05.31.08
Posted in General, Secular Coalition for America at 11:41 pm by Hemant Mehta
The 3rd annual Iowa Secularists Conference will take place on July 12th at the Iowa State Center in Ames, IA.
The keynote speaker will be Lori Lipman Brown, lobbyist for the Secular Coalition for America.
If you’re interested in attending, registration is due by July 1st — it’s $30 for members, $35 for non-members, $50 for member couples, and $60 for non-member couples.
You can register and find the schedule of events right here.
If you’re living in Iowa, it might be tough to make it to atheist/Humanist conferences that take place on the coasts, so save some money and attend this one! It sounds like a great way to spend a Saturday.
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]
Permalink ~
Posted in GLBT, General at 4:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
Having trouble conceiving?
The Eleven7 church in Southlake, TX has a potential solution for you!
Fill out the application (PDF) by next week. (My favorite part? All the fine print on page 4.)
The church will randomly choose 10 eligible couples from the batch.
Then, about a week later, on Father’s Day, the church will randomly choose one couple as the winner!
The winning couple will get a medical evaluation and, depending on what’s needed, will be directed to the Center for Assisted Reproduction in Bedford or the North DFW Urology practice in Grapevine, which have agreed to donate their services.
The value of the service could reach $40,000, said the Rev. Keith Luttrell, pastor of eleven7. In vitro fertilization is among the covered options.
…
There’s no income threshold, but the application does have some background questions and asks for a $25 application fee. Couples applying need not belong to the church.
…
… Names will probably be picked out of a hat, said Steve Brannon, the church’s executive pastor.
Pregnancy is not promised.
“We as a church will be in fervent prayer for the couple chosen and know that God’s will is always perfect,” the application materials say.
Nice that the in-kind donation might help a couple who want a baby but can’t conceive one — or afford the fertility treatment.
Sad that the church has made this into such a spectacle and media frenzy.
I just keep thinking about the side issues…
- How would you feel if you’re one of the nine losing couples?
- What if the treatment works but the baby is miscarried?
- What if the “Blessing” eventually becomes an atheist? Or is gay?
Oh, right. “God’s will is perfect.”
Got it.
Maybe this will help set a precedent.
Next year, another church will just adopt a child from a Third World country and auction it off at a Sunday service.
Or several babies will be up for grabs, and you’ll spin a wheel to see which one you get!
The possibilities are endless…
Speaking of babies, time for lunch.
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]
Permalink ~
Posted in General at 1:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
Remember the Christian woman from Survivor: China a little while back?
She kept saying things on the show like: “I’m not a religious person, but I have a relationship with Jesus Christ…”
Which, to me, makes no difference.
It all sounds pretty smug…
“I’m not religious. I’m Christian.”
“I’m not religious. I’m Muslim.”
“I’m not religious. I just pray to a divine being and believe in the Holy Book and go to church and think you’re going to Hell. But I’m not religious…”
Does it matter what you call yourself? If you believe in the divinity of Jesus, then you’re effectively a Christian. Perhaps you want to run away from the Christian stereotypes, but the fundamental beliefs are the same.
So recently, when an atheist from Denver saw people wearing shirts reading, “Religion is a lie,” he got a bit excited. He even checked out the website printed on the shirts…
Religion, by it’s very nature, is so ambiguous. What does it mean? Every major religion claims exclusivity (i.e. they are the only way). So which one will save you? Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Mormonism or Christianity? And if Christianity, which denomination? Baptist, Catholic, Christian Scientist, 7th Day Adventist, Lutheran, Protestant, Presbyterian, Evangelical, Methodist and the like? Which one ultimately answers the question of an afterlife and why? Do we need man or church to reach God?
…
There are really 4 basic things we want in this life: to be loved unconditionally, to have significance and meaning, to be forgiven for what we’ve done and to know that something better than this tragic world is waiting for us after we die. With all our backgrounds and religious upbringings, we’ve only found those specific things in the person of Jesus Christ and we want a relationship with him.
