Posted on January 18th, 2011 by Staks
Lately the American Atheist billboard campaign has gotten a lot of criticism… from atheists. Rebecca Watson from SkepChick and PZ Myers from Pharyngula have both criticized the ad campaign (among others). So it occurred to me that maybe American Atheists might need some help in coming up with their next billboard. What atheist billboard would […]
Filed under: atheism, billboards, culture war | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 17th, 2011 by Staks
Today is the day we celebrate the birth and life of Martin Luther King Jr. To start off, I am a fan, I think Dr. King’s “I had a dream” speech was a great. Aside from the spattering of references to God, which one would expect to find in any political speech, this speech expresses […]
Filed under: church/state, Coexist, culture war, humanism, Martin Luther King Jr., People of Reason | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 14th, 2011 by Staks
Continuing from yesterday’s analysis of my debate on the Bob Enyart radio show (first half-hour now on yesterday’s blog), I wanted to point out a particular trick that Bob used in our debate. Perhaps it is because he believes in authoritative doctrine, that he assumes that science is authoritative too. So his style of attack […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Atheism NOT Religion, Authority, Creationism, culture war, debate, evolution, science | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 12th, 2011 by Staks
Surprisingly, there are many religious believers (some even ardent fundamentalists) who have never actually thought about what they believe and why. Last night, I read an article from one such believer… I think. In any case, I think it is important to reach out to these religious believers and to get them to actually think […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, culture war, discussion, Personal, Religion | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 11th, 2011 by Staks
In the wake of the Arizona shootings, a facebook page was created called, “Thoughts and Prayers for Rep. Giffords & Other Victims.” I actually don’t have a problem with this particular page even though it calls for prayers it also calls for thoughts. This to me is an acknowledgment that not everyone prays. However, Christians […]
Filed under: culture war, Preaching, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 7th, 2011 by Staks
It seems that many religious people are offended every time an atheist makes his or her lack of belief known. This is why organized atheism offends them so much lately. Why are they so offended by our mere existence? In George Orwell’s book 1984, there is a very interesting and often overlooked conversation. In this […]
Filed under: 1984, Alternative Worldview, Authority, Blasphemy, culture war, deathbed conversion, Offensiveness, Religion, Religious Manipulation, science | 4 Comments »
Posted on January 5th, 2011 by Staks
Let me start off by saying that I am extremely critical of the performances of atheists when they go up against pundits. While Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris usually get B’s, I have only graded one atheist an A+. Most atheists get failing grades. Last night Dave Silverman of American Atheists joined that crowd. There […]
Filed under: atheism, billboards, culture war, Mainstream Christians, Media | 4 Comments »
Posted on January 3rd, 2011 by Staks
Within the last year, many American Muslims have been using the term “Islamaphobia” to describe the fear people have of the Muslim religion. Being labeled an Islamaphobic is generally considered akin to racism. Last year Bill Donahue of the Catholic League coined the term “Catholic-phobia” and in a recent conversation I had with a Christian […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, culture war, delusion, faith, ignorance | 2 Comments »
Posted on December 23rd, 2010 by Staks
Now that 2010 is almost over and Jupiter has still not turned into a second Sun, I want to take a moment to let everyone know about a few of the things Dangerous Talk has planned for 2011. On January 12th, I will be a guest of the fundamentalist Christian radio show “Bob Enyart Live.” […]
Filed under: atheism, billboards, conversation, culture war, Disproving God, End of Days, Media, Religion, The Rapture, Vague Higher Power | 3 Comments »
Posted on December 17th, 2010 by Staks
One of the most common attacks that Creationsists make is that “Evolutionists” are responsible for Hitler’s Eugenics program. This is of course ridiculous and in reality is no different than claiming that Gravitiests are responsible for the crimes of murderers dropping people out a window. First, I take issue with the term “Evolutionist.” Evolution is […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Creationism, culture war, evolution, morality, Religious Manipulation, science | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 10th, 2010 by Staks
Earlier in the week, I talked about how Margaret Downey of the Freethought Society is asking people to put a Tree of Knowledge in their homes this year, take a photo of their trees, and send them to her. I will be doing this hopefully next week. But in the meantime, I have created a […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, free speech, humanism | No Comments »
Posted on December 8th, 2010 by Staks
It was thirty years ago today that John Lennon was murders. Lennon was not only a great musician with the Beatles and on his own, but he was also a strong activist for social change. He took an extremely optimistic view of Humanity and was the world’s most visible Humanist and atheist. John Lennon wrote […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, Personal | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 6th, 2010 by Staks
For too long, Christians have claimed the monopoly on the winter season. While they have allowed Jews into the club despite the fact that Hanukkah is a relatively minor holiday. A few years ago many in the atheist community made our claim for inclusion in the winter season with the holiday of Human Light and […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, Atheism NOT Religion, Christmas, church/state, culture war, Current Events, free speech, humanism, Neighbor, People of Reason, Personal, Tree of Knowledge | 4 Comments »
Posted on December 1st, 2010 by Staks
As a critical thinker, I criticize a lot of ridiculous ideas. 9/11 Truthers, grand conspiracy theorists, ghosts, aliens, psychic powers, etc. are all things which I am critical of even though I actually believe in some of them to some degree. But when it comes to religion everyone gets offended. Let’s start with Christianity. I […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, culture war, ignorance, islam, jews, Mainstream Christians, Religion, Religious Manipulation, Skepticism | 8 Comments »
Posted on November 30th, 2010 by Staks
So lately the media has been obsessed with the TSA’s body scanners and pat downs. I am pretty sure that the body scanners have been in use for months but have only filtered down to the news media’s attention recently. In any case, we don’t really need either the scanners or the pat down. It […]
