After receiving some flak (some of it merited, some of it not) over my article indicating my worry that the CFI's Board of Directors was fractured over Justin Trottier's dismissal, and that this fact alone demanded that the organization come clean to members regarding the details. While I had managed to get a few details of what was happening, it was clear from every other article out there that no one was ...

As some of you may know, Nate Phelps, son of the Westboro Baptist Church's head patriarch Fred Phelps, is an atheist now, and he's working on a documentary about his life called Nate vs. Hate. In an attempt to garner funds, he's launched a kickstarter page, but so far, they seem miles away from their goal. They still need to raise over $48,000 in 4 days. This is why I haven't bothered trying to use this ser ...

Secular organizations in this country have the tendency to implode. Although it's not clear exactly why this happens, it my have something to do with the fact that people tend not to agree on the best strategy to garner new members. Should we be in everyone's face? Should we employ a more gentle approach that doesn't alienate certain groups? While we may not argue over dogma like our religious counterparts, ...

It takes guts to stand up for what you believe in when you live in a repressive country. While we in the West enjoy the freedom to post nude photos of ourselves whenever we want, there are some countries - in this case Egypt - where doing so can get you in a lot of trouble. It was in the spirit of protest that Aliaa Magda Elmahd posted naked pictures of herself on her blog to highlight the fact that the cou ...

I hate the way non-scientists keep arguing that "science doesn't know everything", or that "new research supports my [insert bullshit idea here]. The latest confused buffoon is Andrew Sullivan, who has a new section where you can ask him questions. It seems that he's been reading the same book I have (Pinker's "Angels of our Better Natures; Why violence has declined), but he's come to vastly different concl ...

You've probably noticed the new tactic from bigoted religionists claiming that their rights (specifically the right to discriminate against people for their sexual orientation) are being infringed. Well, this strategy has now morphed into a baseless accusation of fascism by a right wing nutjob named Alan Craig. He's determined that the threat of wider acceptance of same-sex marriage as a sign of fascism. Th ...

"Pain is merely weakness leaving your body" "You won't last long if you start feeling sorry for yourself" "Pay attention; you are a loser" If you want to have a scary cultist environment, you need the following (all of which seem present in this "retreat"). - Use food deprivation to make people more tired, and susceptible to suggestion - Use hard physical labor to break down subjects to make them more submi ...

Religions are finally starting to understand that the scientific revolution, and the information age is eroding the power of their institution. It turns out that material explanations for natural processes are much more satisfying than a bunch of outdated superstitious ideas and vague promises of life eternal. A formerly religious fan who wrote to me recently put it better than I ever could: I've always reb ...

Not only does his name sound like a bad-ass metal band, but he is also the "Co-Prophet of the End Times". That's nutjob for "I think Jesus chose me to deliver you the good news about his planned mass slaughter". He's so crazy that one scary sounding name fantasizing about the death of countless human beings was not enough. Priceless moments include: - Referring to "withdrawal" as a Planned Parenthood form o ...

If you're planning to take a pilgrimage to Medina, you might want to make sure that you're practicing "Islam" the way the locals want you to. That's a lesson a Canadian Imam by the name of Usama Al-Atar learned rather painfully, as he was singled out from a prayer group, strangled, beaten, and then taken to jail. According to CTV, he's been released, but details are extremely sketchy. The police claim that ...