- The Baffling Era of Religious Suicide-Massacres
The Rotunda • May 31, 2011
By James A. Haught
Osama bin Laden achieved a remarkable feat: He mobilized the power of religion to spur devout young men to kill themselves in order to murder defenseless strangers. Grotesquely, the suicide-killers felt they were performing holy acts that would please God and assure them martyr rewards in paradise.
The annals of faith-based killing are [...]
- I Have Returned
The Foyer • May 30, 2011
By Ebonmuse
Greetings, all. I'm back safely from Spain - actually, I was back yesterday, but pretty much went right to bed when I got home to sleep off the jet lag and recover from general sleep deprivation. (You see, we were in Barcelona on Saturday night, which was when the home team won an important [...]
- You Call That Religion?
The Loft • May 28, 2011
This is a guest post by Leah of Unequally Yoked. Adam is on vacation.
Spoiler Alert: the post below discusses the final number of the musical The Book of Mormon.
The Associated Press, in a review titled "Zany Musical 'The Book of Mormon' Will Convert You" said despite the sacrilege you might expect from a show imagined [...]
- The Mormon Test
The Library • May 27, 2011
This is a guest post by Leah of Unequally Yoked. Adam is on vacation.
When in argument with Christians, it can be hard to find a good way to explain why you doubt their precepts. John Loftus has a good idea with his Outsider's Test for Faith, but most Christians believe that their faith can pass [...]
- News Round-up
The Foyer • May 27, 2011
By Richard Hollis (aka Ritchie)
I just thought I’d do a quick whirl through some stories of note in the papers this week:
Firstly, and probably most obviously, the Rapture failed to materialise. The herald of doom for this event, Harold Camping announced his shock and surprise that a literal, physical Rapture did not arrive in exactly [...]
- Adapt or Die
The Garden • May 26, 2011
This is a guest post by Leah of Unequally Yoked. Adam is on vacation.
My previous two posts on mockery have drawn a lot of criticism, including charges that I am an accommodationist. If that were the case, the definition of accommodationism had gotten way too broad. Trying to treat people with respect is different from [...]
- Whom Should We Mock?
The Garden • May 25, 2011
This is a guest post by Leah of Unequally Yoked. Adam is on vacation.
My last post on Daylight Atheism, asking non-believers to tone down the contempt for Harold Camping and his followers, and many of you disagreed. Some commenters didn't believe there was anything intrinsically destructive about mocking others, others argued that ridicule was a [...]
- Sex and Sensibilities
The Library • May 23, 2011
By Richard Hollis (aka Ritchie)
Being a documentary fanboy, I've lately stumbled across a couple of interesting histories on the topic of sex, which have set me thinking about what shape our attitudes to it, so forgive me coming over all Carrie Bradshaw.
Many early European cultures had a decidedly celebratory attitude to sex. Ancient Egyptians [...]
- Covering All the Rapture Bases
The Loft • May 22, 2011
By Ebonmuse
Greetings all,
As I mentioned previously, I'm away this week, having gone to Spain with my wife to celebrate our first anniversary. My only regret is that because of this trip, I was out of the country on May 21, when self-appointed prophet Harold Camping told us that the Rapture would absolutely, definitely occur. By [...]
- Meat is Dinner?
The Library • May 21, 2011
By Richard Hollis (aka Ritchie)
Just over two years ago, DaylightAtheism featured an essay discussing vegetarianism - though coming at it largely as an environmental issue. Seeing as so many faces on here seem new, I thought I'd tackle it again and hit the moral question head-on: can we justify eating meat?
Many religions include restrictions on consuming meat, [...]
- The Rapture of Charlie Sheen
The Loft • May 20, 2011
This is a guest post by Leah of Unequally Yoked. Adam is on vacation.
I'm sure this is just one blog post among many in your feed to reference the Rapture predictions of Harold Camping. His apocalyptic forecast for this weekend is all over the news cycle and even snagged front page coverage in The New [...]
- The Logic of Genocide
The Loft • May 18, 2011
Last month, I wrote about the hideous spectacle of ordinary religious people defending genocide because it's commanded in the Bible - with some of them professing to not even understand why nonbelievers would have a problem with this. Greta Christina also highlighted this horrific mindset in the writing of William Lane Craig, the renowned Christian [...]
- Weekly Link Roundup
The Foyer • May 17, 2011
I noticed a few stories this week that I haven't had time to write more about, but wanted to mention briefly:
• So-called "psychics" defraud their gullible customers out of thousands of dollars, usually through laughably obvious ploys in which they claim the client's money needs to be "cleansed". Can we please regulate these con artists [...]
