Posted on July 10th, 2012 by Staks
Last week, I published an article titled, “Atheist support for Obama down significantly.” The article itself did not advocate whether or not atheists should support Obama, just that many atheists are withdrawing their support for Obama. Most people responded to the article by pledging their undying loyalty to the President. I think that is a […]
Filed under: Obama, People of Reason, Political Activism, Politics | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 20th, 2012 by Staks
I have to admit that I am still fascinated by the recent conversion of former atheist blogger, Leah Libresco. Unlike the re-conversion of Patrick Greene, Libresco was a blogger and so I assume that she knew the standard arguments and was presumably knowledgeable about the plot holes, ridiculousness, and just factually incorrect aspects of Christianity. […]
Filed under: Catholics, conversation, ignorance, morality, People of Reason, Religious Manipulation | 8 Comments »
Posted on June 18th, 2012 by Staks
The community of reason has lost a great activist and leader over the weekend. Joe Fox worked and led various Humanist groups in the Philadelphia/Lehigh Valley area. He was a hands-on kind of guy and was one of the hardest workers I knew. The reports I have heard are that he probably died sometime on […]
Filed under: death, humanism, People of Reason, Personal | No Comments »
Posted on June 13th, 2012 by Staks
It’s true, as an atheist I happen to think reason is better than faith, knowledge is better than ignorance, and evidence is better than assertions. I, like most atheists, am in intellectual snob… and proud of it. And why shouldn’t I be? Why would anyone take pride in not being intellectual? I look down on […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, atheism, education, People of Reason | 3 Comments »
Posted on May 29th, 2012 by Staks
I don’t go to atheist conventions or conferences and I have three reasons for that. Two are practical and one is much less so. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad these conferences exist and I don’t want to discourage anyone from going to them. But I won’t be attending. One reason why I don’t […]
Filed under: atheism, Atheism NOT Religion, Coexist, Offensiveness, People of Reason | 17 Comments »
Posted on May 9th, 2012 by Staks
The Secular Coalition for America hired a new Executive Director who is a Republican. That means that she voted for Republicans and she worked for Republicans. Yet for some reason people are shocked that she gave money to Rick Perry and worked for Trent Lott. Atheism is not a religion and yet even the religious […]
Filed under: atheism, Atheism NOT Religion, church/state, culture war, People of Reason | No Comments »
Posted on May 4th, 2012 by Staks
There are two ways I can go with this blog. First, religious believers often tell me that they know that nothing they say will convert me to their religion of choice and that they know that I have already made up my mind. Second, it bothers me when people take something I said years ago […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Certainty, conversation, culture war, forgiveness, People of Reason | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 26th, 2012 by Staks
Yesterday Hemant Mehta of the Friendly Atheist took issue with comments made by physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in relation to atheism. In a video by BigThink, Tyson attempts to distance himself from atheism. Here’s the video: While I wouldn’t call myself a “militant atheist” because I don’t own any guns or advocate violence (the way […]
Filed under: Agnostism, atheism, Atheism NOT Religion, culture war, People of Reason | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 16th, 2012 by Staks
Hemant Mehta over at the Friendly Atheist is running a contest on twitter and facebook asking people to make atheist versions of Christian phrases. I actually think this is pretty brilliant and even though atheists have done this type of thing on their own in the past, I think it is good to do it […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, conversation, culture war, People of Reason, twitter | 3 Comments »
Posted on March 27th, 2012 by Staks
I know where I got my numbers from the Reason Rally, but I have no idea where everyone else is getting their numbers from. Some sources are reporting as little as 5000 people. My source said over 30k. Most sources are reporting 20k or 25k. Why is the media trying to under report our numbers? […]
Filed under: Argument by Popularity, atheism, People of Reason, Reason Rally | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 22nd, 2012 by Staks
I’m going to the Reason Rally and if you are reading this blog, you should be too. My plan is to drive down with my brother on Saturday and stay pretty late to party with fellow atheists. Celebrate with us. I plan on wearing my signature Dangerous Talk shirt and if I can remember, a […]
Filed under: atheism, humanism, People of Reason | No Comments »
Posted on March 20th, 2012 by Staks
We almost made it, but nope. Less than a week before the Reason Rally, drama has now ensued. It seems that atheists are better at sabotaging ourselves than even the Democrats… and that is really hard to do. So instead of dealing with our common problem (i.e. the theocrats) some people in our community have […]
Filed under: atheism, Atheism NOT Religion, Coexist, People of Reason | 4 Comments »
Posted on March 19th, 2012 by Staks
As we all know, the Reason Rally is next weekend and it seems that some people are upset because the purity of the atheist race will be tainted with some video speeches by people who are unreasonable about something in their lives. We all know that every speech must not only be 100% pure, but […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, atheism, Coexist, People of Reason | 8 Comments »
Posted on March 14th, 2012 by Staks
The Westboro Baptist Church is coming to the Reason Rally. Don’t worry; they were invited… sort of. The National Atheist Party sent them a tongue-and-cheek invitation and the WBC tweeted that they will accept that invitation. I like this idea. First, it should be pointed out that the WBC go where the attention is. So […]
Filed under: Coexist, culture war, Current Events, Media, People of Reason | 3 Comments »
Posted on March 9th, 2012 by Staks
I’m excited about the Reason Rally on March 24th at 10am. I’m so excited that I posted my second HuffPost article on it and really pushed to get it through. I am excited to see all the guests… and not just the speakers either. However, I want more. There are several famous atheists who should […]
Filed under: atheism, humanism, People of Reason | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 5th, 2012 by Staks
The audience of Dangerous Talk is almost always my fellow atheists with the occasional Christian or other fundamentalist believer. My Examiner articles get a more diverse mix of people. Religious believers often read and comment on my articles there. But I want to reach out to more religious believers than I get through Examiner. For […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, Coexist, conversation, culture war, humanism, journalism, People of Reason, Personal, Progressive Christians | No Comments »
