Those of you that followed this story from the day it happened will not want to miss this special documentary produced by the Rachel Maddow show. Listening to Scott Roeder is a chilling reminder of what happens when a climate of fear and hatred is perpetually stoked by religious fundamentalists. The rest of the videos are after the jump. ...

In most Muslim countries, it's impossibly hard to be a woman. For starters, men have all the power, relegating women to the role of caretakers and not much else. Men also absolve themselves from any crime or misdeeds; if a husband beats his wife, she is to blame for not having been servile enough or not having been mindful enough of his moods. It's so nutty that when a rich Egyptian real estate tycoon paid ...

Imagine you fall down a ravine, and as you lay unconscious, slowly dying, your companions decide that instead of calling for medical help, they need to pray you back to health. If you're anything like me, you'd will yourself out of your coma and strangle them with your own entrails. Of course if that doesn't work, you could always try suing them (it's less messy anyways). As it turns out, this actually happ ...

Wow, tell me something I don't know: A new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute (yeah, never heard of them either) showed a significant portion of Tea Baggers are in fact part of the religious right. What a fucking surprise! Although only 47% admitted to this, it's telling 63% thought abortion should be illegal, and only 18% were in favor of gays having the legal right to marry. It makes me wond ...

A few fans asked me if I could share my thoughts about the Atheist Alliance International Conference that took place last weekend. As some of you know (and most of you will once you listen to the last podcast), we were asked to do the live podcast for the event. Considering there was no valid excuse NOT to do it, I accepted, even though I had never actually stepped foot in a conference before, let alone an ...

I've never been able to fully appreciate the kind of fear mongering religions are well known for, mostly because I was never influenced by their terrifying dogma. It's easy for many of us non-believers to scoff at the claims devils casually walk the earth, looking for souls to devour. But for millions of impressionable children, these kinds of messages often create fear and panic over the thought of being p ...

It's far easier to fight for principles than to live up to them The immortal words of Adlai Stevenson still carry with them the poignant reminder that there is more to life than merely fighting for what you believe; you also have to live by those principles, even when it seems impossibly hard to do so. You might recall a few months ago, cartoonist Molly Norris gained a great deal of media attention after de ...

If you're black and gay, you have my pity. I can't imagine a minority group so vehemently opposed to homosexuality. They often make the sermons of white Alabama preachers seem almost tame by comparison. It's no secret as a group, African Americans are more religiously conservative than the average American. Since many believe in the literal word of God, it doesn't leave a lot of room for tolerance and under ...

Religions have it pretty sweet in America. Not only do they enjoy a special status in society; they also get to benefit from generous tax exemptions. This privileged status comes at a price however; churches are not allowed by law to interfere with the political process. It's a rule that's never been strongly enforced in my opinion, with plenty of  instances where religious institutions have openly or secre ...

A gay couple in the North West Territories, the frozen butthole of Canada, was recently awarded $13,000 in a ruling involving a landlord who tried to evict them, simply because they were gay. The landlord contended the legal arrangement he made with the couple was null since he genuinely feared God would smite him. Naturally, he quoted the King James Bible as proof God hates sodomites, but the arbitrator in ...