Library, park department refuse to cash $3000 check from atheist
KRMG
The story took a turn when blogger Hemant Mehta, whose blog is called "The Friendly Atheist," solicited donations from his readers to give the Parks District. But after raising $3,044.66 and mailing the check to the Parks District on November 12, he ...

Here's a Christmas Carol — With an Atheist Twist
TheBlaze.com
Related: Atheism,; Christianity,; Christmas,; Poll,; Video. Comedian, actor and musician Tim Minchin's “White Wine in the Sun” is not your traditional Christmas tune. That's because his “sentimental song about Christmas” comes with an atheist spin.

Raif Badawi has already been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes, and now he has been recommended to be be brought before a high court on a crime that carries the death penalty. All for having a remarkable resemblance to Tom Hiddleston.

No, wait, it’s for an equally trivial crime: he founded a blog network that is critical of political and religious figures, he disobeyed his father (he is 31 years old), and he does not believe in god. Ed Brayton better watch out.

One of his great crimes is that he once wrote about Valentine’s Day, a prohibited holiday in Saudi Arabia.

This is what theocracy takes us to. And Saudi Arabia is one of our allies? Shouldn’t we have better taste in friends?

Here’s a petition.

How an atheist deals with Christmas
ABQ Journal
When we met, Herman handed me his business card, and when I read it, I realized I can call him not just an atheist but a card-carrying atheist. (We happened to meet, not unironically, in front of a decorated Christmas tree.) He's the director of the ...

The pope has included (nominally) atheists in his Christmas message.

He proved unpredictable again on Wednesday, when he went off script to include atheists in his call for peace, rare for a Catholic leader.

“I invite even nonbelievers to desire peace,” he said. “Let us all unite, either with prayer or with desire, but everyone, for peace.”

Speaking for myself…NO. I turn my back on this pope and any other.

I believe strongly that how you arrive at a conclusion is just as important as the conclusion itself; I care about the process, because even a flawed method will give you an answer — you just don’t know whether it is right or not. I can agree with the pope that peace is a desirable end, but I only happen to agree with him this time. I probably won’t agree with him on just about any other subject, and I can’t trust how he arrived at this mutually copacetic idea.

I also disagree on the nature of the peace he is looking for. The Catholic church desires the peace of ignorance, the peace of acquiescence, the peace of unquestioning acceptance of a dogma calibrated for fools. No, thanks. Give me the kind of peace where dissent can thrive and knowledge grows and ideas can change.

The pope can join in the quest for peace as a fellow human being, but he is not a leader and he is not representative of humanity in any way, and the media attention on his toothless pronouncements is unseemly. I also don’t want to live under a peace that allows misogyny to thrive and lets child rapists roam free and thinks fetuses are more precious than women. This pope is not my friend nor my ally.

I want to live in a world in which it is not sufficient for a clown to get a prestigious position by bowing to an arcane hierarchy, and then gets a lot of fawning friends, even among atheists who ought to know better, because he is glib about preaching platitudes. I’m not taken in by the smiling façade plastered over the goddamned Catholic Church.

Don’t forget what this man represents, even when he kisses you on the cheek, atheists.

ChicagoNow (blog)
Christians, Christmas and the Atheist down the block
ChicagoNow (blog)
Today as an atheist grandparent in Chicago I still enjoy the ChristmasHanukkahKwanzaaSolstice holidays. Always loved happy, shared holidays. So I'm all about the holidays; most assuredly not a Grinch. In fact, given I've less stress than the Martha ...

5 Atheist Politicians: Is America Ready for Faithless Leaders?
Care2.com
With 20% of Americans now claiming to have no religious affiliation, you might expect to see more atheists elected to public office. On the contrary, open atheists are almost nonexistent in the political sphere. In fact, most politician atheists seem ...

Of course the plant for today has to be a Christmas tree. A big dead tree.

This one is going to be milled into lumber and donated to Habitat for Humanity, which is nice for humanity I guess. Not so cool for the tree.

