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September 2009 Blog Posts (177)

"She had her faith and that's all that mattered..."

Last Monday I went to the funeral for the wife of a coworker. Unbeknown to me, it ended up being a full blown 1.5 hour Catholic mass. In the last 30 years, you can count on one hand how many masses I’ve been to. Twice my mother guilt-tripped me into going about 25 years ago (she gave up trying long ago). The other times were funerals like this week. This was my first mass since joining A/N and becoming basically an anti-theist.

I went with two coworkers who are both religious. I did… Continue

Added by Dave Rogers on September 24, 2009 at 11:00pm — 3 Comments

Punishing the Many for the Crimes of a Few

I'm a student at the University of Mississippi and live in Stockard Hall, a residence hall of eleven floors that houses roughly 500 students. From the beginning of this year, a few idiots have had the bright idea of pulling fire alarms in the dead of the night. What that means is a mandatory evacuation of every student in the hall -- for me, a 20-flight trip down the stairs -- and waiting outside for the fire department to arrive, search the building, and then lecture us for half an hour about… Continue

Added by ThorsDecree on September 24, 2009 at 9:22pm — 5 Comments

On Ghost Hunting

Now, I love SciFi, or SyFy, or whatever... I love it a lot. They put out a lot of really interesting shows and I wait eagerly for the new Stargate -- but -- why do they keep entertaining the curiosities of idiots?

I'm talking about Ghost Hunters, its spin off Ghost Hunters: International, and something painfully similar, Destination Truth.

I have to ask myself, 'Do they ever get tired of finding nothing?' I mean, honestly, they never find anything. Joshua Gates, the host… Continue

Added by Louis on September 24, 2009 at 8:17pm — 4 Comments

OK, but do we deserve to be hated?

From Not My God

Off-topic: why do we often say, “That’s for history to decide”? Why is the opinion/assessment of people in the future more important than ours? Are they better than us? Don’t let future history boss you around!

OK, enough stand-up.

Not My God functions as an illustration of how atheists are hated in the United States. Depending on where you are in the rest of the world,… Continue

Added by Sarah Trachtenberg on September 24, 2009 at 3:28pm — 4 Comments

Cole's Law

Cole’s Law: In any given political discussion, if religion is mentioned, the probability of the discussion shifting to a flame war about religion and the Founding Fathers approaches one.

Added by Rooker on September 24, 2009 at 2:23pm — No Comments

Harrassing letters from a guy who "cares."

This guy has been emailing me for 3 months. I started ignoring him a long time ago. He wanted to be on my show, because he is a "deacon in his church." I found he had nothing more to say, no topic, no expertise other than this church status. I declined his offer, because he only offered to talk about his "theories why atheists disbelieve in Christ." So that was that, right?

In later emails I told him we had little more to say on the subject. I was polite and conversational, and… Continue

Added by Rev Hellbound Alleee on September 24, 2009 at 9:59am — 7 Comments

Really Huge Survey of Non-religious Americans

Wouldn't you know it. I search for a comprehensive survey on religion, from which to extract freethinker-related stats. I find a big one (35,000+ interviews) from Pew and post the relevant information.

Then, without even trying, I find a BIGGER survey targeted exactly where I wanted it: at the American non-religious (a group I'm calling "freethinkers"). This newer survey, from Trinity College, sampled 54,461 adults, then zeroed in on the 7,407 non-religious (called, "Nones")… Continue

Added by Atheist Exile on September 23, 2009 at 11:41pm — 2 Comments

in the thick of it

holy shit! i still have a nexus account!

good to know... i've got some fun stories to share with the world.

see, after graduation, i took a job in a small oklahoma town and have landed in an office run by a gun toting baptist. which, frankly, is AWESOME.

at press time, i am a little too tired to begin my narrative, but i can't wait to get to work on life in fundie filled OK.

good to know this community is alive and well!

Added by Cati on September 23, 2009 at 11:34pm — 1 Comment

Twitter, smitter

My twitter account which pretty much sums up my feelings about twitter.

Added by Louis Davout on September 23, 2009 at 10:43pm — 2 Comments

Southern California Book Tour

I had a great time meeting and speaking to groups throughout SoCal. The Riverside group was amazing. 81 people attended and it seemed that all wanted to talk afterward. I didn't get back to my hotel until 1:00 AM! We went out to eat afterwards with Giovanna and Jen and had some great laughs. Check out the Riverside meetup site

http://www.meetup.com/InlandEmpireAtheists/calendar/11163844/ They have some great photos and comments on the event.