Oh, %#&$ you.
Just say it. You’re Christians. Stop with the “We’re not Christians. We’re not part of a religion. We just believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins.”
The site is sponsored by The Rock Church, by the way.
Their slogan? Experience God, Not Religion.
Their vision?
As a missionary church, we strive to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the young people of the Twin Cities…
That’s religion. Stop acting like you don’t know that.
Am I alone on this?
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]
Permalink ~
Posted in General at 10:00 am by Hemant Mehta
Illinois schools used to allow teachers to observe a moment of silence if they chose. Not many teachers did this. Probably because it’s just a waste of time.
State Senator Kimberly Lightford didn’t like the idea of teachers deciding what’s best for their classrooms, so she sponsored a bill to make the moment of silence mandatory.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman stopped this from happening at one school.
As of Thursday, the same judge “issued a preliminary injunction barring school districts statewide from observing the moment of silence.”
Lovely. It’s the right decision. It’s unconstitutional to force the silence upon everyone.
But the beauty of this is that Lightford’s plan to force a moment of silence in the classroom has backfired. Now, no moment of silence is allowed. Even the voluntary ones.
Hilarious.
As Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn writes:
Let this be a lesson to Lightford and the lightweight lawmakers who can’t resist the urge to micromanage: Be careful what you wish for.
We know who to thank for all this, too:
… Gettleman previously stopped the law from being observed in northwest suburban Township High School District 214 after atheist activist Rob Sherman challenged the law on behalf of his daughter, Dawn, a student at Buffalo Grove High School.
In March, Gettleman expanded the case into a class-action suit, meaning students and school districts from Chicago to Cairo could participate. That opened the way for the temporary injunction to be expanded statewide Thursday.
Dawn Sherman, 14, said students at her school laughed at the silent moment when it was first implemented.
“I was pretty much thinking that it was wasting my time,” said Sherman.
Rob’s very excited about this…
The federal judge handling the unconstitutional Illinois public school “Moment of Silence” law case today expanded his preliminary injunction statewide. Now, every public school in Illinois is barred from doing the moment of silence at the beginning of each school day. Previously, the injunction applied only to Buffalo Grove High School and the other schools in High School District 214. I’m so proud of my daughter, Dawn. She took on the entire Illinois General Assembly and won. Last September, Dawn got God banned from homecoming at Buffalo Grove High School. Now, she’s gotten God banned from every public school in the State of Illinois.
God isn’t banned from school. And it’s foolish to say that. Anyone can pray in school if they want to. Anyone can bring the Bible to school. The only thing that is banned (and rightfully so) is a forced moment of silence — prayer in disguise, as the original law stated.
Rob is just trying to shove the decision in the faces of religious people. It’s not helping.
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]
Permalink ~
Posted in General at 7:00 am by Hemant Mehta
The AA drama has not yet been resolved…
One board member just stepped down. His resignation letter can be read here.
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]
Permalink ~
Posted in General at 12:45 am by Hemant Mehta
If that’s not an element, it should be.
I mean, Flying Spaghetti Monster is already an organic compound…:
Would anyone like to venture a guess as to the name of that compound?
(via Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster)
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]
Permalink ~
05.30.08
Posted in General at 6:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
In New Zealand, 75% of the people support evolution. So you wouldn’t expect to see Kansas-like problems in neighboring Australia.
However, at Pacific Hills Christian School in Sydney, students were being taught the following spectrum of beliefs in regards to evolution:
Somehow, this teacher places Intelligent Design to the right of Theistic Evolutionist. That makes sense…
This teacher also doesn’t know how to delete unwanted parts of a Powerpoint slide.
The entire video in which this slide can be seen is found here.
On the upside, some are angry about this. And that school is being checked out by the Board of Studies (their version of a school board).
According to the BoS:
Intelligent design is not part of any Board of Studies syllabus. Intelligent design is not in the science curriculum because it is not scientific and not evidence based.
If schools choose to teach aspects of intelligent design in a science class it must be in addition to, not instead of, the Board’s full program of science courses.
