2014-02-26

2014.02 News: Freethot Festival 3 Open for Business

As of today, the website for Freethought Festival 3, on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus April 11-12, is in operation.

If you've never been, it's an amazingly good time.

Oh, and it's free. They do ask that you register, tho, to aid in planning.

2014-02-25

2014.02 News: Atheists Disinvited from Conservative Shindig

American Atheists wanted to reach out to political conservatives and so reserved a table at the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference. Then the CPACkies had 2nd thots: "Not so fast there, you heathens!"

2014-02-24

2014.02 Quiz: Is Your Religious Liberty under Threat?

Thanks to the Huffington Post and essayist Rev. Emily C. Heath, this simple 10-question multiple-choice test will tell you in under 2 minutes whether your religious liberty as an American citizen is in danger.

2014-02-16

2014.02 News: Snake-Handling Preacher Dies of Snakebite

Rev. Jamie Coots took literally the Bible's assurance that TBs could freely handle serpents and the like with impunity. He even had a reality show called Snake Salvation to demonstrate how confident he was.

Surprise! The Bible was wrong yet again.

2014-02-12

2014.02 Opinion: Good News about Acceptance of Evolution

In an essay in the latest Scientific American, UW-Madison's own leading light of evolutionary biology, Sean B. Carroll*, notes that the latest data about the level of acceptance of evolution shows that it's much higher among young people than older Americans, and that this bodes well for the future. He chalks it up to 2 main factors: the diminishing level of religiosity among the young and enhanced science education in the schools and media.

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*as distinguished form the equally accomplished, articulate, renowned, and dedicatedly atheistic physicist, Sean M. Carroll of Caltech.

2014-02-11

2014.02 Humor: "22 Messages from Creationists" Translated by Science Lovers

After the debate between Bill Nye "the Science Guy" and young-Earth creationist Ken Ham, BuzzFeed asked 22 creationists to write down questions they'd like to ask scientists or others who accept evolution and the leading scientific explanations for it. They posted the pictures without comment, but that didn't stop other folks (at The Science of Sarcasm) from providing some commentary masquerading as "translations" of the original comments.

Remember, these are nice, smiley people, and you'd probably really like them in person. They just happen to believe astoundingly stupid stuff. That doesn't make them bad people. Funny, tho.