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This awesome sign was spotted in the DC Metro. (source)

#atheism #by Shane #cfi #dc metro #non-religious #public awareness #sign #humanism

This pretty much speaks for itself.

#by Shane #failed prophecy #doomsday #armageddon #judgment day #may 21 2011

Straylight Run - "With God on Our Side"

The reason for fighting I never got straight But I learned to accept it Accept it with pride For you don't count the dead When God's on your side

I just discovered this song the other day, although it's 5 years old (and, what's more, it's a cover of a Bob Dylan song from 1963), but it's a good tune about the dangers of using religion to justify warfare. The full lyrics are in the video's description on youtube if you click through.

#by Shane #music #with god on our side #bob dylan #straylight run #religion #war

In the generation born since 1982, variously referred to as Generation Y, the Millennials, or Generation Next, one in five people identify as nonreligious, atheist, or agnostic. In the youngest cohort, the trend is even more dramatic: as many as 30% of those born since 1990 are nonbelievers

#atheism #atheist #godless #young adults

"Circumstances predict religiousness. Difficult circumstances lead more strongly to people being religious. And in religious societies and in difficult circumstances, religious people are happier than nonreligious people. But in nonreligious societies or more benign societies where many people's needs are met, religious people aren't happier -- everyone's happier."

psychologist Ed Diener, on findings from a recent Gallup World Poll

(source)

#by Shane #religion #happiness #ecomonic circumstances

A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death—the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders, we are not going to be judged.

Czeslaw Milosz

(source)

#by Shane #opium of the people #czeslaw milosz #death #afterlife

Why we're skipping church, according to The Onion.

The biggest reason for most of us non-believers (i.e., it's all a load of bunk) isn't represented, but it's The Onion, so I'll let it slide.

#by Shane #church #humor #the onion #irreverent

This should be pretty exciting news to any Carl Sagan fans and/or science nerds out there. Astrophysicist (and non-believer) Neil deGrasse Tyson is signed on to host Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which will be developed by Ann Druyan and Steve Soter, both of whom worked on the original Cosmos, along with Family Guy creator (and fellow atheist) Seth McFarlane. The new Cosmos will air in primetime on FOX, which is pretty much unprecedented for a science documentary series, with encore airings on the National Geographic Channel, which will help produce the series.

There's only one downside to this story, though: you'll have to wait 'til 2013 to see it.

#by Shane #cosmos #carl sagan #neil degrasse tyson

It's time again, to spend time with your atheist loved-ones, drink, carouse, or just finally come out to your parents.

#atheists #atheism #A-Day #holiday

Because nothing warms my heart like a good story about evolution :)

#by Marcie #evolution #new york times #NYC #science

I haven't gotten around to posting anything about gay marriage becoming legal in New York State yet, and now's a good time to do so. Here's a recent article from the New York Times about the hundreds of couples who are planning on getting married this Sunday, the first day that gay marriage will be legal in the state. Niagara Falls is lighting up in rainbow colors tonight in celebration of the occasion, while some couples are being wed there at midnight. Anyone who's non-religious should care about this, since it represents a step forward in the larger battle to move past the antiquated, progress-stifling moral values of Christianity and other religions.

#by Shane #gay marriage #new york state #new york times

$wombatfractal-deactivated201208 blog's avatar$

wombatfractal-deactivated201208

#by Shane #reblog #neil degrasse tyson #nasa

How to Start a Cult

Here's an entertaining and satirical video. Some of the things it mentions are pretty legit persuasion techniques, too.

#by Shane #cults #persuasion

Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

Carl Sagan

(via)

#by Shane #quote #carl sagan #religion #skepticism

Here's some interesting info from a relatively recent Gallup poll. This chart shows the percentage of Americans (18 and older) who believe in God or a "universal spirit." Overall, about 92% of Americans believe in God, which is pretty consistent with the 2008 Religious Landscape Survey conducted by Pew, which sampled about 35,000 people, whereas this Gallup poll had about 1,000 participants. Still, it's important to point out that the margin of error for this poll is ±4 percentage points (it was only ±0.6 percentage points for the 2008 Pew survey).

What's really interesting, though, is seeing how much variability there is when you break it down into different demographic and political categories. Notice that for people aged 18-29, God belief is about 10 percentage points lower than it is for all other age groups. That's more than double the amount of atheists! Holy cow.

One possible interpretation of this is that we're witnessing a lasting cultural shift, and these 18-to-29-year-olds will continue to be atheists as they grow old (and, potentially, future cohorts of young adults will become increasingly non-religious). An alternative interpretation, however, is that non-belief is more common during this phase in people's lives, but young adults tend to grow out of their non-belief as they get older. There are a few reasons to believe that this isn't the case, though.

First of all, I don't think it's all that common for people to undergo major changes in their religious beliefs after the age of 30. Conversions and deconversions most likely occur during people's formative years, and also during times of great change or upheaval in their lives (which are also a lot more common during adolescence and young adulthood). Anecdotally, at least, I've never known any atheists who've gone the other way and have become religious (or re-religious).

Second, I can think of at least one major cultural change that could possibly explain such a big increase in the number of non-believers among this cohort: the internet. It's possible that steadfast religious belief depends in part on remaining ignorant to other cultures, other religious beliefs, and critical opinions or contradictory evidence towards one's own beliefs. Given the incredible amount of information that's become readily available to Americans as the internet has come to play a central role in all of our lives, it's entirely plausible that the internet has been a big part of this increase in non-belief.

Third, there's this chart from Gallup which shows that there really has been an overall increase in the number of non-believing Americans over the past 30+ years (which wouldn't be the case if non-belief were only a phase that previous generations have also experienced during young adulthood):

(source: Gallup)

#by Shane #religious belief #stats #gallup

Many Christians today may think that the canon of the New Testament simply appeared on the scene one day, soon after the death of Jesus, but nothing could be farther from the truth. As it turns out, we are able to pinpoint the first time that any Christian of record listed the twenty-seven books of our New Testament as *the* books of the New Testament--neither more nor fewer. Surprising as it may seem, this Christian was writing in the second half of the fourth century, nearly three hundred years after the books of the New Testament had themselves been written. The author was the powerful bishop of Alexandria named Athanasius.

Bart Ehrman, in Misquoting Jesus

#by Shane #bible #canon #bart ehrman #misquoting jesus

Facebook evolution debate, done properly

#by Shane #facebook #evolution

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