Bible-Thumping Pastor Believes Women Shouldn’t Interfere with ‘God’s Will’ In Pregnancy—Except His Own Wife

The Pill is destroying America, making women into idle lazy tattlers and gossips, according to Arizona Baptist pastor Steven Anderson. His bottom line: Feminism, coupled with birth control, gives a woman the power to decide when to have children, allowing her to pursue other interests: “You know, my main goal is to go to college, and to graduate from college, and I’m going to be a lawyer and I’m going to be a doctor and I’m going to be a marine biologist.” Now, you may think that doesn’t sound idle or lazy at all. You may think it sounds good. But it’s actually bad, bad, bad. A woman who isn’t “busy about having children” gets into “sin!” [Read more]

Sam Harris Interviews Ayaan Hirsi Ali

In “Lifting the Veil of “Islamophobia“” Ayaan Hirsi Ali clarifies misconceptions of her past and politics. “When I arrived in the Netherlands, in 1992, I misrepresented the year of my birth at my intake interview. I said I was born in 1967, but I was born in 1969. I also changed my grandfather’s name. In many tribal societies, instead of a surname you have a string of names—I am Ayaan; my father is Hirsi; and my father’s father, when he was born, was named Ali. But later on, when he grew up and became a warrior, he was called Magan (Somali for “protection” or “refuge”), because he protected some of the peoples whom he conquered.” [Read more]

Talking to those Freaking Out over Abortion Coat Hanger Symbol

Catholics and most Protestant religions claim an instrument of torture, the cross, as the perfect symbol for their religion. Yet they demand that another instrument of torture they created by their demanding love of the fetus the coat hanger is evil. “I honestly can’t believe that someone would celebrate the destruction of babies (boys, and YES millions of girls) as a fashion statement for feminists,” Palin wrote in a blog post. “You know the phrase ‘they wear their heart of their sleeves?’ Well, I guess DC feminists love to wear death on their necks.” “This is either a very sick parody or a sad reality,” tweeted Mike Warren, a staff writer at the Weekly Standard. [Read more]

Pope Francis Pees on Nuns

Once again proving our new pope puppy Francis acts friendly but pees on you when picked up Maureen Dowd sees the “malice towards nuns” within. Yep, those nuns just don’t get it. They keeping work on social justice issues, helping people, making even Buddhism look like a narcissistic belly-gazing boys club. Clearly, these women aren’t Christian. Clearly Vatican II really was a mistaken liberalization of women. The pope is proving true the adage that sexism is the last frontier of human rights–don’t even dream of animal rights much less planetary rights. Whether the male rights activist block in the atheists or the Catholics or the Protestants or the Buddhists or the Hindi or the Muslim it’s certain the women are still being bashed around with astounding consistency and breadth. [Read more]

Toasted Cheese Virgin Mary Attends TAM

Skeptics often bemoan the popularity of the paranormal. There are ghost hunting shows, Bigfoot hunting shows and UFO/alien hunting shows. For every paranormal show on TV I am guessing there are 10 in development. I have to admit to watching some of these shows, if just to gain insight into the mind of the believers. Some skeptics may claim they don’t pay attention to these paranormal stories. However, I remember one of the biggest celebrities I “met” at TAM (the Amazing Meeting). I was in the hallway when I noticed a crowd of people surrounding Joe Nickell. I thought “I know Joe is popular, but he’s been here the entire time. I wonder who is there with him?” [Read more]

Why Are Religions Obsessed with Sex?

If a person were to read a religious text such as the bible or Qur’an with no preconception of what the books contained or what the religions that are based on these texts are like, you could be forgiven for thinking that, apart from praising god or Allah, the most important thing to people on earth is control over sex. [Read more]

Christian Leaders Urge South Sudanese Not to Miss Peace Chance

Church leaders who were part of the negotiations between South Sudan’s warring leaders, President Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar, are urging a peace agreement they signed come into immediate effect. Peace would end a five-month conflict in the world’s newest country. The peace agreement was signed by Kiir and Machar on May 10 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The World Council of Churches which was involved in mediating the pact said Monday, “The situation remains volatile until the truce actually takes effect on the ground.” [Read more]

Cal Thomas: God Save Town Councils Everywhere

Ever since the Supreme Court ruled organized prayer and Bible study in public schools unconstitutional in the early 1960s, conservative Christians have been trying to re-enter the secular arena. Take Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971). The case, The New York Times wrote last year, “…challenged a 1968 Pennsylvania law that reimbursed religious schools for some expenses, including teachers’ salaries and textbooks, so long as they related to instruction on secular subjects also taught in the public schools. [Read more]

Erroneous Assumptions of Religiosity

We know most folks on the planet are religious in one degree or another. And, we also know that most atheists were—at some time in their respective lives—indoctrinated, as are most youth, with some form of magic-based explanation of life’s origins; an arbitrary moralistic code based upon terrorism and extortion; and systematic, rather than incidental, bigotry. While plenty there may be to parse in the aforementioned, today I should like to focus on a seemingly neglected Truth in the discussion of occultist propaganda … what is quite possibly the second-most erroneous of assumptions conceived, shared and promoted by magic-worshipers: the title of “Atheist.” (The most erroneous assumption is that there can be no objective moral standard without aid of a magical being.) [Read more]