- Saudi Arabian Women Hit the Road
The Rotunda • May 16, 2011
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ruled by an absolute monarchy in cooperation with the vicious and medieval Wahhabist clerics, has some of the most oppressive and primitive laws in the world when it comes to the rights of women. Saudi women are forbidden to appear in public without a face-covering veil and a full-body shroud; [...]
- Meet Your Guest Admins
The Foyer • May 15, 2011
As I mentioned earlier this month, today is my first anniversary, and to celebrate, my wife and I are taking a vacation abroad. (We'll be going to Spain, where hopefully I'll be able to avoid the vicious hordes of elderly Catholics.) We'll be away from this coming Friday until Memorial Day weekend, and I'll probably [...]
- Photo Saturday: Ai Weiwei's Zodiac Circle
The Rotunda • May 14, 2011
This past week, on a sunny spring day, I went on my lunch hour to see a new public art installation in midtown Manhattan:
This exhibit, "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads", is noteworthy for being created by the internationally famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. After being chosen to design the "Bird's Nest" stadium for the 2008 Beijing [...]
- Dispatches from Future America: Nation Celebrates National Day of Reason
The Loft • May 13, 2011
[Editor's Note: This just keeps getting stranger.
Last month, I received a news dispatch from a disturbing future version of America through an anonymous remailer. The other day, I received a message from a different address, presenting itself as the same thing... but apparently from a very different future than the previous one.
I have no [...]
- On the Morality of: Investing
The Library • May 11, 2011
I haven't written a post on morality in a while, and this one's a little different than past entries. This is an issue where I haven't made up my mind, and I'm hoping that people's comments can illuminate the issues and help me reach a final decision.
Through the economic chaos of the past two years, [...]
- India's Daughters Are Missing
The Rotunda • May 9, 2011
I feel bad writing about so much terrible news for women so close to Mother's Day. On the other hand, what better time is there to emphasize just how much still has to be done in the global fight for women's rights?
Despite all the outrages against women committed by the religious right in America, [...]
- Words Worth Reading: The Mother's Day Proclamation
The Library • May 8, 2011
As you probably already know, today is Mother's Day. But I learned something very interesting about the holiday from a sermon today at the Unitarian Universalist church my wife and I attend, and I'd like to share it with you.
Given how rampantly commercial Mother's Day has become, you might be forgiven for assuming, as I [...]
- The Language of God: A Final Word
The Library • May 8, 2011
The Language of God, Closing Thoughts
By B.J. Marshall
Collins' final word comprises two points: that there is joy and peace [...]
- The Republican Party Still Hates Women
The Rotunda • May 6, 2011
This week, the House of Representatives voted for HR 3, one of the most vicious and horrendous anti-choice bills ever conceived. This bill revokes all federal tax credits for any health insurance plan that includes abortion coverage - in effect, it raises taxes on private employers who offer insurance to their employees that covers abortion, [...]
- Free Speech Still Under Attack
The Rotunda • May 5, 2011
Free speech is always and everywhere under attack in the world, and as depressing as it is to have to keep pointing that out, I think it's vital to highlight it when it happens so that this human right is never taken for granted. Unfortunately, these past few weeks have offered a surfeit of examples.
First, [...]
- Open Thread: Self-Promotion Day; Plus, Help Beat PZ!
The Foyer • May 4, 2011
So, I think it's about time for another self-promotion thread. What say you?
If you maintain a blog or other site that you want to tell us about, now's the time! Feel free to post a comment telling us about yourself and your site: who you are, what you write about, and why we should be [...]
- Marriage Equality on the March
The Rotunda • May 3, 2011
At the end of last month, the Delaware legislature voted to approve a civil union bill. If Democratic Governor Jack Markell signs the bill, as he's said he will, Delaware will become the newest state to grant same-sex partnerships all the same legal rights as heterosexual couples - joining, by my reckoning, ten others: Vermont, [...]
- Open Thread: We Got Him!
The Foyer • May 2, 2011
I had a post about marriage equality I was going to put up today, but instead, let me just say this:
Holy shit, we killed Osama bin Laden.
I'm still speechless - this doesn't seem real. My reactions, more or less in order:
(1) When I opened my news reader this morning, the first headline was a story [...]
- Call for Guest Admins
The Foyer • May 1, 2011
As regular readers might remember, I got married last May. Well, I'm fast approaching my first anniversary (holy cow, it's been almost a year already?!), and MissCherryPi and I are planning to go on a trip to Spain later this month, the week of May 22, to celebrate.
Since I'll likely have very limited internet access [...]
