Category Archives: religion

Podcast #177 – Trouble in Lumpkin County

There’s trouble in Lumpkin County, with a capital T that rhymes with P and that stands for Prayer! At least fifty students and four teachers at Lumpkin County High School (north of Atlanta) ditched class for SIX HOURS to participate … Continue reading

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Podcast #176 – Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia

We interview Susan Gerbic, coordinator of Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia, an international team of writers and editors whose goal is to ensure that skeptical topics on Wikipedia are fair, accurate, and have the level of detail they deserve. Those interested … Continue reading

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Podcast #175 – Frans de Waal (The Bonobo and the Atheist)

We interview Dr. Frans de Waal, world-renowned primatologist and author of The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism among the Primates (available in hardcover and for Kindle). In this new book, he looks at the pre-human basis for morality, how human beings … Continue reading

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Podcast #174 – Religious Belief and Hardcore Criminality

We interview Dr. Volkan Topalli, co-author (with Dr. Thomas Brezina and Mindy Bernhardt) of the new research paper “With God on my side: The paradoxical relationship between religious belief and criminality among hardcore street offenders,” just published in the February … Continue reading

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The Lord Is Not on Trial Here Today

If you haven’t heard of Vashti McCullom, you should have. She was the force behind the landmark ruling McCullom v Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that religious teaching in public schools was unconstitutional. A few years … Continue reading

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Has Michelle Shocked gone nuts?

I was a big fan way-back-when of East Texas singer/songwriter Michelle Shocked, but I never particularly held her up as any kind of role model or anything. Plus… I always just assumed she was Of Alternative Sexuality. But who cares? … Continue reading

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SCOTUS declines KY Homeland case

Well, this is disappointing.  The Supreme Court has declined to hear American Atheists vs. Kentucky Office of Homeland Security. As a reminder, the Kentucky legislature passed a law back in 2002 that required the Executive Director of the Office of … Continue reading

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Saudis consider ending beheadings

You have GOT to be fucking kidding me. Saudi Arabia [a key "ally" of the United States, for those keeping track] is considering doing away with beheading–not because it’s inhumane and backward, but because there’s a shortage of competent swordsmen. … Continue reading

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Morals without God

A couple of weeks ago we attended this talk at Emory University called “Morals without God? A conversation about evolution, morality and religion.” A recording of the event has now been made available here. The participants were Franz de Waal … Continue reading

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Mother Teresa was a jerk

Might Christopher Hitchens be vindicated in his controversial view of Mother Teresa? Hitch famously raised pious hackles by criticizing the late humanitarian for being a fraud who glorified suffering and hobnobbed with tyrants.  Now a new study calls into question … Continue reading

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