I generally dislike when celebrities try and participate in the political discourse. Sure, I might not mind if someone famous agrees with me on every issue (which has yet to happen), but most of the time, celebrities use the spotlight to demonstrate how little they know about important topics. Such cause célèbre also tend to make them look foolish. Remember Brad and Angelina’s attempt to re-invigorate Louisiana with unusual architecture? After spending millions of dollars, these monstrosities may house people, but they do little to inspire anyone to back to the Big Easy.

James Dart, a Manhattan-based architect who was born and raised in The Big Easy, labels the houses as “Alien, sometimes even insulting,” adding, “the biggest problem is that they are not grounded in the history of New Orleans architecture,”

It’s great to have your heart in the right place, and Pitt’s foundation Make it Right has built over 70 houses. Was this the best use of these resources however? Would they have done more with the money if Brad didn’t have a love of ghastly architecture?

In light of the fact that I’m just about to contradict myself, I can’t help but find yet another reason to love Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe (apart from him being a fellow “Mega Brow”). His outspoken atheism not-notwithstanding, he’s now come out publically that he’s changing his political support. He claims that Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrat government is placating the religious right, especially when it comes to ‘faith schools”.

Radcliffe said that he wished more educational establishments, especially in the US, were not in thrall to religion, stating: “I’m not religious, I’m an atheist, and a militant atheist when religion starts impacting on legislation. We need sex education in schools.

I like the way he doesn’t fear the word militant. I know we hate being compared with our religious counterpart, but I’m far more afraid of how organized and effective the religious right is. So, now you have a few more reasons to like Danny-boy. Do I like him enough to go see his new movie? I may not love him enough…

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It was a valiant effort, folks. I tried, hard as I might, to make a living spreading the “gospel’ of atheism, but in the end, I failed. It took me a little while to realize just how desperate the situation had become, but my failure to secure even the most modest of loans served as a cold reminder that outside of my tiny group of supporters, there is no recognizable value in what I do.

Part of me is honestly resentful of the scene. Were I some religious no-name douche-bag, my coffers would be overflowing with monies. Religious people might be gullible, but they are also aware of the importance of spreading their message, and the cost involved in doing so. For them, the idea of stretching their budget to accommodate their local pastor is just something they do. This dedication and generosity is in large part the reason why religions continue to spread and prosper. As atheists, we have no such dedication.

In many regards, my life is one of a “pastor”, in that the skills I have spent years crafting have no real importance in the 9-5 world. When a priest leaves his profession, he enters a world where his ability to sway the masses is essentially worthless. It’s why so many who have already lost their faith continue to preach the “good news” in order to pay their mortgage and put food on the table. In a way, my situation is similar. After spending years studying, researching and promoting my program, my isolation from the corporate world has lowered my stock. I’m at the bottom of the ladder, and that’s a terrifying prospect.

My eventual return to the working world spells the death of The Good Atheist. While I don’t doubt that the odd podcast may appear, I must now dedicate 100% of my effort to ensure my continued survival, leaving little time to contemplate matters of life, the universe, and the absurdity of existence. I stand defeated, and must now resolve myself to the fate that awaits me in the work-a-day world.

I would like to thank all the fans who have supported us over the years. The hard-core fans, in particular, helped to keep the show afloat for all these years. The tiny raft, set adrift in a sea of uncertainty, faced little chance of success. I’m grateful for all the wonderful messages I’ve received over the years from fans who expressed their love of the show. They were all touching, and I shall treasure them for as long as I live. I leave you in the capable hands of my fellow atheists, who will continue to fight the good fight.

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Here’s something I’ve learned in all my years of blogging: if you look for something hard enough, you’ll find it. In my case, it’s examples of religious stupidity that I zero in on. I realize that cheap laughs and easy jokes may not give the complete picture of a particular religion (usually Christianity or Islam), but if I was trying to be fair I wouldn’t be having any fun.

