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Camp Quest bills itself as the first sleep-away camp for atheists, with funding from Richard Dawkins and special programs designed to replace faith in God with faith in "community." Guaranteed to creep you out.

MADISON, Wis. – The nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block an architect from engraving "In God We Trust" and the Pledge of Allegiance at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington. The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in western Wisconsin, claims the taxpayer-funded engravings would be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The House and Senate passed identical resolutions this month directing the Architect of the Capitol to engrave "In God We Trust" and the pledge in prominent places at the entrance for 3 million tourists who visit...

NEVADA CITY – At Camp Quest, campers may not believe in God, but they do have faith in their community. On Sunday evening, 49 children from across the western United States arrived at the camp nestled in the hills outside Nevada City. It is one of five summer camps in the country for the children of atheists and other nonbelievers. In a campground in Malakoff Diggins State Historical Park, the campers have many of the traditional summer experiences. They practice archery in the meadow, participate in team competitions and gather around the campfire at night to sing. Their activities, however,...

Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion, has helped launch an atheist summer camp for children. Alongside the more traditional activities of tug-of-war, swimming and canoeing, children at the five-day camp in Somerset will learn about rational scepticism, moral philosophy, ethics and evolution. Camp-goers aged eight to 17 will also be taught how to disprove phenomena such as crop circles and telepathy. In the Invisible Unicorn Challenge, any child who can prove that unicorns do not exist will win a £10 note - which features an image of Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory -...

New atheist summer camp launched An atheist summer camp for children set up in Somerset is to offer a "godless alternative" to religious camps. The 24 places on Camp Quest UK, which will be held next month near Bath, have already been booked up. Organisers said the purpose of the camp was to encourage critical thinking and provide children with a summer camp "free of religious dogma". The camp, supported by scientist Richard Dawkins, plans to expand after receiving hundreds of inquiries. The event has been set up by Samantha Stein, a postgraduate psychology student from London. She said: "It...

Ayn Rand was an atheist. According to her one-time associate Barbara Branden, Rand became an atheist at age thirteen. Branden records Rand writing in her diary at that age: "Today I decided to be an atheist." Branden then reports her as later explaining, "I had decided that the concept of God is degrading to men. Since they say that God is perfect, man can never be that perfect, then man is low and imperfect and there is something above him – which is wrong." [Branden, PAR, p. 35.] Branden continues that Rand's "second reason" is that "no proof of the...

"Freedom from indoctrination ought to be a basic human right for all children," argues ABBA star Björn Ulvaeus in a passionate plea for Sweden to rethink its policy on faith-based schools. Without thinking too much about it at the time, when I wrote the lyrics for ABBA's songs the message I wished to convey tallies well with campaigns launched recently by humanist organisations in the UK, US and Australia: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." Earlier this month the Swedish Humanist Association (Humanisterna) launched a similar campaign. And in light of the growing influence of...

Do you believe in God? Really? And you're willing to admit it in public? Oops. Sorry, for a moment I slipped back into the arrogant Atheism of my youth. Before my parents had children, they decided to raise their kids in a secular home. We had gifts at Christmas time and chocolate covered matzoh during Passover, but there was no religion and certainly no God. When I was in grade school, God was just a kind of nondescript character who popped up in Little House on the Prairie books from time to time. He seemed like a decent enough fellow,...

What is good if there is no God? Atheists want to know. I'm serious. They'll actually pay to find out, according to The Examiner. In a world without God, good, it would seem to me, could only mean what you or a finite group of people consider good for a certain amount of time. The definition would be perennially up for debate and revotes. But I'm pretty sure $1,000 would be pretty cool for anyone.The United Coalition of Reason is delighted to announce an essay contest as part of our upcoming Good Without God campaign tied not only to a...

