02.29.08
Posted in Friendly Atheist at 10:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
A start-up college atheist group has already gotten the attention of its campus newspaper.
At California State University (in Sacramento), says hello to the aptly named Atheist Student Organization:
“It is important for atheists to be represented on campus and in the larger society. Often atheists don’t make their feelings known for fear of abuse or attack” said graduate English student Robin Martin.
“It’s essential to inspire people to think and question the historical and present inconsistencies, violence, and exclusivity of theism and to educate through public speaking, printed materials, and creative events,” said Rebekah Hall, a prospective graduate English student.
[Angelique] Lopez, a senior English major, said she wants “to talk to people about being an atheist and to get them to see that an atheist isn’t something bad or something that has a negative connotation.”
Junior computer engineering major Bikrum Singh Jolly, the vice-president of the Sikh Student Association on campus, said he would not hold any bias towards the atheist group.
“We have freedom of speech and freedom of religion. We have to be open, accepting, and willing to learn about different religions, about different cultures, and about different beliefs,” Jolly said.
…
Senior ethnic studies major Marc Sorensen said he’s having a hard time understanding the purpose of the group, however. Sorensen is a member of the on-campus International Student Christian Fellowship.
“What are the reasons for creating an atheist organization? To discuss someone you don’t believe in?” Sorensen said.
No, it’s to discuss how ignorant some religious people can be and to commiserate about the negative perceptions of atheism that we have to put up with on a daily basis.
Ideally, there are more positive activities in the works, too, like community service projects, the promotion of critical thinking, and bringing together an ignored and undervalued minority of students.
(via the Secular Student Alliance)
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 7:07 pm by Hemant Mehta
It sounds like such a minor, correctable problem.
David was given an assignment in his music class a couple years ago:
He was to sing a song of worship for a grade. His teacher also instructed him to point skyward at certain points of the song. She said that he was to do this to show he loved God.
That didn’t sit well with David’s family (they’re atheists), so his father Matthew called the school.
Neither the teacher nor the principal would respond.
Matthew then alerted the media:
They were very happy to speak with us. They sent a camera crew to the school and then to my home. The school backed down from their position and did not require David to perform the song of worship for a grade. We also mandated that we did not wish for David to have any future contact with that teacher.
The school learned its lesson, things were made right, and life went on…. right?
Of course not.
David and his family are still having serious problems as a result of the complaint:
Our neighbors turned on us. We endured threatening phone calls and even had trash thrown on our front lawn at night. School became unbearable for David. Teachers would single him out and he would get reprimanded on a very regular basis. We then received a notice from our landlord informing us that we were to be evicted for non-payment of rent. We were completely paid in full and he knew it.
It gets worse.
The school isn’t cooperating with the family even though they’ve decided to homeschool David!
Ugh…
Just read the whole story, as told by Matthew.
If you have any advice for the family, they’d love to hear it.
My suggestion: Call the ACLU, Freedom From Religion Foundation, or any other group who might be willing to help you out in a legal manner. If these claims can be backed up, this should be an easy case. Legal victory won’t turn back time or make the community embrace the Godless, but it will allow you to move on to a different, better place.
(via Atheist Revolution)
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 6:44 pm by Hemant Mehta
Massimo Pigliucci is a professor of Ecology and Evolution, a well-known proponent of science education, a strong opponent of Creationism, and just an all-around good guy.
(He even answered my random, obscure questions about evolution — and made sense while doing it! — at a bar one night during last year’s American Atheists convention. Not many people have both the knowledge and willingness to do that.)
Before he began his website, Rationally Speaking, he used to write columns under the same name.
Those columns — over five years’ worth — are now available as a free download (PDF)!
Why give away all this work for free?
I’m lucky enough to be able to spend most of my active adult life pursuing science and philosophy as a profession, and I owe this privilege to the tax payers who contribute to my salary and, equally important, to the research grants I need to keep my laboratory going. I don’t think it’s too much to ask to give something back in the form of writings and public lectures that attempt to engage that same public, not only to explain why supporting science and universities is worthwhile, but more broadly to better the critical thinking abilities of our citizens.
…
I hope, therefore, that you will enjoy these essays in the spirit they were written. Some are obviously dated by the events (but always make broader points that transcend the specific examples), many are meant to be controversial, all — I hope — will provide good food for thinking and further discussion.
Enjoy! This will make for some wonderful weekend reading.
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Posted in Humor, Friendly Atheist at 3:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
Got a punchline…?
An atheist walked into a bar…
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 9:00 am by Hemant Mehta
An oldie, but a goodie.
What if this particular Chick Tract was written by an atheist…?
It might look like this:
The whole thing is fairly entertaining as well as a quick read.
You can read the full parody version here.
Anyone know any other sites where atheist Chick Tract parodies exist?
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02.28.08
Posted in Friendly Atheist at 10:01 pm by Hemant Mehta
MuhammadTube.
Created by Fundamentalist Christians.
MuhammadTube.com/.org/.net, is a video-driven social network that enables people to connect and share with friends, family, co-workers and ministries in an unfiltered medium where it concerns the wickedness and filth that is Islam.
…
Our endeavor is to show a Christ-like love to all men, and we feel it should be exhibited in our lives by our words as well as our actions.
As one of the Atheist Media Blog’s commenters points out:
“Our endeavor is to show a Christ-like love to all men”
…except Muslims…
That’s Priceless.
Any bets as to how long this will be around?
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 8:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
You better be there:
(via My Confined Space)
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 6:20 pm by Hemant Mehta
Bill experienced definitive proof of God’s existence yesterday.
He was going through his morning routine when he glanced at the ground:
Do you see it…? It’s a message from the Heavens!
Look closer!
Oh, snap! It’s the Ichthys symbol!
Atheists, I only have one question: What now? BAM. Game, set, match. If Comfort and Cameron couldn’t bring you over with their banana, I have full confidence that my two fallen hairs can easily provide all the proof you skeptics could ever need.
The miracle I seek has been found. There is no possible explanation for this. Don’t even try making sense of it.
Bill now needs to take the next logical step:
Sell the hairs on eBay.
Now.
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 3:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
Jessica Hagy’s book, Indexed, is finally released today!
In case you missed it a couple weeks ago, here is my interview with the always-thought-provoking-and-hilarious author.
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 12:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
Journalist David Sheff and his son Nic recently appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air to talk about their respective books. Nic was a meth addict (one of many drugs he used) who eventually escaped the addiction. He’s 25-years-old now.
One part of their interview was particularly interesting.
During rehab, Nic experienced a lot of “Godtalk,” such as the kind seen in Alcoholics Anonymous. Both Nic and his dad say it was as if the only way to get sober was to embrace God.
For those who are atheists, this is a tremendous hurdle to overcome in trying to beat an addiction. You don’t want to replace one dependence with another.
The relevant portion of the interview is only about five minutes long and begins at the 20:00 mark.
(Thanks to Laura for the link!)
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