I want you to keep this in mind, as it might help clarify some of the frustration you might be feeling if you read Rebecca Watson’s new tirade on the evils of secular sexism entitled “Reddit makes me hate atheists“. The post focuses on the story of a 15 year old girl who received a barage of innapropriate comments after posting a picture of herself with a copy of Carl Sagan’s “Demon Haunted World”. I think this opening paragraph will help set the tone of the piece:

…R/atheism is very large, and so it is jam packed with assholes. And yet! I continue to read it every day. I read it even though I usually learn nothing new from it and it only serves to create and foster inside me an intense hatred of my fellow atheists.

While there are a variety of explinations as to why some of comments were so disparaging (her post made it to the front page of reddit, which extends far beyond the confines of r/atheism), her obsession with gender issues makes it seem as though the atheist reddit forums are a cesspool of misogyny. I couldn’t disagree more.

I’ve been trolling the site for years now, watching the group grow from humble numbers to over 300,000 strong. While a great number of posts are usually rage comics, occasionally hilarious facebook threads and funny pictures, a significant portion of them are personal tales of individuals “coming out” to family members (I even remember one post from a redditor claiming to be Michel Behe’s atheit son). The support these people receive from their fellow redditors is almost universally positive. I’m constantly surprised by the patience, understanding and intelligence on display from members. Then again, I’m usually on the lookout for positive examples of human kindness on the site, so I’m not entirely surprised when I find what I’m looking for.

This, in a nutshell, is Rebecca’s problem; she’s actively looking for examples of mysoginy in the scene to justify her claim that sexism is rampant in the atheist community. While I don’t believe that our group is guiltless, I think the problem has been severely overstated. Do we have studies to show atheists are more sexist than believers? Is there any proof beyond a couple of anecdotal stories of misogyny? Seems to me like there’s a lot of speculation based on some extremely limited samples, colored by emotion and marred with anecdotal evidence. Sounds like a fucking nightmare to me.

I don’t want to claim to have more “journalistic credibility” than Rebecca, or anything equally silly (I’m more of a curmudgeon than a serious writer). Still, I think it’s important to recognize how much of your own perception is influenced by your pre-existing beliefs. Is the world as sexist as you think, or is there a chance that your preconceptions might be blinding you? I certainly wonder how anyone could visit r/atheism and develop an “intense hatred” of your fellow atheists (unless you hate rage comics, of course). Seems far more likely that this intense hatred might have been there all along…

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As some of you may know, I am not an American. I’m your neighbor from the Great White North (who is supposed to spell neighbor with a “u” but doesn’t to avoid confusion), which means that my attitude regarding finances and politics tends to be more on the left than your average Apple pie baking Good Old Boy. I was born in the province of Quebec, perhaps the most socialist of all the provinces in this country. I live in a place where access to medicine isn’t likely to send you to the poorhouse, and our myriad social programs (probably too many, in fact) help low income families have access to food, shelter and even dental care. While it’s true that our country is currently in debt, that amount is still much lower than the US, even after you compensate for our different population.

Canada has much stricter regulations regarding banking and finance, which allowed our country to avoid the same financial crisis that cost American Taxpayers a whopping 7 trillion dollars to fix. While this country does consider itself open to the idea of the free market, evidently our citizens are overwhelmingly in the majority of wanting some degree of regulation over the way business is conducted. Whether or not you agree that regulations hinder or help economies prosper, these philosophies have NOTHING to do with our belief about God. Of course, this isn’t the opinion of one commenters on the site who seems convinced that only a Darwinian model is something we non-believers should be interested in:

Atheist Republican here… Atheists should have more in common with free market capitalist Republicans over social wealfare democrats purely on a darwinian view of survival of the fittest through competition. Yes the Republican Party is hijacked by social evangelicals, but overlooking this fact atheists should be working within the GOP to counter balance this

So, because we believe in evolution, we should suddenly embrace its cruelty, waste, and directionless? That hardly sounds wise to me. Besides, this seems only to lend credence to the idea that non-believers are heartless cynics who think only of themselves. I think you’ll find, dear commenter, that the vast majority of us don’t believe in this nonsense. We disdain people who improperly use science to support bogus theories of economics. If you want to argue that free market capitalism is most effective when completely devoid of any restrictions, I’d be happy to participate in such a debate. When you argue that my atheism should support what I regard to be an insensitive, destructive and ultimately inhumane philosophy (social darwinism), then you’ll have guys like me telling you to fuck off. If you want me to support a party of religious fundamentalists in order to have few regulations in an economy already on the edge of collapse, then you’ve got an other thing coming, pal.

