Daylight Atheism » Law

The Biblical Cruelty of Child Beating

Ebonmuse — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:42:17 +0000

In 1877, the great freethinker Robert Green Ingersoll wrote these words about the then-common practice of corporal punishment:

I tell you the children have the same rights that we have, and we ought to treat them as though they were human beings. They should be reared with love, with kindness, with tenderness, and not with brutality. That is my idea of children.

...I do not believe ... [visit site to read more]

Be Careful What You Wish For (Why I Hate Hate Crimes Legislation, But I Love Hate Speech)

Ebonmuse — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:20:18 +0000

By Sarah Jane Braasch-Joy

In loving memory of my baby brother, Jacob Michael Braasch (01/28/86 - 02/02/10)

I saw a woman in niqab on the UC Berkeley campus the other week. I was shocked. I didn't approach her. I didn't speak to her. She was with two other women in hijab, on the opposite side of a wide walkway.

But, I was shocked. And, appalled. Here was a woman (or, at least, I assume she was a woman), in the heart of what is arguably the most politically liberal ... [visit site to read more]

I Am An Atom of Atheism

Ebonmuse — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 21:07:33 +0000

The blog Ungodly News has created a whimsical periodic table of atheism, and I was surprised and pleased to find out that I'm on it:

visit site to read more]

Do the Right Thing, New York!

Ebonmuse — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 10:57:47 +0000

I wrote in May about the legalization of civil unions in Delaware (which has now been signed into law), and the ongoing push to pass a marriage-equality law in my own state, New York. Although New York already recognizes same-sex marriages performed in any of the neighboring states that allow them, passage of the bill would be a huge symbolic victory and would give more momentum to the national push for ... [visit site to read more]

News Flash: Psychics Still Useless

Ebonmuse — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:22:01 +0000

You may have heard about this bizarre story out of Texas this week, where a self-proclaimed psychic called police with a tip that a certain home was the site of a mass grave containing dozens of dismembered bodies, including the bodies of children. A swarm of reporters, FBI agents and Texas Rangers promptly converged on the address, bringing cameras, news helicopters and cadaver-sniffing dogs.

At first they found spots of ... [visit site to read more]

Justice for the Victims of Faith Healing

Ebonmuse — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:00:56 +0000

I'm still working through a backlog of interesting stories that accumulated during my vacation, so here's the first of them.

As freethinkers know too well, claiming that your religion requires you to do or not do something is an almost all-purpose excuse for immoral behavior. It's frustratingly rare for believers to be punished for wrongdoing when they invoke their faith as a shield. That's why I'm so unexpectedly pleased to see that rationality is getting a foothold in Oregon, where visit site to read more]

News Round-up

RitchieAdmin — Fri, 27 May 2011 17:58:59 +0000

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 the way he prophesised. Instead, the Rapture was of a spiritual nature, and we are still on track for a 21^st October Armageddon. To ... [visit site to read more]

Pro-Family Christians Support Child Kidnapping

Ebonmuse — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:46:42 +0000

Yesterday, I came across a story that was so appalling I had to write about it. It shows the true depths of the Christian right's hatred for gay and lesbian people, and the lengths they're willing to go to - up to and including defying U.S. law - in the name of that hatred. (HT: The Wall of Separation)

The story in a nutshell: A same-sex couple in Vermont, Lisa ... [visit site to read more]

The Abuse of the Doctrine of Standing

Ebonmuse — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:44:50 +0000

In what's becoming a depressingly predictable trend, there's bad news on the church-state front: the Freedom from Religion Foundation's legal victory over the National Day of Prayer has been tossed out by a federal appeals court. A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit dismissed the lawsuit, finding ... [visit site to read more]

Weekly Link Roundup

Ebonmuse — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:01:57 +0000

• Greta Christina posts her completed list of atheists of color.

• In early 1981, Carl Sagan sent this letter to the Explorers' Club - an international society dedicated to scientific exploration - regarding their men-only admission policy. Several months later, the first female members ... [visit site to read more]

Your Weekly Catholic Scandal Update

Ebonmuse — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:41:59 +0000

It hasn't been a good few weeks for the Catholic church. Every time you turn around, it seems, new repercussions of its conspiracy to protect child molesters are piling up somewhere in the world. Even I've had trouble keeping up with it all, so here's a post to collect the latest news.

First, there's the Netherlands, where the media has reported that one of the country's archbishops personally arranged to shield a ... [visit site to read more]

Morality Has No Place in the Law

Ebonmuse — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:33:47 +0000

By Sarah Braasch

"Surely if we have learned anything from the history of morals it is that the thing to do with a moral quandary is not to hide it." —H.L.A. Hart

"This lesson is that the distinguishing characteristics of true law must be sought for somewhere else than in the nature of the authority from whence it proceeds, and in the certainty of the punishment by which its infraction is attended." —Sheldon Amos

In loving memory of my baby brother, ... [visit site to read more]