Atheist Group Seeks to Give Invocation at Texas City Council Meeting

An atheist organization has sent a request to a Texas city asking to give an invocation at their next council meeting. In response to the recent Supreme Court decision Town of Greece vs. Galloway, which ruled that town meetings could be opened with sectarian prayers, Metroplex Atheists Rowlett have asked the Rowlett City Council to give the invocation prayer at their next meeting. [Read more]

Creation Museum To Exhibit Dinosaur Skeleton That’s Proof Of The Flood

The Creation Museum in Kentucky is the gift that keeps on giving. I’ve twice in recent months written about some of the bizarre things that are taught there, and now? They’ve unveiled plans to exhibit a dinosaur skeleton that they claim will prove the Biblical account of creation. [Read more]

Pope Francis Meets Abuse Victims, Begs Forgiveness for Church

Pope Francis begged forgiveness for the Church on Monday and cited the need for “reparation” as he met with victims who had suffered at the hands of Roman Catholic priests. [Read more]

Abuse Victim Calls Meeting Pope Francis a ‘Life Changing Experience’

From the age of 8 until he was 13, Peter Saunders was sexually abused by a member of his family, a lay teacher, and two priests of the Catholic school he attended. Growing up in a devout Catholic home, it was especially difficult for Saunders to cope with the shame, which may be part of the reason it took him 24 years to acknowledge what had happened. [Read more]

Paul Krugman: Here’s a New One—Faith-Based Economic Denialism

Paul Krugman makes it abundantly clear in Monday’s column that denialism about factual things like climate change, evolution and plain facts about monetary policy are not so much a problem of ignorance, but more akin to religious dogma. [Read more]

Women Left To Die In Jesus’s Name — Amen

In the last few years, we have heard more and more about abortion. In addition to the abortion propaganda, we have heard how abortion should once again be illegal because of the hordes of sex crazed women will use it as a birth control method. [Read more]

Pastor Claims God Will Make Good Emerge Out Of Disasters

“Bring it on,” is what Terry Makelin, pastor of St John’s Lutheran Church in Nebraska, had to say about earthly trial and tragedies like the one that ripped through his town in the form of twin tornadoes earlier in June. “Satan and the world can throw whatever they want at us, but even if we die, this is all in Christ’s hands,” said Makelin. [Read more]

Egyptian Christian Sentenced For Contempt Of Islam

A Christian man in Egypt was sentenced to six years in prison and charged a fine of 6,000 EGP for contempt of Islam. The ruling was handed down on June 24 to Kerolos Shawky though his lawyers seem hopeful that the conviction will be reviewed. [Read more]

Taking on Hobby Lobby After Turning Away From a Religious Past

There are many ways a high school senior might decide on a college: cost, what majors are offered, a decent football team, a really rocking Greek system. But when Sarah Jones was in high school in rural Bristol, Va., she was moved by other criteria. [Read more]

This is a Religious Civil War: Hobby Lobby Only the Beginning for New Religious Theocrats

The United States is still a democratic republic, formally, but what that actually means in practice is increasingly in doubt — and the Hobby Lobby ruling, deeply disingenuous and sharply at odds with centuries of Anglo-American law, exemplifies how that formal reality is increasingly mocked in practice. [Read more]

‘No Gods—No Masters’: NY Times Runs Outrageous Atheist Propaganda Ad in Hobby Lobby Wake

“No gods—no masters” reads a full-page ad attacking the Hobby Lobby decision by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, in the same newspaper that once banned an ad for being anti-Muslim: the New York Times. [Read more]

Hobby Lobby Case Sparks Debate Over Religious Freedom Law

Despite calls to repeal the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, commonly known as RFRA, the bill’s original sponsors in Congress remain opposed to changing the landmark religious liberty bill. [Read more]

Secular Invocation Delivered in Groveland, Florida

Last night, Paul Tjaden delivered a secular invocation at a meeting of the Groveland City Council (in Florida). Tjaden, who will also be delivering an invocation in Lake County this August, is a member of the Central Florida Freethought Community, a group that’s organizing several more secular invocations all over the state. [Read more]

Freethinkers Hold Annual Independence Day Gathering

Talladega County is known for a few things, most notably the NASCAR track that shares its name with the county, along with the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind and Honda Manufacturing, among a few others. But another Talladega attraction is not quite so well known. [Read more]

Baptist Pastor Jay Strickland Accused of Sexual Abuse and Sodomy

Jay Strickland, administrative pastor of Sharon Heights Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was arrested on charges of sexual abuse and sodomy. Strickland is accused of sexually abusing two people, who were minors at the time of the abuse. [Read more]

25 Life Changing Lessons to Learn from Buddha

“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” ~ Buddha

There are so many beautiful, powerful and life changing lessons I have learned from studying Buddhism and from reading many of Buddha’s quotes. And today I want to share 25 of these beautiful lessons with you.

Here are 25 Life Changing Lessons from Buddha: [See them]

Detroit Man Admits to Burning Qurans

A man born in Iraq who says he has a history of psychological problems has admitted to burning Qurans in a Detroit suburb on three separate occasions over the past month. [Read more]

Buddhist Monks Face Jail Time For July 4 Fireworks Display

Albuquerque, N.M., imposed strict restrictions on fireworks displays. The monks say they didn’t know about the ban since they don’t watch TV, listen to the radio or read the news. [Download MP3]

Families of Slain Israeli and Palestinian Teens Turn to Each Other for Comfort

The families of murdered Israeli teen Naftali Fraenkel and murdered Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khdeir are drawing comfort from an unexpected source: each other.[Read more]

Stanley Hauerwas Reflects on End Times, End of His Life

As his hair grays and thins, Stanley Hauerwas thinks a lot more about the end. Not just the end of his life—though he ponders that, too—but also the end times. [Read more]

Do Atheists Want to Turn America Into an Atheist Nation?

I do not know of any atheists who are working to turn the United States into an atheist nation. I do know a number of atheists who are working very hard to stop theocrats from turning the United States into a Christian nation. Most atheists want neutrality. Theocrats want authority, domination, and control. [Read more]

Legal Battle Over North Carolina Town’s Sectarian War Memorial To Go To Trial

A dispute over a Christian war memorial in the city of King, N.C., deserves to go to trial, a federal court has ruled. The court also ruled that several of the city’s practices with respect to religious memorial ceremonies violate the separation of church and state. [Read more]

Even If They Worked for Businesses That Had Religious Objections

The NY Times reports on this new bill, which (of course) preserves all the exemptions Obama already gave away to the god-botherers. I hate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. [Read more]