Atheist Revolution Religious belief is a destructive force that causes far more harm than good. Atheist Revolution is a blog dedicated to breaking free from irrational belief and opposing Christian extremism in America. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 54 8842

Articles from Atheist Revolution

Review of Freethought Radio's National Premiere 2007-10-07 08:21:00 I caught Saturday's premiere national broadcast of Freethought Radio on Air America and figured I'd post my review here. Freethought Radio has been going on for quite awhile, but Air America will give it a national broadcast for the first time. I like the idea of the show going national but found the implementation lacking in many ways. I have hope that it could be great, but it needs considerable work to reach its potential.Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) hosted the show and spent considerable time promoting the FFRF (and themselves). I was willing to overlook their shameless self-promotion because, let's face it, the FFRF desperately needs promoting. It may be the largest freethought organization in America, but it is tiny in proportion to the number of American atheists and freethinkers. So I'm glad they now have this outlet to promote such a worthy organization.Gaylor and Barker made a good case for the neglect of secular viewpo ...

Freethought Radio Comes to Air America 2007-10-06 11:18:00 There are some good godless podcasts out there, but the public airwaves aren't exactly filled with programming for the 14% (and growing) of American nonbelievers. Now we have a new weekly radio show on Air America, Freethought Radio.Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation will host, and the show airs Saturdays 1-2pm ET, and the premiere is today.Tags: Freethought Radio, Air America, atheism, secular, radio ... America

Should High School Coach Lead Prayer? 2007-10-06 11:14:00 Should a high school football coach be permitted to lead his team in post-game prayers? Vote here to express your opinion.Atheist America Incorporated is asking Jacksonville, FL, high school football coach, Darrell Southerland, to stop leading prayers for his team. Southerland claims that his prayer-fest is helping with "character building."But should prayer be part of that program? Atheists America Incorporated spokesman Greg McDowell says no way. “This is definitely a government institution run with state funds. And they are having an organized prayer on state property.”The principal doesn't feel the need to do anything because he doesn't think that the students are being forced to pray. It seems to me that there would be many theists in some communities that would object to this. How many believers would want someone with different religious beliefs from their own leading their children in prayer? But until they object, it is good that the local atheist group is on hand to do ...

Ode To Tony Strikes Nerve: New Daily Traffic Record 2007-10-06 06:47:00 In the two years I've been doing Atheist Revolution, I've had a few days where I've had daily hits above the 2,000 mark. Since my average daily hits tends to be about half this number, reaching 2,000 is certainly cause for celebration. Most of the time, it has been rather easy to trace these traffic peaks to a mention on Pharyngula. But now I have a new milestone to announce. On Oct. 4, I hit 4,482 page loads and 3,797 unique visitors. Hot damn! Little did I realize that even this new record would fall within 24 hours. On Friday, I hit 5,233 page loads and 4,237 unique visitors. A new record for Atheist Revolution.The traffic spike came in response to my recent post, An Ode to Tony. In fact, this post is easily the most popular one I've ever done. It looks like I hit a nerve with this one.Not surprisingly, a mention from PZ Myers at Pharyngula was a critical force driving the Thursday traffic surge. And yet, Thursday's numbers set a new record for traffic to this blog, exceeding ...

First Nontheistic Billboard 2007-10-05 07:20:00 In April of 2006, I was complaining about the volume of religious billboards I had observed during a road trip. I then started wondering what would happen if freethought organizations began getting into the billboard act. It looks like we'll find out. The Freedom From Religion Foundation just unveiled a secular billboard in Wisconsin.From the press release:The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is the nation's largest association of atheists and agnostics, is unveiling what is believed to be one of the first nontheistic billboards erected in Madison, Wis."We are launching a campaign to place freethought billboards up around the country, wherever an irreverent billboard is needed--which is practically everywhere!" says Annie Laurie Gaylor, Foundation spokeswoman."We don't go to Mass, but we can go to the masses," adds Dan Barker, Foundation co-president. "We think it is time for the rest of us to use the mass media to counter the ubiquity of religious messages on roadsides every ... Billboard

RichardDawkins.Net Social Network 2007-10-04 05:41:00 I'm curious whether anyone has found a use for RichardDawkins.Net Social Network yet. It is sort of a secular Facebook, but much like Facebook, I'm having trouble figuring out what I'd do with it. Have you found it useful, and if so, how have you been using it?Tags: RichardDawkins.net, secular, Facebook ...

An Ode To Tony 2007-10-03 06:03:00 I had a close friend in high school named Tony with whom I lost touch shortly after graduation. The last time I saw him, which was over 15 years ago, he had returned to our hometown after a stint in the Marines. I'm not sure what just made me think of him, but it suddenly hit me that he was an important contributing factor to my growing acceptance of atheism at the time. This one's for you, Tony.Tony wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. He never enjoyed school, and his grades were mostly Cs and Ds. He hid an extremely negative self-concept behind n tough-guy facade. You see, Tony was one of those guys who worked how much he could bench press into every conversation. He wrestled for his high school, the cross-town rival of the school I attended, and this was his one source of pride in an otherwise dismal life. His childhood was no picnic, and Tony's parents had long ago decided to focus their love and attention on his older sister, defining him as a problem to be fixed rath ...