Hip-Hop and Worldwide Muslim Youth Culture: Musical Ties and the Reaction of Governments

The study of American Muslims has too often centered on immigrant assimilation, though a growing recognition of the deeply embedded Muslim presence in American history and culture is expanding the field. In “Rebel Music,” Hisham D. Aidi explores the significance of music for transnational Muslim consciousness, asking his own question: What happens when American musical traditions, infused with the unique history of American Islam as a voice of resistance, find new audiences in Muslim-majority societies? In this important work, he pays special attention to how governments around the world react to the political content of popular music. Despite some weaknesses, “Rebel Music” starts a crucial conversation for anyone interested in hip-hop internationalism, Muslim youth cultures and state interventions in religion. [Read more]

A Journey to Intellectual Honesty

I’ve enjoyed this website for a couple of years and greatly appreciate the stories and insights shared by other ex-Christians. I’m finally ready to tell my story. Following, is an abbreviated version of my journey out of religion. I could elaborate on any part, but for now will simply provide the big picture. Thanks in advance for ‘listening’. It feels good to share! My background is similar to so many who have posted on this site. I was raised in a fundamentalist evangelical home with loving parents. [Read more]

‘We Have Jesus, We’re Content, We Don’t Need a TV Show Although We Would Love One,’ Say Benham Brothers; Will Still Help Families Without HGTV

Embattled Christian twin brothers David and Jason Benham said they were “content” in Christ a day after the Home & Garden Television (HGTV) network announced Wednesday that they have “decided not to move forward” with their scheduled reality show called “Flip It Forward” after news broke about their conservative views on homosexuality, abortion and divorce. “Jason and I are content. You know [why] we’re content. [Read more]

VA Official: Non-Christian Public Prayer Violates My Rights ‘Because I Don’t Believe That’

The recent Greece v. Galloway Supreme Court decision, which affirmed the right of groups to offer sectarian prayer at religious meetings has caused quite a stir. Not only has it smashed a gaping hole through the wall between church and state, but it has opened the door to non-Christian groups offering said prayers.



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US Evangelicals (Still) Exporting Homophobia

MassResistance, an anti-gay organization based in Massachusetts, is bragging about its work with anti-gay activists in Hong Kong, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia, notes blogger Jeremy Hooper. We reported in January that Camenker had participated in an anti-gay conference in Jamaica, where he warned against a repeal in the colonial-era “buggery law,” saying, “a law that contradicts God’s law is the beginning of a slippery slope that you cannot imagine.” [Read more]

The Compatibility of Humanism and Being ‘Spiritual’

I used to be a very spiritual person. I considered myself to be a Buddhist, believed in God (in a deistic kind of way) and meditated a lot. Now I’m a secular humanist. I reject the idea of God as possible or even knowable. I also find religion to be unhealthy and unnecessary for anything vital to human existence (with a few exceptions in the present). [Read more]

LCWR Nuns Respond, Acknowledge Severity of Vatican Mistrust

In a statement released yesterday evening, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious made their most forthright acknowledgement to date of the level of tension that exists between the conference and their Vatican overseers at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. [Read more]

Bible Curriculum Wins as Part of Evangelization Push

Steve Green’s faith led him to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he’s argued the nation’s new health care law and its requirement that his business provide certain types of birth control to employees violates his religious freedoms. [Read more]

Irony Is Dead – Catholics Demand Exorcism Because of Fears of Superstition

Apparently there has been a 6 day long meeting in Rome about the need for exorcists. Because of an increased need to bust ghosts. The claim is that the decline of religious belief in the West and the growth of secularism has “opened the window” to black magic, Satanism and belief in the occult, the organisers of a conference on exorcism have said. Meaning? Secular people aren’t letting us burn witches! [Read more]

BSU Promotes Controversial Prof

Ball State University has promoted assistant professor Eric Hedin, who was at the center of a science vs. intelligent design controversy last year, to associate professor, a giant step toward tenure. Coupled with the positive outcome of a meeting between BSU officials and conservative state lawmakers, the university now might be able to put the debate to rest. [Read more]

Americans United To Launch “Operation Inclusion” After SCOTUS Prayer Decision

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State will announce tomorrow that it is launching “Operation Inclusion,” following efforts by some local government officials to interpret last week’s Supreme Court decision in Greece v. Galloway to permit them to sponsor Christian-only prayer at government meetings. [Read more]

Surprise: Pope Francis Believes in Satan and Demons

Whenever someone claims that the Catholic Church is down with science because it accepts evolution, I remind them that: 1. The Church accepts theistic evolution, with human exceptionalism, so that humans are the unique species into whose lineage God inserted a soul. [Read more]