I’m pretty comfortable here, waiting for the kids to get up and open their presents, last night we had a pleasant evening with a vegan dinner with mead, and later today we’re getting on a plane and heading back home, so I’m too mellow right now to write something ferocious. For that, I recommend reading this article which I heartily endorse: Burn the Fucking System to the Ground.

I’m indulging in a little personal complacency today, but never forget: America is screwed up.

Atheist Christmas carol: There's No Christmas in Hell
Boing Boing
Sean sends us, "An atheist Christmas anthem, written by Pillow Army frontman Tim Franklin," and adds: "(Pillow Army opened for/played with Cory at a Seattle stop on a book tour a few years ago)." They certainly did. Pillow Army has since become one of ...

I’m on a search committee for a tenure track position in statistics and computer science — we’re looking for someone to teach a data science course, maybe a little bioinformatics on the side, and work with both our statistics and computer science disciplines. I’m the outside member of the committee — you know, the weirdo who isn’t steeped deeply in the culture of the disciplines and maybe is better able to provide the big picture perspective on how candidates will fit with the rest of the university — so I know next to nothing about this stuff. My eyes were crossing and my brain was breaking as I reviewed candidate applications. What I really needed was this bingo card. I think I saw all of those terms fly by as I was flipping through CVs and research and teaching statements.

@BigDataBorat

Don’t worry, I deferred to the expertise of my colleagues on all matters dealing with the details of their work.

It’s always interesting, though, to peek into the domains outside my own, and feel a little humbled at all the stuff I don’t know.

As long as we’re dealing in fantasy, we might as well improve on it.

October Jones

COMMENTARY: Send us a sign: Pitman united over atheist ad
Cherry Hill Courier Post
COMMENTARY: Send us a sign: Pitman united over atheist ad. Dec. 24, 2013 |. Comments · Tweet. Email; Print; Share. LinkedIn; Tumblr; StumbleUpon; Reddit; Del.icio.us; Digg. A; A. Battle over 'Keep Christ in Christmas' sign heats ...: Natalie DiBlasio ...

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Written by Johnny O’Coileain (Add on Facebook)

Editor, One Nation Under Nothing/Crackpot Chronicle

 

The idea that we should “respect” the beliefs of religious people is a painfully misguided notion. The thought of respect being automatic because an ideology has “religion” in the title is a pile of shit higher than any dinosaur could force out. The fact is this: any ideology should survive on its own merits; and not because the masses have an emotional attachment to a fairy tale. Respect, in this sense, is earned because the nature of the claim warrants it. 

Ideas that command respect do so because they are respectable; the merit justifies itself. Dinosaurs wearing saddles, or talking snakes with human vocal chords fluent in dead languages; these ideas taken as literal history couldn’t command respect in a lunatic asylum. Frankly, I don’t want the Saturday morning cartoons infiltrating public school history textbooks. 

But relative to religious beliefs, what should we really respect? The short answer is one’s right to believe. Human rights are inherent to the individual, while a religion isn’t extended those rights because an imaginary friend feels real. It’s a sour mistake when someone, by forceful assertion, extends individual rights to an ideology. The Bible, like a human, may be full of shit, but it isn’t capable of using the toilet. 

When a religious person demands that you respect the talking snake and virgin birth, you should kindly summon two words for them, and I don’t mean Jesus Saves. In terms of the Bible, a book, anything critical of it is a literary endeavor.

As far as the merits of it: respect isn’t commanded by totalitarianism, genocide, slavery, chauvinism,  and talking animals as an acceptable classroom science. Respect personal rights, because those belong to actual people; respect ideas, but only if they’re merited; and anything else, religious or not, goes in the intellectual trash can. 

