NCSE webinar, “Talking to the media about science education,” tomorrow, February 27, at 11:00 PST. You may register here or view the webinar, along with earlier webinars, here. According to NCSE’s announcement, The panel will include: Robert Luhn, Director of Communications for NCSE; Liz Craig, a freelance writer and board member with Kansas Citizens for Science, and David Wescott, director of digital strategy at APCO Worldwide. Luhn leads NCSE’s media outreach efforts, and has been... Matt Young http://www.mines.edu/~mmyoung

Yes, Atheism and Conservatism Are Compatible
National Review Online (blog)
The invitation extended by the ACU, Al Cardenas and CPAC to American Atheists to have a booth is more than an attack on conservative principles. It is an attack on God Himself. American Atheists is an organization devoted to the hatred of God. How on ...

They’re much simpler than I expected.

vran

That’s not good news. The good news will be “I’m at #scio14“, because I’ve got a lot of traveling ahead of me. And it’s been one of those days that I always dread: the day I have to return tests in genetics. I write hard tests…well, not really that hard conceptually, but I avoid questions of a form that allows them to be answered with rote execution of a formula, which means that students who are struggling to understand often end up taking weird detours in their answers, and do poorly. And then there’s the usual bimodal grade distribution of a class that emphasizes logic and methodology; some find it trivial, others just freak out. Everyone is miserable, and it makes lecturing no fun at all.

But I can’t do otherwise. I’ll throw more practice problems at them, and drill them through the process over and over again, and usually, most of them will make it through to the end.

Anyway, now I’m off to the airport. Long drive, long night, get into Raleigh-Durham sometime tomorrow. Then I have to be the student for a few days and learn.

I hope there isn’t an exam at the end.

Christian Post
Atheist Group Sues to Remove 40-Foot Tall Cross From Gov't Property in Maryland
Christian Post
An atheist group has filed a lawsuit against a Maryland government agency over the placement of a 40-foot cross on government property. The American Humanist Association filed suit Tuesday in the United States District Court for the District of ...

News roundup: Atheist group bumped from conservative gathering
Salt Lake Tribune (blog)
Officials cancel atheists' plans to join conservative gathering. Swallow, Shurtleff probe could be 3-6 months more. Senate GOP has own Medicaid plan. Happy Wednesday. The American Atheists -- who are holding their national convention in Salt Lake City ...

and more »

Claire Trageser | NPR | February 26th, 2014, 7:28am
89.3 KPCC
The San Diego Coalition of Reason opened this booth to support the atheist community and to evangelize nonbelief to religious people. Jim Eliason, one of the coalition's members, says they've actually had de-conversions at the booth — but with people ...

and more »

Non-Believers Keep Out: CPAC Organizers Rescind Invitation to Atheist Group
In The Capital
The American Atheists, a nonprofit that supports civil rights for atheists, was supposed to have an informational booth set up at the weekend long conference. CPAC spokesperson Meghan Snyder, however, rescinded that invitation in an email, writing, ...

NPR
Ardent Atheists Spread Their Reverence For Disbelief
NPR
The San Diego Coalition of Reason opened this booth to support the atheist community and to evangelize nonbelief to religious people. Jim Eliason, one of the coalition's members, says they've actually had de-conversions at the booth — but with people ...

and more »

CPAC Bans Atheist Group From Conference Right After Saying It Could Attend
Huffington Post
The announcement immediately sparked outrage among many conservatives and by Tuesday, American Atheists spokesman David Silverman confirmed the group had been removed from the conference. Silverman called the reversal "a very disappointing ...

Conservative Atheists Speak Up About CPAC Shunning
The American Conservative
That may have been the response that Dave Silverman, president of the American Atheists was hoping for, when he told CNN that “The Christian right should be threatened by us.” But, as he explained to TAC, Silverman's goal wasn't to attack the ...

May I just say that there aren’t any large multicellular animals that stand a chance against human technology — they are intrinsically fragile — which makes the fear of this creature rather unbelievable. I’m much more terrified of microorganisms.

Also, Bryan Cranston doesn’t look a thing like Raymond Burr.

But I might actually enjoy this movie anyway.

Just today I mentioned that American Atheists were going to have a booth at CPAC, which prompted many of you to say that you’d rather atheists didn’t attempt to recruit from that mob of sanctimonious assholes. You didn’t have to worry. CPAC had their own idea.

