“I find it necessary to wash my hands after I have come into contact with religious people.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

True story:

A Jewish American young man, baby boomer generation, grows up and gets married in the New York area. His wife is a nice Jewish girl. They live on Long Island.  They apparently believed themselves unable to have children, because they adopted a child, sort of through a gray market, but they got a Caucasian child, a daughter, whom they…

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So, I originally wanted to create an account on here to rant about this, because I don't have too many people to rant to. It involves me signing up for a class about the New Testament at a community college in the middle of the Bible Belt and the crappy things that happened afterward. This is copied from my Tumblr, where I originally posted it, and it's fairly long.

I suppose it was my fault for thinking I could learn about the New Testament from a historical point of…

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Just ran into my first case of blatant discrimination. I was applying for a job helping resettle refugees in the United States. I was excited to apply since I'm quite qualified for the position and it's always been something I wanted to do. There was a mention that I had to be able to work with "colleagues, resettlement partners, volunteers and Churches in the local community" but in my experience this shouldn't be any sort of problem since many people in churches are doing some…

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I started a petition to close the Office of Faith Based Initiatives and would really appreciate any and all signers:

 

http://wh.gov/gSE

 

The body of the petition reads:

 

Federal intrusion into religious institutions has crossed the line too many

times. The First Amendment to the Constititution clearly states "Congress shall

make no law respecting the establishment of Religion". The Bush Administration…

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http://www.bastropenterprise.com/features/x2132687894/Student-challenges-prayer-at-Bastrop-graduation

http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/hed7y/threatened_to_contact_aclu_for_prayer_at/…

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The move toward American Theocracy by the empowered evangelical 'elite' in the US has made it almost impossible for an atheist or difficult for a non-christian to be elected to office.  Schools are having their curriculum undermined by creationist who wish to revise history, remove evolution from science, and prevent teaching sexual health and pregnancy prevention.  Atheist fear reprisals for not being christian and are often discriminated against at work, socially, and most especially in…

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This post was originally posted on my Facebook page and it is geared to Christians and Atheists alike. I posted it here for…

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I grew up in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It's no teeming metropolis, mostly suburban but it's far from a rural community.My schools were always at least 50% African-American (in junior high it was 90%). I must say that I think I was lucky. I was an intelligent white boy in the poverty-stricken inner city...well as much as you can call Spartanburg a city, that is. I never in 12 years saw 2 people fight or not get along because of their race. Asian, whites, blacks, latinos-all had their friends… Continue

From Lt. Choi:



On Tuesday at 8 a.m., I will stand trial for speaking three truthful words: "I am gay."



On Tuesday, I will face a panel of colonels who will decide whether or not to fire me -- to discharge me for "moral and professional dereliction" under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.



On Tuesday, I will try to prove that it's not immoral to tell the truth.



As an infantry officer, an Iraq… Continue

A little while ago I posted an entry about very depressing PostSecret in which a wife suggested that all of her husband's troubles were the result of God punishing him for renouncing his faith. There's another one like that in this week's secrets.

"I'm scared my husband won't come home because I don't believe in God."

It's kind of a… Continue

This is some seriously messed up nonsense.

I found this on Postsecret today. It reads:

"A while back my husband renounced his religion Then he lost his job Now we are about to lose our house

and possibly our marriage

I wonder when he will see the connection?"

I can think of at least two reasons why this is bullshit.



First off: He could very well have lost his job due to (non)religious persecution.… Continue

11-Year-Old Hangs Himself after Enduring Daily Anti-Gay Bullying



NEW YORK, April 9, 2009 - An 11-year-old Massachusetts boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hung himself Monday after enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay, despite his mother’s weekly pleas to the school to address the problem. This is at least the fourth suicide of a middle-school aged child linked to bullying this year.



Carl, a… Continue

Faith groups increasingly lose gay rights fights



Faith organizations and individuals who view homosexuality as sinful and refuse to provide services to gay people are losing a growing number of legal battles that they say are costing them their religious freedom.



The lawsuits have resulted from states and communities that have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation. Those laws have created a clash between… Continue

http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/downey_24_4.htm

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1276077.html



A Shasta County atheist sued top state corrections officials Monday, claiming that his constitutional rights were violated when he was returned to prison after objecting to participation in a program with religious overtones as a condition of parole.



Barry A. Hazle Jr., 40, was released from prison in February 2007 after doing a year for drug possession. He was required to complete a 90-day drug treatment program and was… Continue