Schools teaching intelligent design must make it clear to students that this material is not part of the Board’s syllabus and that it will not be tested in any public examination.
Students should understand that intelligent design would not be considered relevant in any responses they write for School Certificate (SC) or Higher School Certificate (HSC) science examinations.
Intelligent design should not be set as part of the school-based assessment tasks for science that contribute to SC and HSC assessment.
Ok, I take back the comparison to Kansas. Though I still don’t think ID belongs in the classroom at all, even as supplementary material to evolution.
(via Open Parachute)
[tags]atheist, atheism, science, evolution, Richard Dawkins[/tags]
Permalink ~
Posted in General at 12:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
Every year, the Secular Student Alliance gives out awards to the best campus atheist groups in the country in a variety of areas.
The winning groups each receive $300 in funding; the Best Overall Affiliate receives $500.
Here are this year’s winners:
Best Service Project: Atheists, Agnostics, and Freethinkers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Their project was to send 11 members of their group along with 19 members of the schools Campus Crusade For Christ group to New Orleans to carry out relief work. Their time in New Orleans was primarily dedicated to gutting damaged houses and building new ones. This included work such as putting up siding, painting exteriors & interiors, laying down flooring, erecting fences, running electrical wiring, installing sheetrock, landscaping, and finally removing moldy drywall and debris.
Chris Calvey of the group says of the trip: “We were able to spend a lot of time interacting with Christian students from all over the country. Many were happy, impressed, or even shocked to find out that we were atheists. After getting to know one another, it became apparent to both sides that it’s possible to put aside our philosophical differences and work together for a greater good. The justifications we come up with for our motivations are irrelevant, what’s important is that we all feel the same urge to help others in need. If we want to improve the image of atheism in this country, I can think of no better way to do it than by volunteering alongside those who might disagree with us the most. Complaining about the misconceptions, stereotyping, and discrimination of nonbelievers is one thing we do very well… actually working to dispel these is another story. I am confident that for everyone we met in New Orleans, our service project will have the effect of positively shaping their opinion about atheism for the rest of their lives.”
Best Website: Bruin Alliance of Skeptics and Secularists at the University of California Los Angeles.
Roy Natian of the group said of the website: “The guiding principle behind the site is this: Function, Function, Function. The site has to be easy to use and updated. In planning ahead for BASS future, I wanted to make sure that BASS had a solid infrastructure. By making the site require minimal maintenance, I’m allowing future BASSiers to focus on more important facets of the running of BASS (such as planning educational events). An added benefit of having the site be easily updateable is that the site actually gets updated!”
Best Media Appearance: Guelph Skeptics at the University of Guelph.
They were in the campus newspaper once, then twice. They were in their local city paper, and most impressively, they are hosting their own radio show in Canada. They’re working on getting the show syndicated so they can play is across North America (it already airs in Guelph, in Victoria, BC and Winnipeg, MB).
Katie Kish of the group says: “With our own radio show we’ve had interviews with each of us on it, interviews with our speaker, coverage of our events. Hopefully it’ll all be podcasted soon.”
Best New Affiliate: Rationalists and Freethinkers at the University of Illinois at Chicago:
This group had fallen on hard times and really turned things around. After all but collapsing, they secured new leadership, changed their mission statement, got new officers, and are now an amazing group. This past year they hosted Austin Dacey, Hemant Mehta, and Dan Barker. They held an event titled “Does the Black Church really serve the Black Community” and invited the executive director of the African Americans for Humanism to present. They were mentioned in the CBS piece titled “The Atheist Next Door,” they polled UIC students about their feelings on the presidential candidates and religion, and posted these videos and opinions on YouTube, and they held blood drives throughout the year including the “Give up blood for Lent” and the “Vampire Feast Blood Drive” in October.
Best Overall Affiliate: Tufts Secular Student Association at Tufts University.