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Most of you know that I’m often critical of our community in terms of our charitably, as I’ve complained in the past that many of us are not willing to compete with the financially support organized religions get. I’m convinced that the only way to fight the evils of religion is to play their game, to some degree. Part of that includes giving money to organizations that make an actual difference rather than offer food, comfort and medical services with strings attached.

Over the years, the Atheism subreddit has been growing by leaps and bounds (outnumbering many of the religious subreddits many times over), and are over 300,000 subscribers and counting. Compare that to the Christian subreddit that has a paltry 19k, and you realize the strong secular leaning of the site. Anyone who visits TGA realizes that I often troll these forums, looking for the latest happenings, rage cartoons and funny pictures from the web (that’s putting it mildly; I’m practically a content thief).

The group will probably grow even more after knocking one out of the park:

Atheist bloggers have shown their charitable side by swarming to donate money to Doctors Without Borders…Thousands more clicked through from the atheism sub-reddit, a site normally given over to finding holes in religions and picking fights with creationists, and headed for a dedicated site at firstgiving.com, where they have so far given $180,000.

Sure makes me look like a jackass for claiming we’re a bunch of cheapskates! I’ve never been so happy to be wrong in my life.

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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 service for the new TGA site. I know what to expect in terms of money from fellow non-believers. You guys may be loyal listeners, but as it stands now in the atheism scene, the money just isn’t there. Herding Cat is still our moniker, and it’s times like this that you realize just how true that is. Would Nate have the same problem trying to get money to make a documentary on how Jesus changed his life? I doubt it.

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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 is much more satisfying than a bunch of outdated superstitious ideas and vague promises of life eternal. A formerly religious fan wrote to me recently put it better than I ever could:

I’ve always rebelled against those ideas [religion] but have never considered atheism nor have I ever done any kind of research on the origins of life, our planet, and the universe. Since becoming an atheist I’ve learned so much about these things. It’s really amazing how rejecting fairy tales really opens your mind to some really fucking amazing things.

Confused and afraid, the Church has only one “solution” for the problem: bringing it back to the love of Jesus, and making people understand that only their institution can properly hand out tickets to magical playland in the sky.They worry about an increasingly secularized world, combined with a weak-sauce form of spirituality that lacks the important tithing they cherish so much. As membership continues to slid, no doubt they see the writing on the wall.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York seems to understand that there’s a serious problem:

They [churchgoers] drift from her, get mad at the Church, grow lax, join another, or just give it all up,” he said, according to a text of his remarks posted on the Conference’s website (www.usccb.org).If this does not cause us pastors to shudder, I do not know what will. The reasons are multiple and well-rehearsed — and we need to take them seriously. The Church we passionately love is hardly some cumbersome, outmoded club of sticklers, with a medieval bureaucracy, silly human rules on fancy letterhead, one more movement rife with squabbles, opinions, and disagreement.

I totally agree. The Church is so much more than cumbersome, outmoded, silly and filled with squabbles and disagreement. It’s also a criminal organization that’s sheltered pedophiles and child rapists since its inception, been responsible for some of the most brutal genocides and massacres in our species history (Just ask the Cathari how they feel about the Church. Oh wait, you can’t, since they slaughtered them all), and still to this day continues to spread death and misery over their stupid objection to contraception.

