From the Washington Post: At various times in years past, women, blacks, Jews, and gays were the political outcasts in one or both parties. Now it seems the only group of untouchables are the atheists. This year, the Democrats have chosen a black man as their presidential candidate and they nearly chose a woman. In 2000, a Jewish man was on the ticket as a vice presidential candidate. Gays have won the righ ...

We've come a long way over the past 100 years, but do you ever feel like we're slowly starting to slide backwards when you hear about stuff like this? Leading academics, authors and scientists are launching a campaign to stop state-funded faith schools from discriminating against students and teachers on the grounds of religion. From Monday, such schools will be allowed to include faith as a selection crite ...

Republicans aren't the only ones dragging faith and religion deeper into the American political landscape. Here's DNC head Howard Dean talking about the Democratic party's attempt to 'increase its displays of religiosity': Faith is faith,he exclaimed. Faith in God is something that is common to human beings. He was quick to acknowledge that secular people in the Democratic Party still have values. Dean su ...

From MSNBC" The Texas Supreme Court on Friday threw out a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of her old church, ruling that the case unconstitutionally entangled the court in religious matters. In a 6-3 decision, the justices found that a lower court erred when it said the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God's First Amendment rights regarding freedom of relig ...

If you're already an atheist, you might feel as though the world around you is awash in delusion. You might also have noticed although a large number of people find comfort in the fanciful notions of religion, there are others who are entangled in guilt, pain, or violence because of it. The thought may have crossed your mind that a powerful and organized movement is required against religion to free mankind ...

If you're like me, you use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and find people you haven't talked to in years. But in restrictive, religious countries, the site has a reputation for being a 'lustful hotbed of activity'. That's why a young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father, who caught her having a conversation with an unknown man. He beat and then shot his own daughter, presumably an honor ki ...

A young man in Saudi Arabia is less than a month away from being beheaded for his part in a school yard brawl that ended with the death of an 18 year old student. Mohammed Kohail, who is a Canadian citizen, is only a few days from the chopping block, and Canada is seriously dragging its feet, and has refused to demand clemency, or take any diplomatic action. This is all part of the Conservative Administrati ...

If I told you large groups of fundamentalists were threatening to commit acts of terror over the release of a simple movie criticizing Islam and the Qur'an, I'm sure none of you would be surprised. We take this kind of ridiculousness for granted now. You can't release a cartoon, a book, or a documentary without fear of reprisal, and now, rather than only make threats at the authors of such works (which was ...

Ok, well, maybe baby Jesus doesn't cry, but that hasn't stopped the Vatican from including failure to recycle as one of the new deadly sins. In case you were unaware of what a deadly sin is, it's a ticket straight to hell for eternity (remember the sins of envy, gluttony, and greed? They're still there, but there have been some additions) . So, if you threw out your soda can in the garbage rather than the r ...

There's a long stranding belief that astrologers, psychics, and Tarot readers generally do no harm. Most people who read their horoscope do so out of sheer curiosity, and because they enjoy being surprised by the occasional reading that seems genuine. Of course, this belief often disregards the giant disfavor done to individuals who often rely on such quacks to tell them what do with their lives. The techni ...