A few days ago, pastor Sean Harris made headlines after he encouraged his parishioners to beat their children if they displayed any "gay" behavior. Needless to say, he found the attention less than desirable, and has since attempted to retract his statement. Unfortunately, like any homophobe caught in the act, his retraction is less than sincere: “I apologize to anyone I have unintentionally offended,” Sean ...

There's so much that's sad with this video it's hard to pinpoint which part stands out, so instead I chose the quotes I felt best represent her special brand of brainwashing: "Me wearing Hijab is my relationship between me and Allah" It's always a good sign when your deity has an inherent distrust of the female form. Better cover it up, since it's the only way you can be guaranteed someone won't molest and ...

How to spot a poorly written article about atheism. (1) The words 'fundamentalist' or 'militant' are used in the article without any real justification (i.e., do these words have the same meaning for our religious counter-parts, I wonder) (2) 'Atheistic' regimes are blamed for the worst human rights offenses (3) We're told that secularism is an imposition rather than redressing a clear inequity. It's clear ...

When trying to defend your religion, you've to pick your battles. In today's modern world, defending the Bible is a full time job. If you aren't busy arguing that the supposed genocide of the Canaanites or Hittites was justified because a bearded sky-deity told the Jews to do it, you're hopelessly defending things like homophobia and slavery. What else can you expect from a series of books written thousands ...

When your main weapon in the war of ideas is fairy-tale nonsense, I can see how some religionists might feel a little intimidated with reality. Unlike those 'heady' days in the past when any old idea passed muster so long as a man of the cloth gave it a thumbs up (like the 17th century edict that declared the beaver a fish), our modern understanding of the natural world has only served to further marginaliz ...

Movie premise: a Christian girl finds her faith and her budding career as a scientist conflicting. A young hockey player, who has lost his belief in non-sense, will find his way back to magic when a group of students discover that The Bible doesn't conflict with science (even though it fucking obviously does). Liberal academics attempt to erode their faith, but luckily God wins and an old woman is disallowe ...

For those of us not blinded by faith, Intelligent Design is nothing more that the "intellectual" leftovers of creationism. While its proponents will argue that there is no specific mention of God, once you read ID literature and listen to its defenders, a clear pattern emerges: ID is simply creationism that's been dressed up for the prom. Part of the reason ID'ers fight so hard against this creationist labe ...

I hope there aren't any Canadians on the site foolish enough to think that abortion, gay marriage and the separation of Church and state are American issues. If only we were so lucky. Unfortunately, we have our fair share of crazies in positions of power. Take Stephen Woodworth: he's a conservative MP who is fighting to include legislation that would re-open the "debate" on abortion. Like his American count ...

Pope Benedict XVI, a celibate man who controls a vast fortune and an army of delusional homophobes, has criticized Americans for granting all their citizens the same rights in the state of Maryland. "He added that the traditional family and marriage had to be "defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature" because, he said, whatever injured families injured society. So many ruined live ...

Despite living in a (supposedly) secular environment, many Americans are unwilling to identify themselves as Atheists for fear of losing their jobs, their loved ones, or the community bond they have worked so hard to forge. In some extremely isolated communities, potential non-believers may be completely unaware that millions of others don't subscribe to any religion. Often, this knowledge alone can make th ...