Of course atheists are charitable. That is a pretty silly question. We can point to the fact that atheist billionaires have donated half their fortunes to charity and have encouraged other billionaires to do the same. The fact is that most atheists don’t donate in the name of atheism. We just donate to organizations on […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, humanism, People of Reason | No Comments »
I think this is a problem with any minority group which has had to fight for acceptance so I don’t think atheists are in general pessimistic. In fact, most atheists I know tend to be pretty optimistic. But for some reason, whenever an atheist is trying to make a difference and to do something for […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, humanism, Political Activism, Politics | 2 Comments »
I have been a vocal atheist for almost twenty years now and have been an active member of the greater atheistic community for about half that time. Over the years, I have discussed and argued with people from many different religions and many different sects of the varying religions. A few years back, I even […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, discussion, humanism, People of Reason | 3 Comments »
It’s official; I am now the coordinator of the Philadelphia Coalition of Reason. Basically, this means that it is my job to help the seven atheistic organizations in the Philadelphia area to work together to promote reason and humanistic values. The problem with coordinating atheists is that we are frequently described as herded cats. We […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, humanism, People of Reason | 7 Comments »
It has been a busy weekend and I will take a few days to talk about everything. Today, I want to talk about the Lehigh Valley Humanist picnic featuring Sam Singleton atheist evangelist… sort of. I think it is really important for people or reason to have summer picnics. It gives us a chance to […]
Filed under: atheism, humanism, People of Reason | 3 Comments »
Social media is a big thing these days. Facebook and Twitter have become missive hubs of global communication. Not surprisingly, atheists tend to have a larger than proportional presence on these mediums. Atheists dominate the internet. Now there is a new social network that atheists need to take over. I recently joined a website called […]
Filed under: atheism, facebook, People of Reason, twitter | 1 Comment »
A lot of people have been asking me why I keep talking about Anne Rice’s decision to leave Christianity. One reason is because it is personal to me. Growing up, I was a big fan of most of her Vampire Chronicle series. They were the first vampire series that I am aware of that was […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, ex-athest, Personal | No Comments »
I am pretty well established vocal atheist. On the scale of atheism, I am often lumped in with Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris as a “New Atheist” or “militant atheist.” I prefer to see myself more as a “bad cop” of atheism. So imagine my surprise when I found out that on at least one issue […]
Filed under: atheism, Current Events, de-conversion, People of Reason | 4 Comments »
Last weekend was the Philadelphia Coalition of Reason’s annual Unity Picnic. This year however, when I was putting together the Examiner article to promote the event I learned a few things. I learned that the local Humanist group was pretty much doing all the work and that the rest of the coalition was really doing […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, humanism, People of Reason, Personal | 5 Comments »
In case you were not aware, July is Global Atheist Blasphemy Month. While the details are explained in the Examiner article, the gist of the occasion is for atheists to claim blasphemy. Instead of being offended by all the usual suspects that religious people are offended by, this month is our turn to be offended […]
Filed under: atheism, Blasphemy, culture war, Religion | 3 Comments »
Last week, I got into an interesting conversation with a fellow atheist about de-converting Christians. My new atheist friend expressed the opinion that he thought moderate Christians were easier to de-convert and I expressed the opinion that I thought fundamentalists were easier to de-convert. I am not actually sure that either of us could prove […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, de-conversion, Religion | 2 Comments »
Since well known atheists like Richard Dawkins and others have been vocal in their criticism of religion there has been a backlash by a few other atheists like Greg Epstein. Some atheists have been inspired by the “four horsemen” while other have decided to take a different approach. That’s fine, not all atheists have to […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, atheism, culture war, Religion | 4 Comments »
A popular Christian strategy for winning converts is basically to see how any arguments they can bombard you with in as little time as possible. The idea is to carpet bomb their mark with lots of arguments with the hope that at least one of them will resonate with their mark. On the off chance […]
Filed under: Argument by Design, atheism, conversation, culture war, discussion, First Cause Argument, god of the gaps, ignorance, Ontological Argument, prophecies, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 2 Comments »
One of the big advantages that religion has over the greater atheist/Humanist community is money. Christians are used to supporting and funding the propagation of their message. Many Christians even donate “their last dollar” to further “God’s Work.” In this world, money talks and so we need to start tithing for reason. In the free […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, Decline of Religion, humanism, People of Reason, Preaching | 3 Comments »
Last night, Obama made his pick for the replacement of Supreme Court Justice Paul Stevens. His pick is Elena Kagan, the current Solicitor General. Is it a good pick? Should we as atheists be supporting her? Earlier today I wrote an article of the Examiner page talking about Elena Kagan’s record on church/state issues. It […]
Filed under: atheism, church/state, culture war, Current Events, Law, Obama, People of Reason, Politics, Religion | 18 Comments »