Over the last 9 months of the school year they’ve organized a debate with Dan Barker and D’Souza in conjunction with the Harvard University affiliate group, they filmed and put this entire debate on the web. They raised the most money of the Tufts students for the school’s CAUSE dinner (raising $1616) and donated this money to low income families affected by the recent wildfires. They reached out to the community to invite professors from Harvard, Tufts, and UMass to come speak to the group on animal ethics, religion, animal testing, and evolution. The group hosted Rebecca Goldstein who spoke about Secularism and Spinoza. Further involvement in their community included participating in Meetup events with “off-campus” humanist groups in the greater Boston area. They worked with the Harvard group again to arrange for the Pete Stark event. The Tufts SSA placed articles placed in the school paper, and the group’s president, Pat Andriola, was interviewed in the paper. The group’s former president Nina Lee was quoted in the Boston Globe. To survey the demographics of their own campus they conducted surveys of Tufts students and found that 30% of the students described themselves as “non-religious”; they used this to promote their group to students. SSA speakers bureau member Ellery Schempp presented to their group, and they organized a Coming Out as an atheist day on April 13th. With the other groups in the Boston area they co-hosted big Darwin Day event and participated in the Secular Student Activism discussion panel hosted by the Greater Worcester Humanists.
Congratulations to the winners for setting a high bar for future applicants!
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]
Permalink ~
Posted in General at 8:00 am by Hemant Mehta
There’s a wonderful translation guide at Unreasonable Faith that lets non-Christians understand what Christians are really saying.
It gives us both acceptable and unacceptable responses to the phrases:
“Do you know where you’re going to go after you die?”
Translation: “This is the question they told me to ask in my evangelism class.”
Acceptable Response: “To heaven to see my sweet, precious Savior!”
Unacceptable Response: “How can you know that before you’re actually dead?”
…
“Thank you Jesus!”
Translation: “It’s easier to thank Jesus than the people who deserve it.”
Acceptable Response: “Amen!”
Unacceptable Response: “I’m not Jesus.”
There are plenty more where those came from 
Moral of the story for Christians: Your clichés don’t hold much sway with atheists. You can’t bring up the supernatural (prayer, Jesus, etc) to a non-religious person and expect your words to have any real impact. Nice sentiments, perhaps, but they make you sound like a pastor’s puppet and they make us want to interact with you less… especially if the phrases are piled one on top of another.
Are there any other soundbytes that need to be added to the list?
[tags]atheist, atheism, Christianity, Christianese[/tags]
Permalink ~
05.29.08
Posted in General at 9:00 pm by Hemant Mehta
A dilemma posed by a reader:
I have a daughter who just turned one. And I have been thinking about this dilemma since long before she was conceived. I have always liked the idea of “godparents.” Of course, being an atheist, I don’t like the god in there and their role wouldn’t be anything god-related. I posed this question on a bulletin board for atheist parents, and it didn’t really get much response. There was an “earthparent” kind of theme or “non-godparents” and a few others, but nothing that really jumped out at me. Surely, I’m not the first to wonder what kind of substitute term we atheists could use?
A lot of people would say, “Well, you don’t need them at all.” Or “You don’t need a label.” Originally, we had planned to have a little “celebration” at her one-year birthday that would officially recognize/name the “godparents.” But because I couldn’t think of a label, we didn’t. And now I regret it. I want people to know who I consider my daughter’s sort of “chosen” mentors and who would be charged with caring for her if we die while she’s still a child (other than what’s in our will). And I want to even be able to ask the potential “godparents” officially. They don’t even know I’ve ever considered it.
My husband just says I overthink everything. I thought I should just let this (minor) atheist battle go. But since her birthday last weekend and the nagging feeling that I want to do this for her and for me and for them… I can’t.
Any thoughts?
I would think you could have people fulfill the Godparent roles without necessarily using the label… but I would also pause at using that word.
Perhaps we just need to borrow a term from another language…
Are there any Godparents reading this who go by another name?
Has anyone been in a similar situation and found a workable solution?
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]
Permalink ~
« Previous entries Next Page » Next Page »
