Daylight Atheism » Pop Culture

The Foo Fighters Outsmart Fred Phelps

Ebonmuse — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:57:09 +0000

Last week, the Westboro Baptist Church (which is choosing increasingly random and bizarre protest targets, including a Swedish vacuum cleaner store) decided to picket a Foo Fighters concert in Kansas City, Missouri. As is their usual strategy, they were no doubt hoping to provoke police or counterprotesters into ... [visit site to read more]

The Rapture of Charlie Sheen

LeahAdmin — Fri, 20 May 2011 23:18:23 +0000

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 York Times. And why is everyone telling this story? Because ... [visit site to read more]

The Contributions of Freethinkers: Gene Roddenberry

Ebonmuse — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:45:00 +0000

As a wedding present to ourselves, my wife and I bought the DVDs of the original Star Trek, and these past few months, we've been working our way through them. For myself, it was a test: I hadn't seen most of these episodes since my childhood, and I was curious to see if they held up. I'm pleased to say that, for the most part, they more than hold their own. There's plenty to criticize, but after all this time, it hasn't lost its charm.

Despite everything that makes me roll my eyes ... [visit site to read more]

The Contributions of Freethinkers: Pearl Jam

Ebonmuse — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:31:10 +0000

(Editor's Note: Thanks to DA reader Alan Waldron for suggesting this post!)

I've written about famous atheist composers before, but not all the great nonbelieving musicians belong to the past. Some are still living, working, and performing - like the subjects of today's post on the contributions of freethinkers.

The band Pearl Jam was founded in Seattle, Washington in 1990, a part of the ... [visit site to read more]

Jehovah's Witnesses Hate the Smurfs

Ebonmuse — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:41:49 +0000

By Sarah Braasch

In the early 80's, the primary preoccupations of the Jehovah's Witnesses were Armageddon, Smurfs, Michael Jackson and demonic attack, but not necessarily in that order. As a young Jehovah's Witness girl, my worldview was what you might describe as surreal. Smurfs were little blue imps disguised as Saturday morning cartoon characters. They were capable of murder, rape, violence and general mayhem, and, as such, all Smurf paraphernalia had to be either banished or ... [visit site to read more]

Mr. T Tackles the Problem of Evil

Ebonmuse — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:11:19 +0000

It's not only professional philosophers and theologians who have an opinion on matters touching the sacred. Sometimes, gold-jewelry-wearing, mohawk-having, former '80s television and movie action stars have words of wisdom to express on these weighty matters. Like, for instance, Mr. T, who recently gave an ... [visit site to read more]

The Moral High Ground

Ebonmuse — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:40:27 +0000

It's common for fundamentalist Christians to think of themselves as the moral guardians of our culture, a bulwark against the rampant sex and violence in the mass media. But this self-flattering caricature runs up against inconvenient reality: there is plenty of evidence which shows that Christians as a whole are every bit as drawn to sex and violence as everyone else.

One of the best examples of this is Mel Gibson's film ... [visit site to read more]

CAP Alert Reviews II

Ebonmuse — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:03:46 +0000

It's been far too long since I first examined the lunacy that is the CAP Alert site. Interestingly, the site seems to have fallen on hard financial times: it is plastered with ads, and virtually every page contains text begging for donations. Their recent reviews show that the majority of movies released in the past few weeks were not reviewed because no one "sponsored" them to do so. The ... [visit site to read more]

Religion as Sports

Ebonmuse — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 02:30:26 +0000

In the United States of America, sports is a national obsession. Every week, tens of thousands of avid fans ... [visit site to read more]

Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code

Ebonmuse — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:04:41 +0000

I recently had an opportunity to see The Da Vinci Code, the movie based on Dan Brown's novel that alleges a sensational plot by the Catholic church to cover up the truth about the origins of Christianity.

First things first: Yes, I did enjoy the movie, and I do recommend it. Without a doubt, its plot mixes historical fact, speculation and pure fantasy in a slipshod way, and anyone who believes events literally happened that way is taking it far too seriously and giving it credibility ... [visit site to read more]