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What I'm reading now:
The God Virus: How religion infects our lives and culture
God Hates You, Hate Him Back: Making Sense of The Bible by CJ Werleman
Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life (this is excellent. Well written and fascinating. Highly recommended)
God Is Not Great (Hitchens is extremely erudite but I agree with him a lot here. Excellent so far)
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (Listening to the audio version. Excellent!)


What I just finished:
Nonsense: Red Herrings, Straw Men and Sacred Cows: How We Abuse Logic in Our Everyday Language
Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism (Recommended. The first half is a great read. Thorough and detailed but easy to understand.)
Letting Go of God (I listened to the audio version. It was poignant and funny. Highly recommended!)
His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass) (best trilogy I've ever read!)

Series

Happy Atheist Love

Christmas Tree Nonsense

My friend AJ sent me this picture and I had to share it with you, after my brain stopped fizzling:

crucifix-christmas-tree

What is the reasoning here? “Let’s celebrate the birth of our savior, but let’s make sure we focus on his crucifixion at the same time? What would easter look like then? Would you have to mix holiday symbols there too?

Update: Here’s the news story that explains the above image.

Of course, the bible mentions the “christmas” tree in the old testament, and they aren’t too keen on it:

Jeremiah 10:2-4: “Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the [...]

Atheist Holiday Traditions

As atheists, it would be neat to have fun holiday traditions just for us. I saw this comic and thought I’d share it with you. Do you have any other ideas for things godless heathens could do for the holidays?

bfw_439

Found [...]

Don't Give Up!

treeofknowledge2009To the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia, don’t give up! Fight the good fight!

I just read an article by Staks Rosch in the Philadelphia Examiner about the FSGP and their Tree of Knowledge. It’s an evergreen tree decorated with book covers (how shocking, how impudent!) from books representing knowledge, education, science, philosophy, morality, diversity and curiosity. (I am so offended! What? No Twilight?! No Dan Brown?!) Here is a complete list of the books represented.

Staks makes some points that I really like: “[The Tree of Knowledge]  is not an attack on religion, but rather an expression of an alternative set of values (i.e. knowledge and reason).”

How horrific! Now I understand why the good christians of the area are so up in arms, vandalizing the tree and organizing call campaigns [...]

What Other Deities Were Born On Jesus' Birthday?

funny-pictures-furball-christmasWas Jesus unique and special, born of a virgin on December 25th? The Anointed One, the Messiah? Was his message even all that original? Not at all. Back in the day, religions and cults mixed and borrowed freely from each other. The only thing special about Jesus, you could say, is how long his myth has been embraced as truth. I found this at American Atheists and thought you’d enjoy it for the holiday season.

December 25 is close to the Winter Solstice which has been an important event for ages. It’s the longest night of the year. December 25 was the Roman Winter Solstice upon establishment of the Julian calendar. We now have the Gregorian calendar which put the Winter Solstice to December 21st – 22nd. Many cultures recognized this Longest Night with holidays, festivals, gatherings, [...]

Dark Chocolate and Other Tidbits of Goodness

dark-chocolateIf you’re like me, and you enjoy dark chocolate, then I have some studies to share with you! I think they’ll be helpful for the holidays as well as generally beneficial throughout the year. If you don’t like chocolate (WTF, just kidding), see below for swine flu info, and other linky goodness.

Dark Chocolate Helps Ease Emotional Stress: A new study found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in people who felt highly stressed. The chocolate also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances. “The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams [1.4 ounces] during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of healthy human volunteers,” the scientists say.

That led me to a study from last December. It’s rather small and involves self-reporting, but it could [...]

The Holidays are Fast Approaching!

It’s September already. Talk of Thanksgiving and xmas is already starting to fill the air. I’m sure by now the aisles of every Walmart in this country are being switched over to the xmas junk. I’ve seen xmas stuff out as early as August in previous years. So it’s just a matter of time.

I’ve been a full on, black belt atheist for about 8 years now. Every year I hate the holidays a bit more. But until just recently I’ve kept my godlessness to myself.

When my sister in law insisted last year that people say merry christmas instead of happy holidays, I just rolled my eyes and kept saying what I was comfortable with, even though it made her mad that I was not keeping christ in [...]

De-Christianizing

One of the things I noticed not long after becoming an atheist was how much christianity and religion is soaked into the fabric of society. Here are a few glaring examples:

  • Taking Sundays off
  • Blue States where they won’t sell alcohol on Sundays
  • Saying “bless you” when someone sneezes
  • Christmas, Easter, St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, All Saints Day, etc., etc….
  • Common expressions like oh my god, jesus!, jesus christ, damnit, damn, holy anything, etc., etc…

As an atheist, I wonder, is it necessary to remove and de-christianize ourselves as much as possible? My husband sneezed this morning and I said “bless you.” It’s a habit to say it. I apologized and said, “you’re so good looking” instead. (A Seinfeld episode [...]