Raw Story
Chicago-area library rejects $3000 donation from atheist blogger because he is ...
Raw Story
The trustees of the Morton Grove Library rejected a $3,000 donation from the “Friendly Atheist,” Hemant Mehta, because they believe he's “a hate group.” The controversy began when Park Commissioner Dan Ashta refused to to stand for the Pledge of ...
Atheists Raise Money for Library, Get Rejected, Branded a 'Hate Group'Mediaite

all 2 news articles »

Christian Activists Set Up Giant Banner Just So They Can Block Atheist Display
Mediaite
A secular group set up a giant red A in Chicago's Daley Plaza to make a statement about the separation of church and state, and a group of activists decided to retort by doing the Christian thing: placing a giant banner right in front of it. This led ...
Christian activists show their love by covering Chicago atheist display and ...Raw Story
Christians and Atheists Spar as 'A Is for Angels' Banner Covers 'A Is for ...Christian Post
Christian Group Obstructs Atheist Sign with 'A is for Angels' Banner (Video)Opposing Views
Martinsburg Journal
all 7 news articles »

Atheist Holiday Tree Vandalized At Rossmoor
Patch.com
A holiday tree put up by the Rossmoor Atheist and Agnostic Club has been vandalized twice this month. The "Freethought Tree of Knowledge" was put up on Dec. 14, but the display with the tree and book covers was knocked down four days later, according ...

Look at all these people celebrating a secular Christmas, if they’re celebrating at all.

• Ed Brayton learns that the creationists are looking for Orcs.

• Chris Rodda has already found one: Bill O’Reilly.

• Steven Andrew is feeling better.

• The Digital Cuttlefish gets a surprise publication.

• Reasonable Doubts covers Ham’s Ark.

• Comrade Physioproffe exposes the cruelty of the humanities.

• Deacon Duncan finds that fundies have a fondness for passing the book.

• Greta Christina really likes Christmas.

• Stephanie Zvan shares a Christmas ghost story.

• Ophelia Benson isn’t too keen on religious indoctrination.

• Jason Thibeault fixed Twitter.

• Dana Hunter has been telling wonderful stories about exploding mountains.

• The Atheist Experience has posted their last show of the year.

• Maryam Namazie has been fighting gender apartheid like a superhero.

• The Black Skeptics are raising money for a feminist humanist mentoring, leadership and social justice advocacy program for young women of color. More superheroes!

• Richard Carrier is carving William Lane Craig for Christmas.

• Mano Singham likes a holiday for the rest of us.

• Brianne Bilyeu shares scenes of December weather.

• Taslima Nasreen’s television series was cancelled before it was aired!

• Ashley Miller and her ukulele play Santa Baby.

• Cristina Rad is back!

• Aron Ra grants us all the right to believe in Santa Claus.

• Avicenna is far from home and turning to technology for companionship.

• Miri questions feminist models.

• Yemisi Ilesanmi reviews the anti-homosexuality laws in Uganda and Nigeria.

• Tauriq Moosa isn’t very happy with the reaction to Justine Sacco.

• Nirmukta wonders how much you pay your domestic worker. (Nothing! I don’t have one!)

• Kate Donovan has a hunch.

• Alex Gabriel reminisces resentfully about Oxford.

I’m hanging out with family. This is my kind of Christmas.

So what are you doing today and tomorrow?

Christian activists show their love by covering Chicago atheist display and ...
Raw Story
A Christian activist group placed a banner over an atheist display at Chicago's Daley Plaza proclaiming that “A is for Angels.” The banner covers a sign set up earlier this month by the Freedom From Religion Foundation that explained that an 8.5-foot ...
Christian Activists Set Up Giant Banner Just So They Can Block Atheist DisplayMediaite
Christians and Atheists Spar as 'A Is for Angels' Banner Covers 'A Is for ...Christian Post
Christian Group Obstructs Atheist Sign with 'A is for Angels' Banner (Video)Opposing Views

all 7 news articles »

The Guardian
The people who challenged my atheism most were drug addicts and prostitutes
The Guardian
During that time I counted myself an atheist and nodded in agreement as a wave of atheistic fervor swept out of the scientific community and into the media, led by Richard Dawkins. I saw some of myself in him: quick with arguments, uneasy with emotions ...

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