They're kinda the same thing, if you think about it. So it's fitting that several sci-fi writers are beginning to tell tales of universes where there really is a Creator. A new crop of science fiction novels focus on what it would mean if Intelligent Design turned out to be the truth. Jay Lake's Escapement is a perfect example, as is Walter Jon Williams' Implied Spaces, both are novels about people in clock ...

Another review of Dawkins' new documentary The Genius of Charles Darwin. This reviewer finds conflict in Dawkins' attempt to play at times both the impartial scientist and the firebrand atheist. Personally, I can understand: Even the best of scientists will go batshit insane after explaining why 2+2 = 4 and not 3, only to be perpetually ignored or told "Let these people think it's 3 if they want to, it's ok ...

The Jacksonville Daily Progress has a short article on an MSNBC poll asking "should the motto 'In God We Trust' be removed from U.S. currency?": Of the 7,230,365 votes cast as of 11:45 a.m. Monday, 78 percent of those participating in the poll voted to keep the motto, compared to 22 percent voting to remove it from U.S. currency. "That doesn't surprise me," said Kevin King, senior pastor of the First Unite ...

From Scrippsnews: In my younger and more vulnerable years I once got into a debate with a fundamentalist Christian about the morality of capital punishment. Her view was that the Bible sanctioned the death penalty, and as far as she was concerned that was the end of the matter. What struck me most about her attitude toward the subject was her contempt for anyone who might see the question differently. Recen ...

This month saw the release of a new Dawkins related documentary called The Genius of Charles Darwin - you can read more about it here or just download the torrents here. My criticism of Dawkins has always been that he's so hardcore about his disdain for religion it turns off many religious fence sitters who might be more receptive to a moderate atheist message. Yeah, I know the whole 'moderate atheism will ...

More 'No love for atheists in today's Democratic party' articles! But this one includes an interesting anecdote from the early days of America's history, when atheist presidential candidates roamed the earth: And if Senator Obama, a committed Christian, were ever attacked for something so minute as, say, making space on a dais for a Humanist clergyperson? He could successfully take a page from the president ...

From the Washington Post: At various times in years past, women, blacks, Jews, and gays were the political outcasts in one or both parties. Now it seems the only group of untouchables are the atheists. This year, the Democrats have chosen a black man as their presidential candidate and they nearly chose a woman. In 2000, a Jewish man was on the ticket as a vice presidential candidate. Gays have won the righ ...

Apparently in Northern Ireland, it's slightly harder than you'd imagine to get a simple non-religious burial. I personally got a kick out of the end, it's practically a punchline. A Donegal atheist had to be buried in Londonderry because the county has no facilities for non-religious burials. Journalist Roy Greenslade's mother was buried in Ballyowen cemetery in Derry on Tuesday after a humanist service. He ...

Here's an interesting article that traces the history of messed up religious rituals from Muslim self flagellation to the Christian 'mortification of the flesh' to the sado-masochistic rituals of the Church of Body Modification. The conclusion? Sexuality and religion share a common thread: what you do to yourself is your own business, just don't drag children into the equation. ...

We've come a long way over the past 100 years, but do you ever feel like we're slowly starting to slide backwards when you hear about stuff like this? Leading academics, authors and scientists are launching a campaign to stop state-funded faith schools from discriminating against students and teachers on the grounds of religion. From Monday, such schools will be allowed to include faith as a selection crite ...