The role of religion in public life in Sweden has been brought into sharp relief by a provocative ad campaign questioning the existence of God. Earlier this week, billboards went up in several Stockholm subway stations and elsewhere around the city proclaiming, “God probably doesn’t exist” (Gud finns nog inte). Accompanying the proclamation are images of three flags featuring symbols from Judaism, Islam, and Christianity fashioned in the same shades of blue and yellow found on the Swedish flag. The ads come from the Swedish Humanist Association (Humanisterna), and are part of a campaign to further debate about the impact...

The way the bill is written means non-Christians could sue for harassment if church authorities do not remove religious imagery, according to Monsignor Andrew Summersgill, general secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He said the bill, currently being examined by Parliament's Equality Bill Committee, could have a "chilling effect" on religious expression.

We're increasingly uncomfortable with religion these days. As a society, we tolerate pastors, priests, rabbis and other religious folks, so long as they confine their message to a vanilla "God is love" theme and bless babies, brides and caskets. But when religious leaders speak out on the issues of the day -- especially using morally tinged language -- the elite gatekeepers of public opinion in the media, government and academia warn shrilly that a new Dark Age is upon us. More and more, we see outright hostility to religion -- particularly to Christianity. Consider the wild popularity of a recent...

Atheist Ads in Chicago Say Man Created God by Christine Dao* “In the beginning, man created God,” according to recent advertisements posted on 25 Chicago buses. The Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign targeted the country’s third largest city to espouse “the idea that man created God as well as all religions.”[1] The ads were inspired by similar campaigns elsewhere, including...

Speakers List:Edward Feser, Ph.D. Msgr. Stuart W. Swetland, S.T.D. Héctor Antonio Molina Benjamin Wiker, Ph.D. Dawn Eden Ken Hensley Patrick Madrid Who: Some of today’s top Catholic leaders, gathered together to help the Church build a culture of life. What: A very special 3-day Catholic conference on answering atheism and the culture of doubt. Where: Belmont Abbey College campus, 15 minutes from downtown Charlotte, NC. When: Friday, July 10, through Sunday, July 12, 2009. Schedule: The conference begins at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, July 10, and ends at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 12.

Dangerous Turn Ahead: Traveling down the road to compromise by Henry Morris, Ph.D.* Genesis 1:1 states, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." This is the first and foremost apologetic. If a person stumbles on this one profound truth, a lifetime of doubt and confusion lies ahead for him, full of uncertainty about the ultimate purpose for being alive. But when a Christian attempts to alter this ultimate statement of reality to fit the compromising philosophies of men--even scientifically-trained professionals--then woe to him for his unbelief and, even graver still, for teaching others that unbelief. The following...

"In the Beginning, Man Created God." This provocative twist on the Bible’s opening line was plastered on the side of 25 Chicago buses this week as part of an advertising crusade by the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign. The ads have been cruising between downtown and the city’s North and South sides, including the No. 56 Milwaukee route, since the beginning of the week and will run through June. "The intent of the campaign is to stimulate discussion of religion and its place in our society," said Charlie Sitzes, a spokesman for the Indiana group who with help from the American...

I can't stand atheists — but it's not because they don't believe in God. It's because they're crashing bores. Other people, most recently the British cultural critic Terry Eagleton in his new book "Faith, Reason, and Revolution," take to task such superstar nonbelievers as Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion") and political journalist Christopher Hitchens ("God Is Not Great") for indulging in a philosophically primitive opposition of faith and reason that assumes that if science can't prove something, it doesn't exist. My problem with atheists is their tiresome — and way old — insistence that they are being oppressed...

The "Mass for Shut-Ins" has been broadcast in Washington DC for 60 years ― the last thirteen on WHUT a PBS affiliate. WLAE in New Orleans, also a PBS affiliate, has been broadcasting a Mass since 1984. Now, PBS is considering a proposal that re-interprets a rule that would prohibit any PBS affiliate from broadcasting any religious (called sectarian) content or be refused the ability to broadcast PBS content. The existing rule requires affiliates to present programs that are noncommercial, nonpartisan and nonsectarian. However, the non-sectarian part of the rule has always been loosely interpreted as has, some would say,...

