“Consequence” is one of those words that has taken on a connotation of the negative, even though the denotation does not require it. Strictly speaking, a consequence is an effect, an outcome, a result. That’s all. Consequences are the reasons we do things– if our actions had no outcomes, there […]
Read MoreRambling diatribe about atheism, politics, and the word “secular”
I don’t know American Atheists president David Silverman, but he strikes me as kind of a brash guy. The kind of person who thinks that atheist activism means pissing off religious people, and if you haven’t succeeded in that then you’re doing it wrong. But apparently he’s now trying to […]
Read MoreBarney Frank, atheism, and representation
Source So Barney Frank came out last night– again. This time as a “pot-smoking atheist” on Real Time With Bill Maher, when Maher gave himself that label and Frank responded by jokingly asking Maher which one he meant: Bill Maher: … you were in a fairly safe district. You were […]
Read MoreA-baby-ist.
Niall Ferguson So, just as I’m finishing reading comedian Jen Kirkman’s book I Can Barely Take Care of Myself: Tales From a Happy Life Without Kids, historian Niall Ferguson goes and claims that people who don’t have children don’t care about society or the future. Or at least, he claims […]
Read MoreHow to be a moralizing blowhard
Have you always aspired to be a moralizing blowhard, but just can’t seem to get your message down pat? Are you unable to find that mix of condescension, ignorance, and absolute certainty that together make the perfect blend of sanctimonious grandstanding fit to publish on the editorial pages of newspapers […]
Read More“Governor brings religion into the public sphere”
KS governor Sam Brownback. Photo credit: Brent Wistrom, The Wichita Eagle Fearing terms is odd. But in terms of terms to fear I’d suggest “public square” and “public sphere.”When it comes to church and state separationthese words are oft used for equivocationof an individual’s right to express a thoughtand a […]
Read MoreChristian like me
[Religiously] Unaffiliated Americans are also less likely to vote in presidential elections than other religious groups. Although they make up 19% of the adult population, the AVS found that only 16% of unaffiliated are likely voters. This quote, from The Evolution of the Religiously Unaffiliated Vote, 1980-2008, made me pause […]
Read MoreI’d like a glue gun, some acrylic paint, and some birth control
A federal judge denied Hobby Lobby’s request for exemption from the federal requirement to provide health care coverage which covers contraception, especially (at least, this is what owner David Green claimed to be his basis for objection) the morning-after pill. In a 28-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton denied […]
Read MoreDear Bill O’Reilly…
…no calculator, moral or otherwise, will make it less expensive to arrest people than to help them. Trust me on this. The more you deny it, the more ridiculous you are: Is traditional America gone for good? That’s the question Bill O’Reilly tackled during his Talking Points Memo on Monday […]
Read MorePolitics for creative types
Matthew Inman’s comic on the creative process (which you’ve almost certainly seen already because you already read The Oatmeal; and if you haven’t because you don’t, now’s the time to start) got me thinking about creativity and political leanings. I don’t know anything about Inman’s own politics, really, aside from […]
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