this interesting commentary on religion in public life. A snippet to tide you over: All the state can do is hold on to secular values. It can encourage the moderate but it must not appease religion. The constitutional absurdity of an established church once seemed an irrelevance, but now it obliges [...]

Just When I Thought the Pandering Couldn’t Get Any Worse!

20/20 is devoting a full hour to the resurection of Jesus Christ! From the webpage: Sometime between the year 30 and 33 of the first century, a young Jewish preacher named Jesus of Nazareth was crucified in Jerusalem. It was a brutal and humiliating death that should have ended his tiny movement right there. And [...]

Damn! It’s Worse Than I Thought: Or Will NBC Please Quit Pandering to the Christian Extremists?

NBC, the network that brought us a news report on “Faith Based” theme parks has decided to pander to the christian extremists mentioned in my last post. Follow the link to get the story.Great catch Dharma Buns!

House Bill 35 Update

I Recently wrote to my representitve (Michael Corcoran) in the Missouri House expressing my opposition to HB 35. Mr. Cocoran’s response was very encouraging. Mr. Corcoran opposes this bill (as well as HB 34, both introduced by Cynthia Davis)and doesn’t think the bill will get a hearing before the House Education Committee. According to Corcoran [...]

Evolving Thoughts

Evolving ThoughtsChristian math This is fun: American school redefines mathematical paradigm [The Rockall Times]. School principal Joel Riedel explained to The Rockall Times: “As Christians we believe in the concept of the Trinity and this implies that the numbers one and three are equivalent. So technically, if you add one and one together you’re actually [...]