I love when Christians ask atheists questions that they should fucking know the answers to. I know they are all about their bronze-aged story book, but we live in the information age now. Now the one true God is Google. Seriously, before Christians try to ask an atheist a question that he or she thinks […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, discussion, education, Religion | 5 Comments »
You may have seen them on cars or t-shirts, the coexist message has become fairly popular with liberal Christians and other liberal religious people. On the surface, it sounds like a pretty cool movement, but I do have a few issues with it. Have you seen this Bumper Sticker: Each letter represents a different religion […]
Filed under: atheism, billboards, Coexist, conversation, culture war, Decline of Religion, free speech, Progressive Christians, Religion | 12 Comments »
During the 2008 primary, I strongly opposed Barack Obama as the candidate. I didn’t buy into his message of Change and Hope. While I voted for him in the general election, I still think that he was full of shit. As a point of fact, he hasn’t changed the healthcare system or any other policy […]
Filed under: atheism, Current Events, education, Hope, Obama, People of Reason, Politics, science, The Future | 17 Comments »
YouTube has become one of the largest websites on the internet. It gives people a voice and allows for the free flow of ideas. This is one of the main reasons why atheism dominates YouTube so much. But there are some concerns in regard to censorship. While I understand YouTube’s concerns in dealing with copyright […]
Filed under: atheism, censorship, Current Events | 16 Comments »
Due to the recent string of scandals plaguing the Catholic Church, Vatican Biblical scholars have been studying the Bible carefully to find out God’s opinion on rape. They can’t seem to find any passage which states or infers that child rape is a sin. Earlier this morning, the Pope met in a closed door session […]
Filed under: atheism, morality, People of Reason, Religion, science, sin | 9 Comments »
Yesterday, I watched the ABC Nightline debate between Sam Harris and Deepak Chopra featuring Michael Shermer and some crazy lady. The subject of the debate was whether or not God has a future. In reality, the real debate was whether or not Deepak Chopra is trying to be the next L. Ron Hubbard. Many times […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, Decline of Religion, delusion, god, image of god, Religion, Vague Higher Power | 10 Comments »
Project Reason has officially launched their video contest. The goal of the contest is to have people make videos which help to spread scientific thinking and secular values. Nine videos have been nominated, but only one is really any good. When you go to the voting page, all the videos are randomized and every time […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, Current Events, People of Reason, science | 2 Comments »
Society has been so dominated by Judeo-Christian beliefs that even people who don’t believe in a god are still brainwashed into using God language. How many times have you said, “God bless you” after someone sneezes? “God Bless you” is just one example and many non-religious people have started to use other phrases instead of […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, language, People of Reason, Religious Manipulation | 14 Comments »
We live in a religion dominated world. Over the last few years atheists have been more public with our lack of belief in imaginary deities. The OutCampaign has helped that a lot, but how “out” are you? How “out” should we be? When I go out to a store or a mall, it is not […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, People of Reason | 13 Comments »
What does it mean to claim that we “know” something? Religious people often throw this term around in relation to their deity of choice. They know that their god is real. But what does that really mean? For starters, we have to understand what it means to know. I could say that I know that […]
Filed under: atheism, faith, logic, Religion, science, truth | 2 Comments »
Atheism is on the rise in America and the world and as such we have become a bigger target for religionists. Many religious people attempt to make it seem like being a vocal atheist is something new and militant but the fact is that there is nothing new, mean, or hateful about criticizing ridiculous ideas. […]
Filed under: atheism, Atheism NOT Religion, censorship, culture war, Decline of Religion, People of Reason, Religion | 5 Comments »
A University of Texas San Antonio student group called The Atheist Agenda has created a program on their campus called “Smut for Smut.” The atheist group is giving away pornography in exchange for Bibles. This apparently has caused quite a stir both among Christians and surprisingly among other atheists. I get why Christians are up […]
Filed under: atheism, Atheism NOT Religion, billboards, culture war, discussion, free speech | 22 Comments »
Despite President Obama’s rhetoric about transparency in government, the White House has made the delegates from the Secular Coalition of America (SCA) take an oath of secrecy. I have talked about this more in my Examiner article which I hope everyone will check out. But I want to say a bit more about this issue. […]
Filed under: atheism, church/state, culture war, Current Events, Obama, People of Reason, Political Activism, Politics | 12 Comments »
Even though it is pretty well established that I am an atheist, I still get e-mails for “Prayers” or to join “Prayer Chains.” On social networking sites I also see these stupid things. How ought an atheist respond to such things? For starters, I have to figure out what these people are hoping to accomplish […]
Filed under: atheism, Hope, morality, prayer | 15 Comments »
One of the things, which really helped the gay community in gaining more mainstream acceptance is the portrayal of gay characters on television. Shows like Will & Grace were able to introduce many who have never met a gay person to that community and to show that gay people are just like everyone else. Today, […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, Decline of Religion, Religion | 5 Comments »