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Ever since Conservapedia put up a link to TGA declaring that there was “no such thing as a Good Atheist”, we’ve been getting a lot of great comments in a number of articles. The best one so far has to be from “Bob”, who is convinced that not only do we not exist, but that life on earth wouldn’t be worth living if it wasn’t for his imaginary buddy:

I want to know just one thing, if there is NO God, NO Afterlife, No nothing, no point to anything what so ever, why do you continue to even exist? I mean if you could prove to me that there wasn’t a God, which you can’t because there is, I would be the first in line for suicide, NOTHING or NO ONE on this earth is worth putting up with the total bullshit that we put up with on a daily basis.

With a personality like yours, it’s a total mystery why your friends and family don’t offer you enough support and love to justify you “putting” up with existence for more than a minute. You sound like such a positive guy! Surely it must be your love of God that makes you this cheery.

I don’t believe true atheists even exist, just a bunch of snot nosed adults throwing temper tantrums because they can’t get their way and do what they want without repercussion for their actions.

He is aware that we have a justice system, right?

I think I’ve identified where you fucked up in your reasoning, Bobby. You think atheism leads to nihilism which then leads to violent anarchy. If that were the case, prisons would be filled with non-believers. So why are they disproportionately represented in correctional institutions?

The simple answer (the one you can’t seem to grasp) is that belief in god doesn’t actually make a person moral. In fact, it can often do the exact opposite. Just think of how many times someone has murdered their fellow human being because their god commanded them to do so. These psychopaths were the ones who did what they want without caring what the repercussions were.

science is so full of shit, takes alot of faith to believe what you can’t see, right? when was the last time you could 100% prove science, all the way down to its truest form? you can’t you never will, most of what science says is all made up bullshit.

It’s impossible to prove science 100%. The whole process demands uncertainty, in a way. It invites change, because the people who do science realize that our picture of the Universe is incomplete. That isn’t a weakness, Bobby. That’s a strength. I know it’s hard to grasp when you’ve been humping the Bible for so long, but certainty is not at all desirable. We used to be certain that the world was flat, that the Sun revolved around the Earth, and that diseases were caused by demons. All of these “facts” were written with total certitude in the Bible and all of them are dead wrong.

If you enjoy certainty at the cost of learning anything real about objective reality, that’s your choice. I might suggest, however, that you try and improve your relationships with people that actually exist. They are the ones that make life worth living, not some failed messiah living in “the clouds”.

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A fan -who shall remain anonymous for reasons that will be clear in the email- sent me a letter I thought I would share with the rest of you. I’m not the best at giving advice to people in awkward situation like his, but since this is an atheism site, readers are bound to have opinions that they’re only too happy to share.

Hi Jake,

How do I ask my boss for Friday off to attend the Texas Freethought Convention?

The financially-fit, skilled, and competent version of me that I strive to be would be honest. Regretfully, I am not that man, and honesty is not really an option here.

I just started an internship at the end of August following a long stretch of unemployment. As an intern, I am extremely dependent on both my boss and my coworkers to learn on the job.

Even though I’ve only been with the company for a few weeks, I’ve found that my co-workers are vocal about their lives outside of work. Through this I’ve gathered that the three people in my immediate group are Christians. One of them even expressed frustration with being set up on a blind date with an, “atheist.”

A couple of years ago, my Christian parents found out that I had discarded the belief in god that I was raised with. Aside from their initial negative reaction, my lack of belief has not been discussed. They are still expressive of their beliefs around me while I keep my outlook to myself. My immediate family and friends of the family are also un-aware of my lack of belief. I remain silent partially due to respect, but largely due to my poor financial state.

The complicating link between my family and my work is my father; he has been with this particular company for all of his life.

I need my both parents and this internship to survive. I don’t feel comfortable risking either direct or indirect recourse with my co-workers or my parents. I am – for lack of a better word – scared.

The most appealing solution I can discern is to say that I am attending a Leadership Conference. If my co-workers accept this at face value and don’t prod any deeper, then I might be okay, but I wouldn’t know how to answer the, “who is hosting it,” or the, “where is it at,” follow-up questions.

Do you have any suggestions?

