monica (How to go about t…): im in a huge rut right no… Jesus Christ (How to go about t…): Hey guys, go buy my book.… sarahjane (god is not Great): this looks like the other… Daria (How to go about t…): I am sure I am an Atheist… Jess (How to go about t…): Thank you for this post. … Eric Stubbs (Summer Camp for A…): Here is the link for Camp… AIH (ABC news story on…): “We’re not god people, bu… AIH (Fox News coverage…): Fascinating… should have … togetherness (Indiana Atheist B…): Nathan. Thanks for your c… Nathan (Indiana Atheist B…): I don’t support a bus cam…
Wednesday 26 August 2009 at 09:08 am
I recently ran across an interesting article by Kate Shellnutt on the news21.com website. It's titled "Coming out atheist: young nonbelievers build community in college and online". It discusses how things are changing for young adults that are attending college.
Some quotes from the article:
"One in four adults under 30 are atheists, agnostics or unaffiliated, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (see chart), but the number of young people who outwardly identify as nonbelievers is much, much smaller, for fear that it could threaten their careers, social lives or familial relationships. Now, with the help of the Internet and the Obama administration, 2009 may start a more open age for America’s nonreligious population."
"As more college campuses provide opportunities for students to get involved in groups of nonbelievers, it’s becoming easier for younger people to identify as atheists."
Sunday 23 August 2009 at 10:27 pm
Here's a CNN story on a Summer Camp for young Atheists. It says they focus on teaching kids how to think for themselves. Interesting. Hoping these kinds of camps can start spreading.
Wednesday 19 August 2009 at 7:12 pm
There is a wiki site called "Conservapedia", thats been around for a few years now. While looking at the site for the first time today, I was appalled at the information that it contained and disturbing agenda it was obviously pushing. On its About Page, it states "We do not allow liberal bias to deceive and distort here". It also states it is "a way to educate advanced, college-bound homeschoolers". I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, considering it is called "Conservapedia", but I was atleast expecting a reasonable portrayal of rational ideas.
Well, guess what the Top Viewed article on the site is...? It is an article on Atheism.
The whole article is a smear campaign on Atheism. Some sections of the article have titles like: "Creation Scientists tend to win creation-evolution debates", "Decline of Atheism as an Intellectual Position", and "Atheism and Deception".
The Atheism article contains the following quote on Evolution: "Defenders of Darwin's theory of evolution typically proclaim that evidence for their theory is simply overwhelming. If they really believe that, you would think they would jump at a chance to publicly explain some of that overwhelming evidence to the public. Apparently not."
They even take a stab at Wikipedia. On the Wikipedia page on Conservapedia, the first sentence states that "Wikipedia is a self-described online encyclopedia project founded by entrepreneur and atheist Jimmy Wales ..." and it is "usually edited by unemployed liberal community college dropouts". The next sentence also contains slander on Wikipedia with the following quote: "is not only a provider of inaccuracy and bias. It is wholesale purveyor of lies and slander unlike any other the world has ever known". I would argue that Conservapedia is the wholesale purveyor of lies and slander unlike any other the world has ever known.
So, some might say "Who cares about some nut job website?", and I would tend to agree with that, except that they claim to have had over 80,000,000 views. Obviously someone is reading the site and most likely taking it as fact, and that's what bothers me.
Saturday 15 August 2009 at 02:20 am
If you want to laugh or become annoyed watch this video. This is the first time I've ever heard someone call atheists "close minded"
I just finished listening to the audio book "God is not Great" by Christopher Hitchens. If you've never seen him before, Hitchens is a very interesting character. He's a British/American journalist that often seems to have to much to drink, but he's very insightful. Christopher reads the book for the audio book, which is sort of a downer, as he is a fairly mono-tone speaker (I wouldn't do any better). He is often quite aggressive in this book on attacking all forms of religion, regardless of creed. Even Mother Theresa is a target for Christopher. Although I find Christoper at times too aggressive, I really enjoyed listening to this book. He brings up many excellent points on how religion has negative impacts on the world. He also continuously quotes the christian bible to show inconsistencies within the bible. Christopher surely has an excellent grasp of world religion. His anti-religion arguments are more from a Social context and different then those of Dawkins who mainly comes from Scientific reasoning. I highly suggest checking this book out, its definitely worth reading.
Tuesday 11 August 2009 at 12:48 am
This isn't a new ABC news story but it is still interesting. It talks about an Atheist convention and follows with an interview with Christopher Hitchens.
from youtube:
A large convention of atheists gathered today in Virginia, where men, women and children eagerly proclaimed their belief God does not exist.
While their views still may be the minority in the country, atheists have become more vocal and visible in recent years.
T-shirts, bumper stickers and even rap songs proclaim atheists' beliefs. Atheist summer camps now exist for children.
"Over the last 20 years," said Alan Wolfe of Boston College, "the number of people willing to tell people in surveys that they don't believe in God have pretty much doubled."
Wednesday 05 August 2009 at 09:46 am
Richard Dawkins makes the case for a vocal atheism.
From ted.com:
Richard Dawkins urges all atheists to openly state their position -- and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. A fiery, funny, powerful talk.
Monday 03 August 2009 at 8:17 pm
I recently found a website that tracks recent Atheist Ads. They are plotted on Google Maps with images of the Ads. This is really cool! Check it out:
