October 2009 Blog Posts (181)

Home is where I want to be, but I guess I'm already there

“The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us — there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation of a distant memory, as if we were falling from a great height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.” - Carl Sagan, Cosmos, 1980

Without perspective we wallow blindly through life, without empathy, understanding and the ability to apply knowledge. Perspective is not… Continue

Added by Martin Pribble on October 31, 2009 at 5:30pm — 1 Comment

Decon: 8 - Holy Crud, we just won/one!!!

This hit me like a gigantic ton of bricks about 10 minutes ago. I had to sit down and get this written out. You know my approach by now, it all about agreement and mind games. This one is HUUUUGGGEEE. Knock it out of the park. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

OK, enough of that already. What is it I am talking about?

If you have been reading my posts, you know that I say that I am a nullist. It is an even more powerful position than an atheist. It is a position of affirmation not of denial. It… Continue

Added by JackRussell8888 on October 31, 2009 at 4:20pm — 4 Comments

Religious life won't be the same.

NEW YORK - Organized religion was already in trouble before fall 2008. Denominations were stagnating or shrinking, and congregations across faith groups were fretting about their finances.

The "Great Recession" made things worse.

It's further drained the financial resources of many congregations, seminaries and religious day schools. Some congregations have disappeared and schools have been closed. In areas hit hardest by the… Continue

Added by Dan on October 31, 2009 at 11:32am — 2 Comments

Stars, Stories, and Prayer

November is shaping up to be a busy month. I'm ready to begin my career as an amateur astronomer. I had written before about the Galileoscope, and they are very neat! I bought a $15 tripod from Amazon and I think it will work great. Now, if only these damned rainstorms would go away and give me some clear sky! Here is a picture of the setup. You are probably wondering how I took the picture and… Continue

Added by Reggie on October 31, 2009 at 11:00am — 9 Comments

Goddamn?

In a little faux argument with partner, he used the word "goddamn" today (first time ever in 7+ years. He's been an "on the fence" Xian). I fell in love with him all over again.
Haha!
It's progress.
Worth archiving.

Added by Daley on October 31, 2009 at 4:21am — 1 Comment

Liberal Religionists: A Lesser of Two Evils?

I know I said I was going to post about something else first, but I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately.

As I'm sure most of you know, a few days ago, the Catholic Church offered something of a warped olive branch to the Anglican Church, saying that if any of their members were unsettled by the fact that the Anglicans were (gasp!) allowing women and gays to be ministers, they could simply defect back to the Catholics, where a warm and welcomed seat would be waiting for… Continue

Added by Jake on October 31, 2009 at 2:43am — 2 Comments

Car Wash

Normally, I wash my car on Saturday mornings when I venture out for quarters. As I rely on the laundry room at my apartment complex , I blow through a pile of coins every weekend to rid my clothes of the week’s grime. The closest change machine happens to be at a self-serve car wash a few blocks away. With just a few minutes and six quarters, I gain a bright shiny black car.

However, I am anticipating a Saturday too busy to include leisurely domestic duties. The dirty… Continue

Added by Shine on October 30, 2009 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Where Do Young Earth Creationist Get The "6000 Year Old Earth" From?

I'm sure you would not find it surprising that the person has zero scientific background.

Considering the fact that it was the cult of the Seventh-Day Adventist church that I escaped from; I was quite surprised to find out the "6000 year old earth" premise was the brain-child of SDA church founder,… Continue

Added by Johnny on October 30, 2009 at 7:54pm — 3 Comments

Seattle Freedom From Religion Foundation Convention

For those that may be interested, next weekend (6-8th) the Freedom From Religion Foundation is putting on a convention all weekend at the Red Lion on Fifth Ave. Go here for more info.

For those that don't know, they fight for us on legal points on a regular basis and put out a pretty decent paper 10 times a year or so. There are few months that they take off. Their website I… Continue

Added by Gaytor on October 30, 2009 at 2:14am — 4 Comments

WHDH Boston Make Fools of Themselves about Atheist Ad Campaign

Here's the article and a link to the website, where you can also watch the newscast which aired last night:

Atheist group releases ad campaign on Boston subways:

"BOSTON -- A controversial new ad campaign hitting "The Hub" is encouraging people to "stop believing."

Ads promoting atheism are showing up on many Boston MBTA trains and some commuters are wondering if they go too far.

