While it would have been super-cool to have Richard Dawkins and Francis Collins on The Colbert Report at the same time, we’ll have to settle for them one-at-a-time. Dawkins (author of the new book The Greatest Show on Earth) will be on tonight at 11:30PM Eastern, while Francis “Three Waterfalls” Collins (the new head of the National Institutes of Health) will appear Thursday night.
Archive for September, 2009
DVR Alert: Dawkins and Collins on Colbert
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
Podcast #66 – Freethought in Mexico
Monday, September 28th, 2009
We interview Danny Zepeda, a skeptical blogger living in Morelia, a city in central Mexico. He talks about the state of freethought South of the Border, the prevalence of superstition and alt-medicine quackery in Mexican society, and the challenges of raising children to be critical thinkers. Visit Danny’s Spanish-language blog Un Papá Escéptico (A Skeptical Papa) at papaesceptico.wordpress.com. If you can’t read Spanish, try pasting the URL into the Babel Fish text translation tool: the results are sometimes a bit iffy but readable.
Darwin film gets US distributor
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
When reports came out a few days ago blaming Creationist fervor in America for the failure of Darwin bio-pic Creation to get a US distributor, I was skeptical of the claim; further, I was sure it wouldn’t be long before a distribution deal was announced. If America loves anything, it’s controversy.
Charlotte Pop Fest happening now!
Friday, September 25th, 2009The Charlotte Pop Fest is underway right now, September 24-26! Proceeds from this non-profit fest will benefit the Richard Dawkins Foundation. If you’re within striking distance of Charlotte, NC and want to attend, there’s more info at CharlottePopFest.com.
Not surprisingly, CPF has stirred up a bit of controversy, mostly thanks to news reporters who smell a juicy story, and from religious locals who don’t like that somebody’s raising money for a-t-h-e-i-s-t-s in a public way.
Gran Torino, MD
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
I think I’ve figured out how they could pull off a sequel to the recent film Gran Torino: as the new movie opens, Clint Eastwood’s über-curmudgeon Walt Kowalski lies in intensive care, riddled with bullet holes but not dead. Grimacing, he opens his eyes. Standing at his bedside is a horde of his Hmong neighbors, looks of concern on their faces. With them is a Hmong shaman, a large rooster tucked under one arm and a shit-eating grin on his face.
Marilyn Loeffel’s Wrong Perspective
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009How bass-ackwards can any one person get things? To find out, one need only read the latest column by Marilyn Loeffel in the Memphis, Tennessee Commercial Appeal. Loeffel is the “former chairman of the Shelby (Tennessee) County Commission and former president of FLARE, a pro-family advocacy group.” Loeffel is surely fighting for Sarah Palin’s spot as the Most Willfully Uninformed Republican Female, elbowing Michelle Bachmann in the ribs on the way up.
In her September 22nd essay “It’s atheists’ turn–to tolerate believers,” Loeffel rattles off the usual list of Southern sectionalist talking points and fundamentalist disinformation. “Our civilized way of life is coming unraveled” by the terrors of secularization, according to Loeffel. A “group in Wisconsin [the Freedom from Religion Foundation] is interfering with our lifestyle down here in the Bible Belt. They want the Memphis City Council to discontinue opening its meetings with a prayer.” (Oh dear. Never mind that FFRF is a national group coincidentally headquartered in Wisconsin; saying they’re interfering in Memphis would be like someone in Ohio saying the Southern Baptist Convention is some “group in Nashville” interfering with the Ohio way of life.)
Happy (2nd) Birthday to Us!
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
Today American Freethought is two years old.
On September 23, 2007 the URL “AmericanFreethought.com” was registered, and on the next day the first entry went online.
Over the course our second year, we’ve managed to post something on the blog almost every day. We’ve released 37 podcast episodes and interviewed such luminaries as Eugenie C. Scott of the National Center for Science Education, American Humanist Association president Mel Lipman, folksinger Roy Zimmerman, YouTube sensation Laci GoGreen18, Galapagos Mountain Boys frontman Stephen Baird, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, biologist Ken Miller, JREF president Phil Plait, the hilarious Mr. Deity, award-winning sci-fi/fantasy author James Morrow, Biblical scholar Bart Ehrman, WhatstheHarm.net webmaster Tim Farley, psychology researcher Bruce M. Hood, author Robert Wright, SETI astronomer Seth Shostak, and several others. We’ve performed live twice (once at the very first Atlanta Skepticamp, and again at Dragon*Con), reported from the Atheist Alliance International convention in California, the American Atheists convention in Atlanta, and the world-class Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum. And there’s that whole urotherapy episode.
Thanks again to wifey Allison for her unflagging support, and to podcast co-host David Driscoll for adding the spark of conversation without which the show would be very boring indeed.
And, of course, thanks to you, our readers and listeners. Your kind words and honest feedback make all the work worth the effort.
–John C. Snider
Podcast #65 – Live at Dragon*Con
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Here’s a recording of our live show, presented September 5th on the Dragon*Con Skeptics Track. Among the topics discussed:
- Homeopathic beer (with a tip o’ the hat to That Mitchell and Webb Look)
- The CieAura Patch of Woo
- Are skepticism and science fiction fandom compatible?
- Holey Scripture (with a tip o’ the hat to TheBrickTestament.com)
- Media FAIL: A humorous look at bad media reporting on science and science history
- Audience Q&A
Freethought Film Festival
Monday, September 21st, 2009
Hey, how cool is this? The Freethought Film Festival Foundation (FFFF) is a newly-launched non-profit organization based in–where else?–Florida (the only state that begins with an “F”). They’re shooting for November 2010 in Tampa. If you’re a budding filmmaker, or just a lover of freethought who wants to show some support, check ‘em out at FreethoughtFilmFest.org.
It’s Blasphemy Day, God Damn It!
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009(more…)
Tags: blasphemy day
Posted in civil rights, commentary, news, religious rights | 5 Comments »