Ican't stand atheists -- but it's not because they don't believe in God. It's because they're crashing bores. Other people, most recently the British cultural critic Terry Eagleton in his new book, "Faith, Reason, and Revolution," take to task such superstar nonbelievers as Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion") and political journalist Christopher Hitchens ("God Is Not Great") for indulging in a philosophically primitive opposition of faith and reason that assumes that if science can't prove something, it doesn't exist. My problem with atheists is their tiresome -- and way old -- insistence that they are being oppressed and...

Human-Ape Hybridization: A Failed Attempt to Prove Darwinism by Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.* Ilya Ivanov (1870-1932) was an eminent biologist who achieved considerable success in the field of artificial insemination of horses and other animals. Called “one of the greatest authorities on artificial fecundation,”[1] he graduated from Kharkov University in 1896 and became a professor of zoology in 1907. His artificial insemination techniques were so successful that he was able to fertilize as many as 500 mares with the semen of a single stallion. Ivanov also pioneered the use of artificial insemination to produce various hybrids, including that of a zebra...

LISTEN TO THE REAL REVEREND JESSE ON THE INTERNET OR A RADIO STATION IN YOUR AREA......BOND Action, Inc...Educating, Motivating and Rallying Americans! The Jesse Lee Peterson Radio Show Streamed live online from 6-9 a.m. PST / 9-12 a.m. EST. For Live Questions or Comments Call 1-888-77-JESSE(5-3773) You can email comments and questions to radio@bondaction.org For more information on getting The Jesse Lee Peterson Show picked up on a station in your local area call Ermias Alemayehu at 1-877-WE ACT77 (932-2877)

In recent days a lot of energy has been put forth by me and the site's regular contributors in an effort to keep everyone up to speed on how quickly - and demonstrably - we are moving toward the complete fulfillment of God's promise that the last days would be as they were in the days of Lot. (Luke 17:28-30) We've also discussed how there is an effort underway to silence Christians and, in doing so, the Word of God itself. As I'm going to demonstrate today, we are on the front lines of a spiritual battle here in the...

Campaign designed to challenge Christian societies, collective worship and religious education. The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (AHS) plans to launch a recruitment drive this summer. Backed by professors Richard Dawkins and AC Grayling, the initiative aims to establish a network of atheist societies in schools to counter the role of Christianity. It will coincide with the first atheist summer camp for children that will teach that religious belief and doctrines can prevent ethical and moral behaviour. The federation aims to encourage students to lobby their schools and local authorities over what is taught in RE...

An Amazon tribe converts the missionary By Lynn Harnett April 12, 2009 6:00 AM Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian JungleDaniel L. EverettPantheon The Pirahã are the "Show me!" tribe of the Brazilian Amazon. They don't bother with fiction or tall tales or even oral history. They have little art. They don't have a creation myth and don't want one. If they can't see it, hear it, touch it or taste it, they don't believe in it.Missionaries have been preaching to the Pirahãs for 200 years and have converted not one. Everett did not...

Public Radio: Easter ScroogePosted By Ned Rice On April 13, 2009 @ 5:03 pm In Featured Story, Media Criticism, Religion | No Comments I have three words for the next person who tries to tell me there’s no liberal bias in the mainstream media.  Or more precisely, three letters:  N, P, and R, as in National Public Radio.  This past Saturday’s “Morning Edition” ended with an interview of [1] Rowan LeCompte, the 85-year old man who has devoted his life to creating and maintaining the stained glass features of the National Cathedral in Washington.  After briefly recapping his subject’s remarkable...

In an Easter sermon that has drawn widespread criticism, the Catholic bishop of Augsburg has linked the crimes committed under Nazi and Communist regimes to atheism. Atheist groups have reacted with fury and accuse the cleric of rewriting history. A Catholic German bishop has come under fire for his remarks condemning atheists. In a sermon given on Easter Sunday, the bishop of Augsburg, Walter Mixa, warned of rising atheism in Germany. "Wherever God is denied or fought against, there people and their dignity will soon be denied and held in disregard," he said in the sermon. He also said that...