Time To Send Atheist Fliers Home With School Children 2007-10-02 05:34:00 Approximately 2,000 elementary school children in Madison, WI, brought home religious fliers distributed at their public schools. The fliers encouraged families to "Plant the Seeds of Faith in Jesus in Your Child at our Sunday school." Not surprisingly, the atheist blogosphere is buzzing about this one, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking the Madison School District to prevent future distribution of religious fliers in public schools. This is certainly an understandable response, but there might be a better option.Superintendent Art Rainwater defended the district's policy of allowing organizations to send a variety of fliers home with students. It sounds like the idea is to let just about anything to be sent home with the children, avoiding the appearance of religious privilege. This sounds fine except for two things.First, the distribution of religious material in public schools is probably not something most of us want to encourage. Second, there is a sort of review ... Children

McCain Says U.S. Needs Christian President 2007-10-01 05:57:00 One would hope that a contender for the American presidency would at least be familiar with the Constitution. In the case of Republican hopeful, John McCain, this appears not to be the case. McCain was recently quoted saying that America needs a Christian president and that he opposes allowing a Muslim president. This sounds an awful lot like he's proposing a religious test for the nation's highest office, precisely what our Constitution forbids. Then again, McCain also claims that the “Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”McCain is clearly desperate to remain relevant as the primaries approach. His campaign has been a disaster, and he is probably having a difficult time realizing that he hasn't been part of the first tier for some time. Now it seems that he's made a strategic decision to engage in the worst kind of pandering to boost his dismal numbers.But I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on C ... President

Morons Turn Out For Miracle Tree 2007-09-30 09:19:00 No, that isn't a typo. I didn't mean Mormons, although I suppose the two aren't mutually exclusive. Instead, I'm referring to the hundreds of morons gathering around a tree in South Texas because they think they are seeing a miracle.According to The Dallas Morning News, "hundreds of people" are coming to visit an acacia tree to witness what they believe are formations of "supernatural ice" on the branches. Never mind the hot Texas sun - surely this is a miracle!Both insect and tree experts say that the white substance is most likely "a spittlebug nest," but the believers will not be deterred from their miracle. They think the tree is crying supernatural tears because the substance was first observed the day after they buried a family member. Yep, that proves it. The experts must be wrong."We feel like that tree is now missing her," her daughter, Mary Lou Sanders, said. "Where it's coming from, I do not know. It is something I cannot explain."Really? You can't explain it? It doesn ...

Carnival of the Godless #76 at A Load Of Bright 2007-09-30 07:29:00 If you're looking for some godless reading on this fine Sunday, head over to A Load of Bright to enjoy the 76th Carnival of the Godless. My post, Atheism Does Not Require Faith, is among the selections. I'm always happy when I remember to submit something before the deadline. See you there.Tags: atheism, secular, godless, carnival of the godless, blog carnival, atheist ...

Religion Under Attack in America? 2007-09-29 20:19:00 In a bizarre story out of Indiana, an evangelical Christian pastor is making waves over what he perceives as inappropriate government support of Islam. You might be surprised to find that I agree with him. But the real story may be the transparently poor journalism on display.Pastor Jerry Hillenburg is upset over plans to install foot washing basins for Muslim cab drivers in the Indianapolis airport. He feels that this is a bothersome step toward state sponsorship of religion. He's right.It isn't every day I get to agree with Baptist pastors, but Hillenburg is correct that it would be a mistake to use taxpayer money to support Islam. Where I expect we might disagree is that I realize it would be equally inappropriate to spend tax dollars in support of Christianity.But the real story here is much more subtle. Note how the author uses a quote from Hillenburg to make the point that he's opposed to "...a secular government 'that is condemning Christianity, lifting its support on the go ... America

No Suspects Yet In Christian Vandalism 2007-09-28 14:20:00 Police still have no suspects in the case involving Christian vandalism of a Chicago atheist's home. This whole thing makes me nervous. If Chicago-area Christians will do such things, it is hard to imagine that Christians in my area (Mississippi) would be any kinder.If you learn anything else about the story, please send it my way.Tags: atheist, Chicago, vandalism, Christian ...

Tagged With Evolution Meme 2007-09-28 11:35:00 Tangled Up in Blue Guy just smacked me upside the head with an Evolution Meme blog-tag. This one is a bit different from most I've encountered, providing an excuse for some self-reflection. I am supposed to list five previous posts which reflect the evolution of Atheist Revolution and tag five other blogs so they'll do the same.Much like the evolution of species, the evolution of a blog does not occur in a nice linear path. It zigs and zags in unpredictable ways as good ideas move one in important directions and bad ideas are discarded or lead to blind alleys.I can identify a few different patterns through which it would be possible to highlight the evolution of my thought as reflected here. And yet, I'm not fully satisfied that any single pattern is sufficient to represent this evolution.1. I suppose it is probably a good idea to start at the beginning by going back to February of 2005 for the first post.Bush's re-election was still weighing heavily on my mind, and I was becoming ...

Boost Traffic With BlogRush 2007-09-28 06:41:00 After seeing the BlogRush widget on several blogs and thinking that it looked like a potentially useful tool for increasing traffic, I've decided to give it a try. It is free and is supposed to help bloggers stimulate interest in their blogs by showing their posts on other blogs that use the widget. You can see it in action by looking at my left sidebar just below "Political Thoughts" and above "Interact With Freethinkers."You can get the widget here. It seems like a good way for atheist bloggers to spread the atheist meme and attract potential readers.Tags: BlogRush, blogs, blogging, widget, atheist blogs, blog traffic, blog promotion ...