Next I went to San Diego and… Continue

Added by Darrel Ray on September 23, 2009 at 8:30pm — No Comments

Is a new Mormon right emerging?

Hi AN: I haven't posted from Good Reason News here in a while, but I thought this one was especially important. Please feel free to comment here or there.

-b.

Here's the most recent edition of…

Continue

Added by Billy Deaton on September 23, 2009 at 8:24pm — No Comments

It isn't about atheists versus theists

I've been pondering this for a couple of weeks now, and I think I've come to a conclusion. The current "cultural conflict" between atheists and the religious has little to anything to do with belief in any gods. It has to do with what the "New Atheists" believe and what the relgious don't believe.

This isn't a battle between theists and atheists. This is a battle between naturalism and supernaturalism. This is a battle between rationalism and irrationalism. This is a battle between… Continue

Added by The Secular One on September 23, 2009 at 6:30pm — 14 Comments

Pew Poll: 10.3% of American Adults are Freethinkers

The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey

Here's the most comprehensive poll on religion in the U.S. I could find. Note that freethinkers, at 10.3%, represent more than twice the number of non-Christian religious adherents. The 10.3% number is derived by subtracting the 5.8%…

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Added by Atheist Exile on September 23, 2009 at 8:30am — 4 Comments

Watching what I write ...

The site I've spent time on for about 18 months, in combination with other sites, advertises itself as having family values.

For some crazy reason the site has a big Christian component in its membership. Maybe family values means to them that they can expect not to run into punks or devil worshippers, and maybe some even believed atheists would be barred from entry. If so they would be disappointed, and 33 people on my friend list are registered as having no religion, like myself,… Continue

Added by Honey Deal on September 23, 2009 at 7:26am — 3 Comments

Jesus? Is that you? (Can anyone explain what this REALLY is?)

I just had an amazing experience!

I was standing in my bedroom, about to go to bed, and I had just set my alarm clock. All the nights in the house were off and everything was dark. I had an itch so I closed my eyes tight and started to rub them. BAM! I saw a glaring bright white light, like polished gold, in the form of three large circles, one in the center of my vision with two copies on either side (possibly in the form of a double helix?) all of equal size, made up of many… Continue

Added by OutlawGirl on September 23, 2009 at 12:16am — 5 Comments

Jesus Is Sauron! (repost)

I knew it!

Click Here, about one third the way down the page.

Added by Robert Madewell on September 22, 2009 at 6:40pm — 4 Comments

Yet another time travel question. (Last one I promise)

While writing my previous post I thought of yet another time travel question, that I have heard before in various forms and I'm sure most of you have too but here it is:

If you could go back and meet any historical figure/figures who would you want to meet?

As in the previous question history is not changed by your presence you just get to have a conversation with a historical… Continue

Added by David Lee Halle II on September 22, 2009 at 5:29pm — No Comments

Another question about time travel.

So in my last post I asked what event you would change. In this one I ask:

If you could go back and observe any event/period in history what would you choose?

Now remember that in this one you can't change history only watch. Assume for the purposes of this question that you have a translation device that allows you to understand every language ever spoken, so you could go to ancient… Continue

Added by David Lee Halle II on September 22, 2009 at 5:00pm — 1 Comment

Angie the Anti-Theist needs your love!

Hey party people (and non-party people, too). I've got a bunch of new posts up at Angie the Anti-Theist for you to check out, comment on, and ya know, pimp around the internet :)

I regularly post new updates on my Twitter (@antitheistangie) and on my Facebook (Angie Jackson). So feel free to stalk me on the internet (within reason ya'll - I know where the restraining order office is.)

Without further ado:…

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Added by Angie Jackson on September 22, 2009 at 11:09am — 1 Comment

The Atheist's Guide To Christmas

My friend Zoe who writes the Girls With A One Track Mind blog is featured in this upcoming book
The Atheist's Guide To Christmas
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Atheists-Guide-Christmas-Ariane-Sherine/dp/0007322615/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252064471&sr=8-1
Am keen to read it.

Added by Ms Naughty on September 22, 2009 at 8:10am — No Comments