I found this post How Large is the Religion Industry in America?. In brief, the unreported, unaccounted billions of dollars paid to churches and faith-based programs certainly amount to a noticeable slice of the GNP pie. But because of the special status given to religion in this country, no one…
We've had a long comment aside in the Iridium Layer post about whether a Young Earth might be proven if one assumes that all isotopes "age" faster under water at some depth. Let's consider some of the repercussions if this were Truth instead of fantasy: Nuclear waste would not be…
In modern times in the U.S., do we self-censor out of fear or allegedly of out respect? We certainly do, for both "reasons." At Daylight Atheism, Ebonmuse has published a post describing a modern example of self-censorship, this one involving the story of a nine-year old girl who was forced…
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.…
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,…