Filed under: Authority, culture war, islam, Politics, sex | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 29th, 2010 by Staks
Over the weekend, I attended a family function. It was my Uncle’s 90th surprise birthday party and it was being held at a Knights of Columbus Hall. The Knights of Columbus is like the super Catholic Freemasons. Outside the Hall was a lawn sign which read, “Keep the Christ in Christmas.” So right away I […]
Filed under: Catholics, culture war, Personal, Religion | No Comments »
Posted on November 15th, 2010 by Staks
Over the weekend, I had the interesting opportunity to visit a discount Christian bookstore. Whenever I can, I like to take a look at what Christians are selling and buying. I just find it fascinating. I feel like a anthropologist studying a primitive culture. For starters, I love how the store was open on Saturday […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 10th, 2010 by Staks
Yesterday the American Humanist Association launched their big multimedia campaign. I think it is a great time to talk briefly about their campaign and about where the focus of these groups should be going. If you haven’t heard about this campaign please check out my Examiner article on it. For starters, I have been critical […]
Filed under: atheism, billboards, culture war, humanism, Media, People of Reason | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 8th, 2010 by Staks
Last Tuesday was Election Day and I spent the entire day at the polls as Minority Election Inspector. Toward the end of the day after the polls had closed, I got into a short conversation with a Republican poll watcher who was hanging out waiting for the results. The topic was on the role of […]
Filed under: church/state, culture war, Current Events, Law, Political Activism, Politics | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 4th, 2010 by Staks
There is nothing worse than sitting in a firehouse for 13 hours being forced to listen to church gossip. Tuesday, I had to sit in my polling place all day as the Minority Election Inspector and all my coworkers were Catholics. First, I want to say that one was a liberal Catholic and the others […]
Filed under: Catholics, Church, conversation, culture war, Election, Personal | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 1st, 2010 by Staks
Over the weekend, Jon Stewart held the Rally to Restore Sanity and tomorrow is Election Day so I thought I would talk about this myth that both political parties are equally extreme. Toward the end of the rally, Stewart gave his closing speech in which he talked about how people from both sides of the […]
Filed under: church/state, conversation, culture war, Current Events, Election, End of Days, People of Reason, Political Activism, Politics | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 26th, 2010 by Staks
Over the weekend, I seem to have gotten into a few conversations with various progressive Christians. These are Christians who take their faith seriously, but who tend to focus more on poverty issues than the culture war issues. They are the so called, “good cops.” First, I got into a conversation with the progressive Christians […]
Filed under: conversation, culture war, discussion, good cop-bad cop, Progressive Christians, Religion | 3 Comments »
Posted on October 22nd, 2010 by Staks
Not long ago, I made the case that the Tea Party was a re-branding of the Christian Right. A few “Tea Baggers” disagreed and reiterated the position that it is an pro-Constitution/cut government waste movement. Well, this is their lucky day, because I have discovered a perfect test to see which one of us is […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, church/state, culture war, Political Activism, Politics, Religion | No Comments »
Posted on October 20th, 2010 by Staks
A lot of people criticize me and other atheists because we criticize religion. They seem to think that criticism is “being negative.” Oddly enough, these people don’t think they are being negative when they criticize us for being negative. People keep asking me to stop being critical of religion and to stop mocking religion. But […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, Criticism, culture war, ignorance, Offensiveness, Religion | 5 Comments »
Posted on October 12th, 2010 by Staks
I was talking to a fundamentalist Christian friend yesterday and I asked him if he thought gay marriage should be illegal. He informed me that homosexuality was a sin and that he has no objections to making “wallowing in sin” illegal. So I asked him if all sin should be illegal and he said, yes. […]
Filed under: church/state, culture war, family values, Political Activism, the bible | 3 Comments »
Posted on October 11th, 2010 by Staks
Over the weekend, two of my friends got married… I mean Civil Unioned. This was the second Civil Union I’ve attended. While everyone had a great time and I am very happy for my friends, I can stop thinking about the fact that technically they are not actually married. While they have most of the […]
Filed under: church/state, culture war, Gay Issues, Mainstream Christians, Religion | 6 Comments »
Posted on October 5th, 2010 by Staks
The other day, I got an e-mail from Liberty University. It was actually more of a spam mail. It seems that the Jerry Falwell School of Brainwashing has started an online degree program. I feel sorry for online colleges like Phoenix University that already struggles to be taken seriously and not they are put in […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, Biblical Scholarship, culture war, education, ignorance, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 4th, 2010 by Staks
Christians often accuse me of being too vocal about my atheism. Some have even claimed that I wear my atheism on my sleeve. While I do have a few atheist t-shirts (maybe three), I rarely wear them except to atheist meetings and meet-ups. Sure I have a bumper sticker, but that really is about it. […]
Filed under: culture war, image of god, Religion | 5 Comments »
Posted on September 28th, 2010 by Staks
After 9/11, four atheists started to write books criticizing religion. While the media has dubbed these atheists “New Atheists,” Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett have jokingly labeled themselves as “The Four Horsemen of Atheism.” Now I think there is a fifth horseman, Stephen Hawking. At the beginning of the month, Stephen […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, discussion, good cop-bad cop, science | 4 Comments »
Posted on September 27th, 2010 by Staks
While there are many really important people and great voices within the greater atheistic community, there are two people in particular that I consider my atheist heroes (currently living). Over the weekend, I got to hang out with one of them. The so called “Four Horsemen of Atheism” are all great people and worthy of […]
Filed under: atheism, culture war, humanism, People of Reason | 3 Comments »