Well, I’m not a big fan of lying, but I don’t see you having a lot of choice. It sounds like drawing attention to yourself isn’t a good idea. My long-term suggestion would be to find a way not to have your balls in that kind of vice. Maybe that means moving somewhere else, where you don’t have to hide your beliefs for the sake of your job. I don’t know your family situation (which is what makes this part almost impossible), but living in such a hostile environment to unbelief for the rest of your life doesn’t seem desirable in the slightest.

Your story makes me wonder if there shouldn’t be an “covert” option available for people wanting to attend atheist conventions where they event built a fake site for people with bosses and colleagues that just wouldn’t “get it”. It’s true that it makes us non-believers appear dishonest or “closeted” about our beliefs, but we can’t expect everyone to risk losing their jobs, their friends, or even their family to show up at one of these events. It would be a little like the site “Ashley Madison” which bills your credit card under a pseudonym to ensure your spouse is unaware of your actions. It’s sad that such a service seems necessary, but that’s just the way things have to go until religious people stop having a “problem” with our existence.

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Times are hard in America. Job security is eroding fast, as is the middle class. This puts everyone on edge, which would explain some of the blow-back from fans concerning my opinion that there is something fundamentally broken with the way teachers are unionized in America. Of course, that’s not to imply that I want to destroy all the rights workers have managed to harangue from the clutches of the very wealthy (far from it). I just find it strange that the prevailing attitude of many of my listeners down south concerning freedom of speech is that this should not interfere with their ability to be gainfully employed. Trust me, when you aren’t an American, this idea is kind of crazy.

Take the case of Jerry Buell. He’s a teacher at Mount Dora High School in Lake County, Florida who was suspended, and later reinstated after posting a number of homophobic remarks on his Facebook account (which included many student “friends”). After learning that New York was finally allowing gay people to have the same rights as everyone else, he became so overwhelmed with disgust, he claims, that he threw up at the diner table.

The Friendly Atheist first came to his defense as a fellow teacher, but quickly changed his tune when he took a gander at Jerry’s very crazy school bio, where he admitted his intent to “teach God’s truth”. Still, a number of Hemant’s fans continue to support Jerry under the banner of free speech. They make a good point: If a teacher can be fired for holding “controversial” views, might the same not apply to non-belief as well?

Here’s my general problem with that idea. Hemant’s beliefs don’t condemn entire groups of people either privately or publicly. It isn’t predicated on the hatred of anyone who isn’t like him. The only thing “controversial” about atheism is that religious people don’t like it. If it wasn’t for these yahoos, we wouldn’t even give this thing we don’t believe in a name. We’re creating a false equivalency here between religious people being discomforted with our non-belief and gay teens being driven to suicide because of the relentless torture of bigots like Jerry. Undoubtedly he’s had a few gay students pass through his class already. What impression of themselves were they left with in his care? If some stories are to be believed, he’s stated that homosexuals should be killed, as should their “conspirators”. How are these vulnerable children affected by this type of hateful bigotry?

The ACLU came to Jerry’s defense because their greater cause is the belief that a person’s views shouldn’t interfere with them having a job. I’m not sure that should be Universally true. He’s not working as a fucking office clerk. He’s a teacher, which means he’s been given the charge of educating the mind of our young, and as such Jerry’s beliefs are of extreme importance, especially when it comes to the mental health of the students. Thier priority is spelled out clearly in the code of ethics of the school board:

[A Teacher] Shall not intentionally expose a student to unnecessary embarrassment or disparagement; shall not harass or discriminate against any student on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, marital status, handicapping condition, sexual orientation, or social and family background and shall make reasonable effort to assure that each student is protected from harassment or discrimination.

The First Amendment isn’t a defense of people who willfully disregard the codes of conduct they agree to adhere to, and this is especially true for people who educate our young (how tolerant are we if they take other “liberties”?). He’s not being jailed for speaking his mind. He was being suspended for breaking the rules. Just because someone is allowed to say what they want doesn’t suddenly mean that there are no consequences. You can’t have free speech in a world without any fucking accountability.

If you want to take some action against this jackass, then go sign the petition.

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