Religion is and isn’t special

Passerotti, God the Father The primary reason, it seems, that people are now telling Dan Savage that he shouldn’t have apologized– even in as qualified and precise terms as he did– is because it gives the impression that one should not criticize religious beliefs. And if one does so, and […]

Read More

Bullshit

In today’s news, a group of high school students were offended and walked out of a talk because they were told that they are too moral to do things like stoning women for being non-virgins on their wedding night or owning slaves. The person giving this talk called them cowards […]

Read More

Weekend web readin’, special edition: religion in video games

From Game Front, Questionable Religious Content Money quote: The game industry as a whole sends a really ridiculous message when it backs away from religious commentary. It’s an industry where beheadings, total body disruption, overt sexuality and jokes about poo run rampant, but where everybody gets suddenly very timid and […]

Read More

If I’m going to be in Wichita….

…you can bet I will be writing letters to the editor:

Read More

If it’s not a battle, why make it one?

The ever-controversial American Atheists have erected billboards in Paterson, New Jersey (large Muslim population) and Brooklyn, New York (large Jewish population), respectively, with the following two messages: Even though the CNN Belief Blog notes that AA president Dave Silverman says that the billboards are intended to reach atheists in these […]

Read More

Marks of the cross that don’t rub off

Tattoo representing the Fourth Station: Jesusmeeting his mother As mentioned previously, I’m a tattooed person. Not heavily so, but I’ve got ’em. I also have, after quite a lot of observation of other people’s tattoos and their explanations of why they got them, developed a schema regarding the central elements […]

Read More

Jay Leno vs. some angry Sikhs

From BBC News: A Leno skit showed the temple as the summer home of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Mr Romney has faced taxation questions over his huge wealth and many Sikhs are angry the temple has been depicted as a place for the rich. The Sikh community has launched an online […]

Read More

Pareidolia of the– hey, wait a minute….

If you’re just too impatient to see Jesus or the Virgin Mary’s face appearing in bird poo, a cliff face, or a testicular tumor, for just $32 you can see one of them appearing reliably in an easily accessible location– your toast. Jesus and Virgin Mary toasters are apparently a […]

Read More

Why Rick Santorum is wrong

The title of this post might sound a little obvious to most who might read it– Rick Santorum, wrong? Perish the thought! But I think it’s important to take a look at why he was wrong, specifically, when he said this in an interview with Piers Morgan: I think just […]

Read More

When is a pasta strainer not a pasta strainer?

An Austrian man, Niko Alm, was acknowledged the right of wearing a pasta strainer on his head for his driver’s license photo: Pasta strainers are now considered suitable religious headgear in Austria … at least as far as the transport authorities are concerned. Three years after applying for a new driver’s […]

Read More