Should the Democratic Convention Exclude the Irreligious?

I was reading Friendly Atheist this morning, and found out that the DNC is preparing to start their convention (coronation ceremony?) with an interfaith religious service. (Link to the post) They invited representatives of several religions to speak, but explicitly denied access to any atheists, agnostics, pagans, spiritualists, or humanists.…

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Atheism Doesn’t Preclude Woo

As with many rationalists, I've always assumed that Atheism and Rationalism were intertwined. But recently I conversed with an ardent atheist who believes in reincarnation. Suddenly I realized that Atheism is not commutative: Rationalism generally leads to atheism, but not vice-versa. One can deeply believe that there is no sky-daddy,…

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Moonlight Ramble, Mostly Ignored

My town has a tradition on the August Saturday night closest to the full moon called the Moonlight Ramble. I attended it last night, and worked up a sweat along with several thousand others on bicycles riding along 17 miles of closed city streets from midnight to 3. Most of…

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Georgia On My Mind

Just when we thought it was a good time to buy one of those magnificent, Soviet-era dachas in Georgia, this happens. We're getting the updates on the most spectacular round of this event, but the fact is this has been brewing since the break up of the Soviet Union.  Georgia…

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