I live in Pennsylvania and apparently around there, the right wing “think tank” Freedom Works has put up signs all over the place saying, “School Choice is the Right Choice.” Every time I see these signs, my blood boils. The problem with these signs is that it frames the issue as a choice issue rather […]
Filed under: church/state, culture war, education, Politics | 1 Comment »
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 »
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 »
Whenever there is a sex scandal or just about anything at all having to do with sex or sexuality, Christians are often quick to complain, “How am I going to explain this to my kids?” I never really understood their complaint until somewhat recently. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t understand the complaint in […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Church, conversation, culture war, education, Parenting, Personal, Religion, Religious Manipulation | 5 Comments »
Awhile back, I met a Democratic Party candidate running for a local county office. I have met this candidate several times since I am active within the county party. But not long ago, my friend learned that this candidate rejects the science of evolution in favor of Creationism. It is one thing for the wacky […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, church/state, Creationism, culture war, education, facebook, faith, free speech, Personal, Politics | 4 Comments »
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 »
It was just a few weeks ago that a Christian commented to me that, “The internet has actually worsened god’s world because science is spread quicker than the truth.” And now Christian apologist Josh McDowell has pretty much come out and said the same thing… to an audience of Christians no less. I love these […]
Filed under: Alternative Worldview, Coexist, conversation, culture war, Decline of Religion, education, People of Reason, Skepticism | 2 Comments »
I am tired of churches lobbying to pass laws that force schools to teach their religion in science classes. Sure we can fight their efforts again and again, but it is time we go on the offense. It is time we start pushing laws that force churches to teach the science at least once a […]
Filed under: atheism, Church, church/state, culture war, education, evolution, global climate change, science | No Comments »
Recently President Obama decided to take military action in Libya. We are already involved in military action in Iraq (still) and Afghanistan. We are fighting as if this was still the 20th century. The problem is that we are now in the information age and we ought to be conducting our wars accordingly. Missiles, bombs, […]
Filed under: education, facebook, islam, Obama, Politics, twitter | 1 Comment »
Yesterday, a Christian on Twitter called me “ignorant” because he didn’t like the title of my article which he did not bother to read. I tried to explain to him that ignorance is of a particular nature that it can be cured through education. In his case, he could read the article he commented on […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, education, ignorance, language, Projection | 3 Comments »
One of the things that really annoys me about fundamentalist Christians is that they often have an ignorance of an entire field of study; sometimes multiple fields of study. But Ethics in particular seems to be a field that many Christians aren’t even aware exists. It is not unusual for me to be in a […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, conversation, education, ignorance, morality, Religion | 3 Comments »
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 »
I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July weekend. I celebrated my independence from gods by taking the family on vacation to Carl Sagan’s old stomping groups in Ithaca New York. There we took the Sagan Planet Walk and Paced the Space. We walked from the Sun marker to the marker of the Earth […]
Filed under: Argument by Design, Disproving God, education, god, humanism, People of Reason, science | 3 Comments »
It is a pet peeve of mine when fellow people of reason call themselves, “Evolutionists.” I get it when fundy Christians call people that, but when people of reason use that label on themselves, I get annoyed. They should fucking know better! Creationists use that label on others because they are trying to lower the […]
Filed under: culture war, education, evolution, Religion, science | No 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 »
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 »
Over the weekend I watched a documentary titled: The Education of Shelby Knox. The documentary is about a teenaged girl’s attempt to bring comprehensive sex education to the fundamentalist controlled city of Lubbock, Texas. Shelby Knox is a Christian. Her whole family is Christian and the film portrays the city as being almost entirely fundamentalist […]
Filed under: church/state, culture war, education, Evils of Christianity, family values, Gay Issues, Religion, sex, Vague Higher Power | 6 Comments »
It is kind of funny sometimes when religious fundamentalists claim that America is an atheist nation. Sometimes they even say that in the same breath as when they tell me that America is a Christian nation. Of course I have to inquire. Sometimes religious people don’t understand the difference between atheism and secularism and as […]
Filed under: atheism, church/state, culture war, education, Religion | 4 Comments »
Often times when I get into a conversation with a fundamentalist Christian, they tend to get offended by the mere possibility that they don’t know everything. I think people of reason and fundamentalists have a very different view of knowledge and a much different view of what it means to lack knowledge. As a person […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, education, god of the gaps, ignorance, Religion | 5 Comments »
Yesterday, two of my favorite authors verbally attacked each other on the interweb pages of foreignpolicy.com. Sam Harris and Karen Armstrong have both written outstanding books. As an atheist, I frequently recommend Armstrong’s The History of God and The Bible: A Biography to Christians. I also recommend Harris’s Letter to a Christian Nation. Armstrong asserts […]
Filed under: atheism, education, People of Reason, Religion, Vague Higher Power | 5 Comments »
Yesterday, I got the H1N1 vaccine. But for weeks now, I have been hearing about all the conspiracies and concerns in relation to this vaccine. Some seem perfectly rational and understandable while others are as ridiculous as the Abrahamic God. The more ridiculous concerns about this particular vaccine deal with the evil Illuminati. Apparently, they […]
Filed under: Current Events, education, healthcare, New World Order, Vaccines | 20 Comments »
Fundamentalist Christians constantly say that God has been banned from public school. That is a lie. God has not been “banned” from public schools at all. If a child wants to pray to God, Jesus, Allah, Xenu, or Ringo Star before, during, or even after a test, they are absolutely free to do so. While […]
Filed under: culture war, education, free speech, prayer, Preaching, Religion | 28 Comments »
A very popular 11th grade English teacher was suspended last week because he handed out a short story by Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk. The story was called “Guts” and is a cautionary tale about teens experimenting with masturbation techniques. The story is pretty graphic and is full of strong imagery. Aside from the obvious […]
Filed under: education, Religion, sex | 8 Comments »
While intelligence is no guarantee that someone knows what they are talking about, the fact is that statistics show that the more educated someone is the less likely they are to 1. Vote Republican and 2. Believe in a personified deity. Conversely, the less educated someone is the more likely they are to vote Republican […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, education, palin, Politics, Religion | 12 Comments »
Why is it that so many Christians assume incorrectly that Christianity has the monopoly on family values? We live in a pluralistic society, and as such, people’s values will clash. Fundamental Christianity in particular has to learn that they cannot censor someone else’s values or culture because those values offend the rigid fundamentalist Christian value […]
Filed under: atheism, discussion, education, morality, Parenting, People of Reason, Religion | 48 Comments »
After failing to be allowed to teach Creationism in public classrooms across America, Creationists moved to the idea of Intelligent Design. Now that watered down version of Creationism has also been thrown out of public schools for being a ridiculously poor attempt to indoctrinate children about Creationism. But Creationists aren’t giving up. They have now […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, church/state, Current Events, education, Politics, Religion | 12 Comments »
A surprising number of people (some of whom are even educators by profession) don’t seem to understand the difference between education and indoctrination. While at times indoctrination may be used to educate, the fact is that they are two very different things. Education is a process of teaching people things. Indoctrination is something which may […]
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, education, Religion | 5 Comments »