"It's not my viewpoint but it sounds like it's the viewpoint of others,"… Continue

Added by Laura on October 30, 2009 at 1:32am — 9 Comments

Merry Winter Festivities! Or, keeping the "Christ" out of Christmas

Halloween is upon us, my fellow atheists, which can only mean one thing: the holiday season is about to open up, leaving us with packed malls, congested highways, and perhaps a few more notches loosened on our belts. Being atheists, however, this can present a problem for us. Whether it's Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, Diwali (which I know has passed, but is in the same time period and will fall on Nov 5 next year), Yule, or whatever obscure winter holiday your family or friends may observe, this… Continue

Added by Laura on October 30, 2009 at 1:12am — 2 Comments

No need to feel sorry

Hello, my name is Mike, and I'm an athiest. I've always known this (I think) but became comfortable with the idea when I was about 16 years old. I was always sort of self conscious about being an athiest; I didn't want cute girls to know or any of my friends on the football team to find out. But when someone asked me about religion, I wouldn't lie, I told them the truth and their response was always the same. They always felt sorry for me. Felt sorry that I wasn't going to heaven to play… Continue

Added by Michael Something on October 29, 2009 at 9:09pm — 9 Comments

I really do love the crazy.

I have really amazing friends, one of whom pointed me to a great article featured in the Halloween section over at cbn.com. It's written by this bag-o-nuts, Kimberly Daniels. Some of it was quoted on the Huffington Post.

Right after that was posted over at HuffPo, the blog mysteriously disappeared from cbn's website.… Continue

Added by Ashli Axtell on October 29, 2009 at 6:24pm — 24 Comments

atheists Christains

Henry !

Great post!You should be a writer as you express yourself well! Now,one of my not so good posts ! The early Christians were not 'persecuted' per se - they were slaughtered/tortured -even whole families-by the millions over hundreds of years. I have researched history and taught this subject many years ago.

My context was in reference to Roman thought -not ages past. These early believers of Jesus were 'without the gods' of Rome.

To me it is 'not reasonable' to use… Continue

Added by dr howard davis on October 29, 2009 at 6:00pm — 22 Comments

Larry David Blasted for 'Curb' Episode Where He Urinates on Jesus Painting

Comedian Larry David is under attack from critics who say he pushed the mocking of religion and Christian belief in miracles over the edge in the latest episode of his HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which the cable network defended as "playful."

On the show's most recent installment, which aired Sunday, David urinates on a painting of Jesus Christ, causing a woman to believe the painting depicts Jesus crying.

Deal Hudson, author and… Continue

Added by Dan on October 29, 2009 at 12:24pm — 3 Comments

Langley man loses testicle after random, vicious kick by woman

Men walking about in Langley should be wary after a woman viciously kicked a man in the groin, causing him to lose a testicle.

“I just want to know what her problem is,” Anthony Clark, 22, told The Province Tuesday. “People like her shouldn’t be on the streets.”

Clark was walking along 200th Avenue in the Brookswood area of Langley one afternoon in early September when he passed his assailant on the sidewalk.

“I was looking down and then I… Continue

Added by Dan on October 29, 2009 at 12:10pm — 2 Comments

Man says Home Depot fired him over God button

WEST PALM BEACH - A former cashier for The Home Depot who has been wearing a "One nation under God" button on his work apron for more than a year has been fired, he says because of the religious reference. The company claims that expressing such personal beliefs is simply not allowed.

"I've worn it for well over a year and I support my country and God," Trevor Keezor said Tuesday. "I was just doing what I think every American should do, just love my… Continue

Added by Dan on October 29, 2009 at 12:05pm — 9 Comments

Kids Today

From Not My God

In my search for interviewees for Not My God (the book itself, not just this blog), I went for a diverse crowd, including a diverse group of ages. Kids/teenagers are particularly valuable. Yes, they are the future, all right, but growing up in the information age provides them with an enormous cohort effect. I’ve mentioned that they are more fortunate than I was in that I was all alone as a… Continue

Added by Sarah Trachtenberg on October 29, 2009 at 11:41am — 1 Comment

I'VE BEEN PONDERING THIS IDEA FOR SOME TIME NOW....

For some time I've pondered this idea.

It's not a new idea by any means.

In fact, there have been two countries that I know of who have used this option.

One still uses it.

The other quite doing it back in the 1980's.

One was Spain and the other France.

They both had "Foreign Legions" as part of their military.

I know almost nothing of the Spanish Legion.

In the last few years we’ve seen the US use “private”… Continue

Added by Rick on October 29, 2009 at 5:25am — No Comments

Thunderstorms at Bedtime

It was January 1st, 1993 when she died, leaving me with little but a name and a few scarce instances in the future in which I would find myself struggling to draw her ghostly memory to the front of my mind. The way my father would smile when he recollected his favorite stories of his time with her told me more than the photographs ever could. She helped them teach me to walk, and I'm fairly certain she was there for my first words. The first words that ever truly stuck with me belonged to my… Continue

Added by Anti-Mike on October 29, 2009 at 4:03am — 2 Comments