My friend Kevin lives in Australia and sent me a message this morning about their new prime minister Down Under. Julia Gillard is the first female prime minister of Australia, AND this is what she says about her personal life:
Gillard has never married or had children. Her partner since 2006, Tim Mathieson, is a hairdresser. Gillard said through a spokeswoman that she was a “non-practising Baptist” and “not religious”. She is tolerant of public interest in her personal life, stating that “People want to know who you are, the shape of your life. That is legitimate.”
Very interesting! Australia has voted in a woman who is Not Religious! How did that happen? That’s wonderful! She is the first person in high politics I’ve ever heard of who has said that.
Let’s hope she does a great job and that other “non-religious” politicians follow suit and run for high offices and succeed. I wonder if we could ever get that far here in America? Wow, I’m really reaching for the stars now!
Good luck, Julia. I hope you do great things in your run as prime minister.
There is a new Pew Survey about religion of people coming of age around the year 2000 (called the Millenials) out. It’s quite interesting. I’ve included some of the charts and tables for you.
What is interesting is how the Millenials are less affiliated, but they still believe in the afterlife, miracles, angels and demons to a high degree. I think that’s where atheism is lacking for a lot of people; that comfort that there’s more to life than just the natural, that life doesn’t just end when we take our last breath. Personally I find that it makes life much more precious.
Let’s see some charts and tables!
Note that in the Unaffiliated group are the Religious Unaffiliated, people who describe their faith as “nothing in particular” but say that religion is somewhat or very important in their lives. Whatever that means.
If you take out the religious unaffiliated, you still get a much higher group of unaffiliated than the general population. Note how few people are still willing to label themselves as atheists.
Hey Everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting but things got a bit crazy here. My friend Will and I were interviewed for WV Public Radio the other day and that kept me busy getting ready. I will be sure to link you to the broadcast when it goes live next week. It was regarding our billboard and new organization, the Morgantown Coalition of Reason, that I’ve mentioned. It’s been keeping me quite busy.
Anyway, the other thing that has kept me busy is thinking of the holidays that are fast approaching. While I like getting together with friends and family and celebrating, I don’t like the religious nature of it all (of course). One thing that really frustrates me is the card selection.
So I decided to try my hand at designing some irreverent cards! I dug through my favorite winter pictures that I’ve taken over the years, then came up with some messages for nontheists (with the help of my most awesome husband Butch, of course), and uploaded them to Zazzle.
I would like to do a few more, but these are a good start, I think. If you have ideas you’d like to see created, feel free to comment or Email Me.
I have a MISSION for all heathens across America for November 19. Please watch the following video: (it’s 6 minutes long)
Pharyngula wrote about this the other night and noted that the giveaway is now 100,000 books at 100 universities, that Darwin’s text will remain intact, and the 50 page foreword will be rewritten to be more fair to atheists. (Does that mean it will be 50 blank pages?)
Mr. Deity is awesome. Here’s the latest with guest Michael Shermer, PhD:
If you haven’t seen all the episodes, they do sort of build on each other. You can subscribe to them on iTunes (search for Mr. Deity) or you can go to MrDeity.com to catch up. Season 2 is only available there now, I believe. So go watch them and get a chuckle!
I’m bored. I have about 5 matters I should be attending to, but I’m uninspired to tackle any of them at the long end of a productive day. So I’m doing what every self-respecting blogger/Geekess/hermit does. I’m stumbling the internet.
Oh, and now is the time to remind you that I officially live under a rock. Someday I’ll take a picture of my rock so you can see how nice it is. But suffice it to say, I’m not a newshound, always up on the latest and greatest of everything.
So in my stumbles I come across a BusinessDay article, a South African paper. This is how I learned this awesome explanation of the difference between an atheist, 2 kinds of agnostics, and a theist. Here we go:
The difference between an atheist, an agnostic and a theist can be summarized by their responses to the question: do you have a dog?
The atheist will simply answer, “No”. If you go to his house to search for a dog, you won’t find one. There will be no signs in the house or the yard that there ever was a dog there. None of his relatives or friends will remember having seen a dog there. They’ll ask, “Does he have a dog? How could I not have known?” And they’ll be absolutely right. There are no signs that there could ever have been a dog at the atheist’s house or indeed anywhere where he spends his time. Not at his home, not at his work, nowhere.
The agnostic who thinks that there’s simply insufficient proof for either having or not having a dog will be a great deal less certain. Read the rest of this entry »
Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF.org) recently put up a billboard near Pell City, Alabama. One of their classics, modifying a line from one of John Lennon’s songs: “Imagine No Religion.”
The sign is located on east-bound I-20 just past the Pell City exit. Atheist billboards really are nothing new, especially to those of us in the atheist community. What makes this one notable is that it is believed to be a first in Alabama; and is one of a very few in a bible-belt state. Eleanor Strote commented “A lot of people didn’t even know there was an atheist group in town. And they do now.”
FFRF local chapter president, Pat Cleveland said it is not meant to be a recruiting tool, but meant to inform. “There are people of no religion in Alabama. I’m one of them.” This is a way to let atheists, agnostics, and non-believers know there is a group for them in the bible-belt, “more like a member information campaign.”
The local news coverage tries to sound unbiased, but when they refer to the billboard as ‘impious‘ and ‘irreverent‘ its obvious even they are against it. Shall we take a look at how Atheist [Bus & Billboard] Campaign got started? FFRF placed their first billboard in Wisconsin in October 2007. However the real ‘war’ started after JesusSaid.org ran bus advertisements inviting people to their website (in mid-2008). Upon visiting the website, people were greeted with the bold statement that “all non-Christians would burn in hell for all eternity.” Way to be respectful, pious, and reverent there Christians! Read the rest of this entry »
My friend Kevin lives in Australia and sent me a message this morning about their new prime minister Down Under. Julia Gillard is the first female prime minister of Australia, AND this is what she says about her personal life:
Note how few people are still willing to label themselves as atheists. 
Freedom From Religion Foundation (