Posted on February 29th, 2012 by Staks
This is a topic I have talked about often, but recently two advocates have come forward in support of two competing visions for the future. These two views represent a stark contrast from each other and we really need to think about this now. The future of humanity is being written right now and we […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, anti-intellectualism, culture war, education, humanism, People of Reason, science, The Future | No Comments »
Posted on February 20th, 2012 by Staks
I’m guilty of this too, but atheists show too much restraint and respect for other people’s beliefs even the ridiculous literal beliefs of fundamentalist believers. Over the weekend, I was at a party that a fellow atheist was hosting. Knowing that my friend has some very religious family members, I pulled him over and asked […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, conversation, delusion, discrimination, humanism, People of Reason, Religious Manipulation | 4 Comments »
Posted on January 25th, 2012 by Staks
The state of the union is fucked up. It is fucked up because we have politicians who are bought and sold by corporate lobbyists and who more often than not try to appease religious zealots rather than scientifically minded constituents. Our country and our world will not get better until we take the money out […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, church/state, culture war, Current Events, Obama, People of Reason, Political Activism, Politics | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 15th, 2011 by Staks
Former Star Trek actor, gay activist, and Humanist George Takei has been on fire lately. When a bill was on the table in one of the southern states (I forget which one) that attempted to restrict teachers from using the word, “gay” in the classroom, George Takei stepped up with his, “It’s okay to be […]
Filed under: culture war, facebook, Gay Issues, humanism, People of Reason, Personal, twitter | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 8th, 2011 by Staks
Thirty-one years ago today, musician and activist John Lennon was shot and killed. I wonder what he would be doing if he were alive today. Aside from the awesome music which might have been made, what would Lennon’s activism look like in today’s world? For starters, he would almost certainly be a large voice supporting […]
Filed under: Current Events, death, Hope, John Lennon, People of Reason, Political Activism | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 29th, 2011 by Staks
I recently watched Greta Christina’s presentation at Skepticon IV about why atheists are angry. It is well worth the watching. In it, she mentioned that Christians often give atheists advice on how we should run our movement. This particularly caught my attention because I hear this all the time and even heard it shortly before […]
Filed under: atheism, billboards, culture war, humanism, People of Reason, Religion | No Comments »
Posted on October 26th, 2011 by Staks
I was reading a friend’s blog yesterday and one of the things she experiences seemed similar to what I recently experienced in relation to my friend’s funeral. We were both bullied into silence and forced to hide our lack of belief in the ridiculous. As it turns out, most people in the greater community of […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Authority, Car Bomb Argument, Coexist, culture war, discrimination, Evils of Christianity, morality, Offensiveness, People of Reason, Personal, Religious Manipulation | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 17th, 2011 by Staks
Over the weekend, one of my college friends died. He was a young guy and would occasionally comment on my facebook wall when I was discussing politics. While he might have denied it, I claim him as the first person I deconverted away from Christianity. What I realized however is that much of the words […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, death, People of Reason, Personal, Religious Manipulation | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 4th, 2011 by Staks
In a debate between Sam Harris and Rabbi David Wolpe, Harris talked about how when people talk about their belief that Elvis is still alive in job interviews, etc. there is an immediate price to be paid. When politicians invoke religious terminology there should be a price they too should have to pay. Let’s be […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, church/state, culture war, Decline of Religion, Election, Government, Offensiveness, People of Reason, Political Activism | No Comments »
Posted on September 22nd, 2011 by Staks
I hate when people go out of their way to appear honest. This usually means that they really aren’t honest and are just trying to put up a false front. However, sometimes actually being honest isn’t enough. For atheists we not only have to be honest, but since we are often under a microscope by […]
Filed under: atheism, morality, People of Reason | 1 Comment »
Posted on September 12th, 2011 by Staks
Unless you have been in a cryogenic sleep, you are no doubt aware that yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The day has been dubbed by then President Bush as Patriot Day. Over the last few days, me and just about everyone else had a lot of things to say about this […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, education, Patriot Day, People of Reason, The Future | No Comments »
Posted on August 23rd, 2011 by Staks
It seems that many religious believers can’t understand a life without authority figures. When arguing with a Christian recently, he told me that Richard Dawkins believes in Intelligent Design therefore I ought to accept it too. What he did was he took a clip from the ridiculously edited film Expelled in which Dawkins says that […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, Authority, People of Reason, Religious Manipulation, science | No Comments »
Posted on August 19th, 2011 by Staks
According to the Bible, one cannot serve two masters. So my question to politicians is, “Are you a public servant or a servant of God?” I think it is time for the greater community of reason to start throwing our weight around in politics. We need to start making it clear to politicians that we […]
Filed under: culture war, Election, People of Reason, Political Activism, Politics | 7 Comments »
Posted on July 22nd, 2011 by Staks
Yesterday, I saw a great video on YouTube by Dusty Smith. In the video he talks about the claim Christians often make that atheists believe in nothing. Then, last night I attended my local monthly atheist meetup group. If atheists believe in nothing, then a social group of atheist must have nothing to talk about. […]
Filed under: atheism, conversation, discussion, People of Reason | 1 Comment »
