Attention Governor Perry: Evolution is a fact - On Faith. “I believe Governor Romney is a good man. Loves his family, cares about his faith. But I also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47 percent of the country considered themselves victims who refuse personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about.” During the second presidential debate, President Obama on Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” comment at a fundraiser earlier this year. Read more in the Faith 2012 Quote Archives. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney listens as President Obama answers a question during the second presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y. on Oct. 16, 2012. About Georgetown/ On Faith. Thousands in US turn out for 'Reason Rally' - Americas. Slacktivist » Bishops and burkhas and buggies.
Why the Anti-Science Creationist Movement Is So Dangerous | Belief. September 8, 2011 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. A few weeks ago, Jon Huntsman torpedoed his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination by making the following announcement: "To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming.
Call me crazy. " It's a pathetic commentary on the anti-intellectualism rampant in American politics that this is newsworthy. Huntsman is clearly trying to position himself as the moderate candidate. But opposition to climate change is something new in the Republican platform. By contrast, the Republican party's denial of evolution is much older and more grassroots in nature, dating at least to when the national parties traded places during the civil-rights era.
But while fundamentalists have always been hostile to evolution, the modern creationist movement got its start in the 1960s, primarily due to the influence of an evangelical author named Henry Morris. The Filthy Little Atheist … Founding Father. [Site editor's note: The following is an excerpt from the new Disinformation title 50 Things You're Not Supposed To Know: Religion, authored by Daniele Bolelli.]
The story of his life is richer and weirder than any fiction. Among his close friends were visionary poets such as William Blake as well as political icons like Benjamin Franklin. Napoleon slept with his books by his pillow, and told him statues of gold should be erected to him in every city in the universe (but the admiration was not reciprocated). Thomas Edison believed him to be one of the most brilliant minds in human history. Some of his writings rank among the greatest bestsellers of the 18th century. During the American Revolution, George Washington used his writings to inspire his troops to remember what they were fighting for, and even suggested that no other individual had done more for the cause of American independence.
The man we are speaking of is Thomas Paine. Paine’s problem is that he didn’t die in 1792. Since when did Jesus join the Air Force? According to a press release today from the secularist Center for Inquiry: The United States Air Force has been citing Christian teachings in its missile officer training sessions by referencing passages from the New Testament, according to recently released documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).Reports show the mandatory Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare session, which takes place during a missile officer’s first week in training, is led by Air Force chaplains and includes a discussion on St. Augustine’s Christian “Just War Theory.” Also included in the PowerPoint presentation is a slide containing a passage from the Book of Revelation that attempts to explain how Jesus Christ, as the “mighty warrior,” believed war to be “just.”The presentation goes on to say that there are “many examples of believers [who] engaged in wars in [the] Old Testament” in a “righteous way” and notes there is “no pacifistic sentiment in mainstream Jewish history.”
Alvin McEwen: Former employees accuse American Family Association of racism, employee abuse. I've long since believed that the American Family Association lacks a moral foundation and now a new article has justified this. From Sarah Posner of Religious Dispatches comes accusations of former employees who attest to the not-so Christian attitude of the so-called pro-family group and a lot of it has to do with the controversial Bryan Fischer: And here is something interesting about One News Now, the phony news service run by the AFA and the subject of many of my posts: The AFA's radio and news division, in particular, said (former employee Allie) Martin, had become a place where authority could not be questioned, and where the "news" was nothing more than a mouthpiece for conservative "sources" whose views were portrayed as fact. (The Values Voter Summit award citation to Wildmon described One News Now as a "respected online news service. ") And those views were extreme, even by Martin's standards of conservative evangelicalism.
Hitchens' address to American Atheists : Pharyngula. Christopher Hitchens was scheduled to appear at the American Atheist convention, but had to cancel because of his illness. He sent this letter instead. Dear fellow-unbelievers, Nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on. I have found, as the enemy becomes more familiar, that all the special pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance appears even more hollow and artificial to me than it did before. I hope to help defend and pass on the lessons of this for many years to come, but for now I have found my trust better placed in two things: the skill and principle of advanced medical science, and the comradeship of innumerable friends and family, all of them immune to the false consolations of religion.
Theocracy in America. America faces the clear and present danger of a takeover by theocrats who want to impose their religion on everyone else. The only problem is, we don’t know which religion. If you get your news from conservative sources, then it’s pretty clear the threat is Islamic. Conservatives point with alarm to indices such as the case of Safoorah Khan—a Berkeley, Ill., math teacher whose request to take three weeks off so she could make a pilgrimage to Mecca was denied. The Obama Justice Department is now suing the school district on her behalf. Activists on the right also are exercised by a recent ruling from Florida Circuit Judge Richard Nielsen in which he said part of a dispute should be settled by Islamic law.
"Ruling Boosts Support for Sharia Law," reported One News Now, a division of the American Family Association, which notes that the decision has prompted Florida lawmakers to propose legislation preventing the use of Shariah law in state courts. At least by Muslims. A. Atheism in America. Godlessness is the last big taboo in the US, where non-believers face discrimination and isolation Point, Texas (pop. 792) is not the easiest place for a single lesbian to raise her child. But neither her sexuality nor her unwed parenthood are enough to make Renee Johnson an American conservative’s worst nightmare. As she explained to me when I met her at Rains County Library, “I’d rather have a big ‘L’ or ‘lesbian’ written across my shirt than a big ‘A’ or ‘atheist’, because people are going to handle it better.” We had met in a private room because Johnson worried that anywhere else in the town, people might overhear us and be offended by her godlessness.
No wonder she often feels alone in her non-belief. But Johnson is far from unique. As I found out when I travelled across the US last year, atheists live in isolation and secrecy all over the country. Renee Johnson, an atheist from Point, Texas: she often feels alone in her non-belief Friends have rejected him. Data backs up anecdote.