I’ve been taking a breather this week, but never fear, my Atlas Shrugged series will resume tomorrow. In the meantime, some quick links:
• Help atheist blogger and ex-Quiverfuller Vyckie Garrison save her house! She’s in financial trouble caused largely by her divorce from an abusive husband, which in turn happened because she lost her faith. She needs to raise $23,000 to save it. If you need more incentive, here’s her outstanding speech from the 2014 American Atheists national convention.
• The Toast has rapidly become one of my favorite new-ish funny sites on the internet. Here are two especially good pieces from the past week: two monks invent various Christian denominations, and “Sorry, But We Are Not Accepting Criticism At This Time“, which I literally laughed out loud at. Read the comments too!
• Cracked is another humor site that deserves major kudos for writing genuinely funny pieces that tackle serious feminist and social-justice issues, consciously going against the grain of a largely male audience. Here’s their explanation for why they do it.
• I like this Senator Cory Booker fellow:
I'm a Christian & believe we should listen to Athiests especially if they challenge us. Christians have no monopoly on truth @magnoliaflower
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) September 21, 2014
I'll take an Atheist who Serves over a person who Prays to God, Preaches of God, Celebrates God but fails to serve mankind. @MGeschwind
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) November 17, 2012
• I wanted to write about the recent Sam Harris kerfuffle, but there’s no need: two of my fellow Patheos atheist bloggers, Dan Fincke and Libby Anne, have said everything I wanted to and did it better than I could have.
From Dan: “Sam Harris, The Criticism of Bad Ideas, and Sexist Appeals To Biology“, “On Criticizing Your Own Side Without Being A Traitor“, “On Sam Harris’s Reply to Feminist Critics“, and “Sam Harris’s “#EstrogenVibe” Remark Wasn’t The Journalist’s Fault“.
From Libby Anne: “Is Sam Harris Sexist?“, “On Sam Harris, Pregnancy, and Sacrifices“, and the devastating “Do They Care about Women, or Simply Bashing Religion?”
• Finally, I’m on this brand-new social networking site, Ello. Add me!