How Low Can You Go?
A Gallup poll released last summer suggested Americans are finally waking up to reality, although clearly they still have a long way to go. An article about this hopeful change…
atheism
Musings on Atheism, Belief, and Statues
The website godchecker.com lists roughly 4,000 “weird and wonderful Gods, Supreme Beings, Demons, Spirits and Fabulous Beasts” which have been worshipped since the beginning of recorded history. Many are still…
Musings on the Post-Xmas Days
I am glad to have reached the first week in January of 2024 without telling a lot of people to simply fuck off and leave me alone during the past…
happy birthday to me: aging and mortality edition
I have been alive on this planet for 62 years. Somehow, inexplicably, it was June 13, 2023, and I passed birthday number 62. I find this fact stunning. I feel…
Are Secular Nations Happier?
Are less-religious or more secular nations happier than religious ones? Studies suggest yes. Personally, I would certainly be happier in a more secular nation if it meant fewer angry, nasty,…
Why Atheism Is A Bag of Hot Air
Atheism is decidedly unscientific, and anti-empirical, because it dogmatically asserts a claim that it cannot possibly prove or even empirically support. If they were truly empirical, or truly scientific, they…
Can an atheist be a good citizen?
The answer to the headline’s question is no, at least according to the late Catholic priest Richard John Neuhaus in a podcast in the Socrates in the City series (Sept.…
Godless – The Truth Beyond Belief
“Godless – The Truth Beyond Belief” investigates one of the last frontiers in civil liberties and human rights: Atheism. So reads the opening sentence on the website of a new…
Electing atheists
A recent story on Religion News discusses the DNC’s concerns about former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ religion. Not that he was Jewish, but that he might be a closet atheist.…
in which i continue to hate christmas even though i can’t be bothered right now
Right now I'm so busy, between work and union, that I barely have time to hate Christmas. As I've found in recent years, a combination of circumstances - getting out…
“I’m glad it’s over”
Canadian Atheist blogger Veronica Abbass emailed me a couple days ago to say: More than three years ago, I wrote a post on Canadian Atheist about prayer in Peterborough municipal…
10 reasons the Saguenay ruling establishes Canada as a secular country
It’s been only 5 days since the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that the prayers said by the City of Saguenay discriminated against atheists, and already cities across Canada…
On PZ Myers and Atheist Ireland – what she said
I can’t add much to this statement from Secular Woman on the recent “public dissociation” controversy. I will admit that this blog was briefly listed as one of the Secular…
Conrad Black: Off the Rails
I generally read Conrad Black‘s columns for their entertainment value, but I also read them for the language. Black is the best tosser of pithy epithets since Spiro Agnew*. And…
Republished: There’s no ‘God’ in graduation
This was the first article I wrote for a student newspaper and in a way it’s somewhat historic. In 2008, the University of Alberta Atheists & Agnostics started campaigning for…
in which my annual noncelebration of christmas causes my jewish cultural roots to reappear, a tiny bit
Two years ago, wmtc’s annual “i hate christmas” post declared: “i hate christmas is slightly less hateful this year“. Working in the library, as opposed to an office environment, I…
Diversity in the atheist/skeptic communities: An evidence-based approach
Richard Dawkins has lost it: ignorant sexism gives atheists a bad name – Guardian Atheism’s shocking women problem – Salon Why atheists have a serious problem with women – Mic.com…
Hate Crimes Against Non-believers Growing
We all know about the hate crimes religious believers commit against one another, against people of a different faith. It’s headlines news, almost daily. Protestants against Catholics. Sunnis against Shiites.…
Religion as a dirty word
Any headline in the form of a question can be dismissed with the simplest answer (which is also typically no). Case in point, a Victoria Times-Columnist blog asks “Has religion…
Is the Humanist brand dying?
It’s no secret that the term humanism (or secular humanism) have never really taken off. Simply ask a random sampling of people on the street and you’ll likely be met…