Some of you may wonder why I talk about gay rights on a site about atheism. You might also wonder why many atheist bloggers also defend the right for gays to marry. Perhaps some of you think they are unrelated issues. However, there is no denying the fact the reason gays are not treated as true members of society is because of religious intolerance which seeks to marginalize this group. I personally have a ...

I don't watch much British TV, but according to this article on a IK Christian website, it looks as though they are upset their religion is being mocked on TV. They site an episode of Eastenders in which a religious character looks buffoonish in her view of homosexuality. Other soaps apparently show characters complaining about the superstitious nature of religion, and how they target vulnerable people. So ...

Since starting this section of the website, I've many great stories, but none were as intense as Krista's. Her early life exemplified the dangers of belief, especially when combined with mindless superstition, ritual, and dogmatic platitudes. Here is her story: I decided to write this in order to draw attention to the damage that religion can cause to children. At the same time I want to say that my parents ...

Signing a UN declaration is roughly as binding as your New Years resolution. Still, they are symbolic representations, somewhat like a lofty resolution, indicating an important issue which needs attention. It's why I'm appalled the US failed to sign a UN declaration aiming at decriminalizing homosexuality. Of course, I'm not entirely surprised, since the government seems to have no regard for civil libertie ...

There's been a lot of debate concerning the definition of marriage. I know many conservatives are offended guys like me call them on the fact that the real reason they dislike gays marrying is because they are homophobic. I'm accused of making blanket statements about conservatives, and of labeling people. Now, I want to make it clear to everyone that I'm not trying to make a person feel inferior for being ...

Some propose constructing a new language to be taught internationally, designed specifically to be easy to learn and understand, would you support such an idea? The idea of creating a new language was tried many years ago, and it was a dismal failure. Esperanto is now considered to be a joke among philologists (people who study languages). Generally speaking, it would be unrealistic to assume that anyone wo ...

Imagine you have an apple pie and there are six people who want a piece. It seems obvious that if you're a fair person, you would go ahead and divide the pie in six equal pieces. This is how small groups of individuals make compromises which allow each person to have an equal opportunity, in this case, to have pie. Now, imagine the pie was much bigger, and there were millions of people who wanted a piece of ...

There's a stealthy new form of racism these days. It's often so invisible that to the untrained eye, it goes completely unnoticed. This bigotry often mascarades as politeness and false concern, and I believe we've been letting people get away with it for far too long. Take for example, the recent news story about Alex Sanchez, a gay author whose address to students at Charlotte County high school was cancel ...

Canada is a liberal country for the most part. It's values are best described as 'socialist' in many respects, although there is always great emphasis on the rights and freedoms of the individual. Canada also makes significant contributions to the arts, giving tax credits for artistic endeavors so they may remain independant of major film studios (what I can only describe as the 'Hollywood' treatment). Howe ...

A group of 18 men in Northern Nigeria are facing a possible death sentence for taking part in a gay wedding. The men were dressed as women, and were promptly arrested for alleged sodomy. Unfortunately for them, the town of Bauchi is under Sharia law, and so the men face the possibility of being stoned to death. For those of you unaware of what Sharia law is, in Arabic it translates directly to the way. It ...