On Tuesday, American Atheists President David Silverman received a phone call from American Conservative Union Executive Director Dan Schneider informing him that the ACU board is breaking its agreement to permit American Atheists to host an information booth at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), March 6-8.

They’ve been kicked out, even before the convention started.

The conservatives cited Silverman’s “tone” as a problem, to which Dave makes the perfect reply:

Silverman repudiated Schneider’s assertion: “This is exactly the problem. The ACU, which has invited CPAC speakers such as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Sarah Palin, is afraid of my tone? My ‘tone’ was clearly an excuse to back out after our press release angered religious conservatives.”

This is actually the best possible result. We aren’t at risk of tainting atheism with any more of those jerks, and American Atheists has effectively highlighted their intolerance. Win win!

I just got back from our Cafe Scientifique meeting, and it was a fabulous success: attendance was over 60 (which is why I’m glad you couldn’t make it — it was standing room only as it was) and we had a good representative sampling of the Morris community.

I don’t know what the secret of drawing everyone in was. We did make much flashier signs this month, but also the topic might have been it: Carrie Eberle from the USDA lab in town gave a talk on foraging crops for bees that hit the sweet spot in appealing to farmers, gardeners, science people, and everyone who likes honey. And it was a very good talk.

Please, must I really feel sympathy for bullies?

I can muster up pity, but sympathy is out of my reach so far.

Christian Post
Ten Commandments Deny Religious Freedom, Atheist Says
Christian Post
An atheist attacked the Ten Commandments as an abrogation of freedom, declaring that America's laws are not based on this Judeo-Christian source. He made these comments denouncing a bill to support public appearances of the Ten Commandments, ...

and more »

CPAC drops atheist group after backlash
MSNBC
First gays, now atheists. The list of groups not welcome at conservative gathering CPAC, a traditional showcase for national Republican stars, is growing by the day. The American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC, announced on Tuesday that they ...

Atheists group blocked from CPAC
Washington Post (blog)
On Tuesday, an atheist advocacy group heralded its participation in conservative super-gathering CPAC in March, only to be booted hours later after howls from conservative Christians and a taunt from the atheist group's president that "the Christian ...

Atheist Booth Approved for CPAC, Then Yanked by ACU Hours Later
PJ Media
“'Conservative' isn't a synonym for 'religious',” said American Atheists president David Silverman in a statement announcing the booth. “In fact, a fifth of conservatives seldom or never pray, and the same number state religion is not important in ...

Jack Burkman is a lobbyist who is trying to get a congressperson to support his idea of a good law: one that would ban gay people from being in the National Football League. It doesn’t sound constitutional, and although it wouldn’t surprise me if some of our congressvermin wouldn’t approve, it’s so toxic that I’d be surprised if they wanted to touch it. But it’s still a bizarre peak into the mind of a homophobe.

We are losing our decency as a nation, Burkman said in a statement. Imagine your son being forced to shower with a gay man. That’s a horrifying prospect for every mom in the country. What in the world has this nation come to?

I should call up my mom and ask her. I took showers in high school with every guy in my PE class; not only am I statistically confident that some were gay, I knew specifically that some were. I was unconcerned. They never caused me any trouble or embarrassment, but you know who did? The aggressively macho asshole of a coach who would stroll through the shower area and make comments on the size of the kids’ penises, or how much pubic hair they had. That guy was loudly heterosexual, and a real perv. There were also more than a few towel-snapping swaggering jocks who would disparage us nerds, but it is unimaginable that any of the gay kids would do anything but shower up and get out as quickly as possible.

I suspect my mom would be more horrified by that story than about the nice young man who respected his fellow students.

If the NFL has no morals and no values, then Congress must find values for it, Burkman said.

I hate to defend the morals of an organization that profits on traumatic brain injury to men, but…I think Burkman’s “morality” would only make the NFL worse.

Some people are speculating that this is just obnoxious noise to stir up interest in his lobbying firm, JM Burkman & Associates, which signed up 70 new clients last year, as the article at the link discloses. I would hope that those clients would only see that Burkman is poison to work with, and drop his firm immediately.

But my hope is tenuous and unlikely to be fulfilled.