Not having grown up in the South, I recently asked some readers at Mississippi Atheists what it was like to attend high school in Mississippi as atheists. The comments were about what you'd expect: sad and disturbing but not surprising.

This brief video clip is from a 1996 documentary filmed in Dayton, TN. It speaks volumes about what is wrong with American education.



H/T to Panda's Thumb

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Human memory is a fragile thing, subject to all sorts of biases that can make it impossible to distinguish between real and false memories. When I think back to the quality of the programming aired on the History Channel several years ago, it seems like it was far superior to what they are airing now. I'm not sure if this is an accurate memory or just me viewing the past through rose-colored glasses. But have you seen some of the crap they now show?

I finished The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power last week, so I thought I should share my overall impressions of a book likely to be of great interests to atheists in the U.S. The Family, written by Jeff Sharlet, describes the secretive Christian extremist organization that brings us the National Prayer Breakfast and became infamous last year during a number of sex scandals involving Republican members of Congress living at their house on C Street. This summed up most of what I knew about the Family before Sharlet hit the talk show circuit to promote his book. I would then learn that Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, and other prominent Democrats had been linked to the Family too.

As many blogs have posted some sort of content about the Fourth of July (American Independence Day) this week, I have ran across one fascinating tradition some people have adopted as part of their celebration. I don't know who to credit with the idea because I have seen it multiple times. But you know what? I think I finally found a way to celebrate the holiday that makes sense to me and one I can support.

The idea is quite simple, and I am surprised I hadn't thought of it before: Devote some time on the 4th to reading some of the classic documents of American history. Not the revisionist garbage being swallowed by Christian extremists like Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), but the original material. There are so many good ones to choose from, but I think I'll start with these:

• Declaration of Independence
• U.S. Constitution
• Treaty of Tripoli
• McCollum v. Board of Education Dist. 71, 333 U.S. 203 (1948)
• Engel v. Vitale, 82 S. Ct. 1261 (1962)

There is much the Christian right does not want you to know about American history. Fortunately, the information is out there and can be accessed with little effort.

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This is Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), an elected member of Congress speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives. You can skip the first two minutes if you like and begin watching about the 2 minute mark. Evidently, this is how those sent to Congress to represent us spend their time.



Rep. Gohmert's lesson is simple: what once was, should always be. Because early Americans made some mistakes with regard to mixing religion and government, we should embrace them and continue to make them. America is a Christian nation because people who lived over 200 years ago were afflicted by religious delusion.

Rep. Gohmert, couldn't the same argument be made about slavery? Couldn't some jackass get up on the floor and read a speech from another former member of Congress in praise of slavery? And wouldn't that mean that America is a nation of slaves? The same could be said for all sorts of other mistakes.

Happy American Jesus Day.

Oh, and if you are bored today or just a sucker for punishment, here's even more of Rep. Gohmert performing his official duties by continuing this same speech.


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The Guardian ran an encouraging article last week on the possible implications of the John V. Doe v. Holy See ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

...the court's decision that the Vatican does not have legal immunity in a claim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest could have far-reaching ramifications for the church.

The problem with the Tea party, at least if you are a Republican, is that a candidate who can win a primary seems to have little chance of winning a general election against a competent opponent. Sharron Angle did such a thorough job sticking to conservative media prior to winning the Republican primary for senate in Nevada that she was totally unprepared for her first interview with a legitimate news organization. That came this week and has widely been regarded as disastrous.

You've undoubtedly heard of Pastor Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. The church, largely consisting of Phelps' own family, is infamous for protesting the funerals of American soldiers killed in combat and other high-profile funerals. Evidently, Phelps believes that any untimely death is the result of cultural acceptance of homosexuality.

I detest what Phelps and his Christian extremist church stand for, and I find their tactics to be utterly despicable. But I defend their right to protest, even when such protests include holding anti-gay signs at funerals.

As much as I hate what Phelps is saying, I defend his right to say it. This is what free speech is about. Anybody can defend speech with which he or she agrees. The real test is hate speech. As long as Phelps is not inciting violence or breaking some other law, he should be free to protest as he sees fit.

Defending Christian extremists' right to spread hate is not always easy. But that is the point - it isn't supposed to be easy. That doesn't make it any less essential.

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I love the experience of encountering an exceptionally bright teenage atheist. It always makes me think about what I was like at their age (a real jackass) and how great it is that they're worlds ahead of where I was. Such individuals will probably be the leaders of the atheist movement in the future, and I confess being in awe of them. They really are our future.

From Raithie, the 16 year-old who writes Teenage Atheist:

If the Bible is indeed a true revelation and hence indicative of his character, then God is nothing but an evil, immoral, immature, sadistic, unjust, egocentric, genocidal, racist and misogynistic prick. He supports the oppression of women and orders them to be submissive. His instructions are that nonbelievers, witches, fortune tellers, homosexuals, liars, people who commit adultery, girls who aren't virgins before marriage etc., should all be murdered and will spend an eternity choking, burning and screaming in unmatchable pain and suffering.

Christians try to get away with this by basing certain aspects of his character and history from the Bible, and then irrationally discard anything contrary to their new, loving God because it doesn't fit well with modern society. However, this doesn't work. You can't cherrypick the parts you like and claim them to be "divine" and true, and then cast off anything contrary as "metaphorical" simply because they don't match up with the modern understanding of morality.

Be sure to read the rest of the post: What makes a God good?

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