Tag: Atheism

In a land of faith and flag, Justin Griffith is challenging the US military to abandon its religious ties.

When people find out I’m an atheist, the question often comes up about what I do during the Christmas holidays. There is an assumption that atheists don’t ‘do Christmas,’ so they are surprised when I say how much I love it.

Plenty of people are reviled for their religious beliefs. But a lack of faith seems to inspire even more intense antipathy.

African-Americans who say they don’t believe in God are often at odds with family, friends and potential romantic partners.

Listening to the national discourse, one could be forgiven for imagining that America is becoming an ever more religious place. That is, until you start to dig into the actual facts. If you poll actual Americans, you’ll find that the trend is not towards more religiosity, but towards less. Much less, in fact.

“Pastor Mike” Stahl thinks it only proper that atheists be submitted to National Registry (not unlike sex offenders), so that the God-fearing public can be made aware of unbelievers in their midst.

Earlier this year, Andrew Zak Williams asked public figures why they believe in God. Now it’s the turn of the atheists – from A C Grayling to P Z Myers – to explain why they don’t.

This suit not only misconstrues the First Amendment but detracts from the seriousness of the many genuine violations of the separation of church and state that have become embedded in our society.

Call me an optimist, but I think atheists and other nonbelievers are poised for huge growth in public acceptance. We’ve been one of the last groups against whom open discrimination was acceptable; the story’s told well enough by the repeated surveys over the last decade or so showing that fewer Americans would vote for an atheist for president than would vote for a woman, gay or lesbian, Muslim and so on. We nonbelievers have been in the basement, #1 among reviled minorities as other groups have gained ground.

Atheists are heavily concentrated in economically developed countries, particularly the social democracies of Europe. In underdeveloped countries, there are virtually no atheists. Atheism is a peculiarly modern phenomenon. Why do modern conditions produce atheism?

Atheists and agnostics have a lot to learn from gays about the essential role of coming out in any long-term battle for personal respect and political recognition in American society.

An atheist group is taking Central Arkansas Transit Authority to federal court saying the bus system and its advertising agency are denying their free speech rights by rejecting a proposed advertisement that reads “Are you good without god? Millions are.”

In response to a lawsuit by an atheist family, a federal judge has ordered a Texas school district to prohibit public prayer at a high school graduation ceremony.

The largest gathering of African-American atheists is a reminder that non-believers are not alone.

An entrepreneur has launched a service that will collect and adopt your pet within 24 hours of your going to heaven when the Rapture comes.

Colleges and universities have long offered majors in religion or theology. But with more and more people now saying they have no religion, one college has decided to be the first to offer a major in secularism.

New York Times science writer Natalie Angier’s 2004 essay about scientists trying to accommodate religion.

Does more education lead to less religion? According to a new working paper by Daniel M. Hungerman, an economist at Notre Dame who studies religion, the answer is yes.

Atheists in the military are pushing for the appointment of one of their own to the chaplaincy, hoping to give voice to what they say is a large population of nonbelievers in the military.

A psychology study shows that the more prevalent atheists are perceived to be, the less anti-atheist prejudice there is.