LISTEN TO THE REAL REVEREND JESSE ON THE INTERNET OR A RADIO STATION IN YOUR AREA...... Streamed live online from 6-9 a.m. PST / 9-12 a.m. EST. For Live Questions or Comments Call 1-888-77-JESSE(5-3773) You can email comments and questions to radio@bondaction.org TUESDAYS GUESTS 1st Hour Open Lines Call in at 888 775-3773 2nd Hour Dan Barker, President & Plaintiff, Freedom from Religion Foundation (Atheist and author of "Godless") He used to be a preacher at Assemblies of God church. Topic: God, Faith, Opposition to The National Day of Prayer, Obama and separation of church and state. 3rd Hour Pastor...

Anti-God Ads Hit Dallas by Christine Dao* In the heart of the Bible belt, billboards stating “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone” have been posted in parts of Dallas, home of the Institute for Creation Research. The boards are sponsored by the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason (DFWCoR), an atheist nonprofit group which joins together smaller local anti-theistic organizations to “increase the growth, visibility and acceptance of nontheists throughout the Metroplex.”[1] Two ads have been posted in the D/FW area, one just a few miles from ICR headquarters, and will remain up through April. According to Fred Edwords...

America is not a Christian Nation, so says Christopher Hitchens and is debated by Ken Blackwell

It seems it's not all slapstick and satire for American comedienne Sandra Bernhard, who is taking some time out this month from jokes and jests to do some Pesach preparations, ahead of a UK tour next month. Speaking to the Jewish News this week, the 53-year-old funny woman shared her yom tov plans and also her views on the new Israeli prime minister who she deems 'despicable'. "We'll actually be at my daughter's dentist's home for first night Seder," said the legendary lesbian stand-up comic and sitcom star. "I'm not sure where we'll be for second night - we might...

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART’S EASTER PRESENT: “THE POPE’S TOILET” April 8, 2009 Beginning today through April 13, New York City’s Museum of Modern Art is featuring the film, “The Pope’s Toilet.” Shown in Spanish with English subtitles, the movie revolves around a visit by Pope John Paul II to the poor town of Melo, Uruguay, near Brazil. Anticipating the arrival of the pope, townspeople make plans to set up food and drink stands, etc. One of them decides to make money by setting up an outdoor public pay toilet. The film is the work of two Uruguayans: writer Enrique Fernández...

"The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now—and what, as a nation, we are about to become."

Probably no God? Atheists bury their heads in the sand Published: 7 April 2009 Out and about on Britain’s roads, you probably wouldn’t expect an atheist to challenge you about your belief in God. But this is currently the case in England, Scotland and Wales) where what have been dubbed ‘atheist buses’ are currently sporting the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”...

The Atheist Perversion of Reality By Jean F. Drew Atheism we have always had with us it seems. Going back in time, what was formerly a mere trickle of a stream has in the modern era become a raging torrent. Karl Marx’s gnostic revolt, a paradigm and methodology of atheism, has arguably been the main source feeding that stream in post-modern times. What do we mean by “gnostic revolt?” Following Eric Voëgelin’s suggestions, our definition here will be: a refusal to accept the human condition, manifesting as a revolt against the Great Hierarchy of Being, the most basic description of...

A news report from the Netherlands points to a form of theological insanity that is spreading far beyond the Dutch. Ecumenical News International reports that church authorities in the Netherlands have decided not to take action against a Dutch pastor who openly declares himself to be an atheist. The pastor, Klaas Hendrikse, serves a congregation of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. In 2007 he published a book described as a "manifesto of an atheist pastor." In the book Hendrikse argues for the non-existence of God, but he insists that does believe in God as a concept. As Ecumenical News...

One of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes of all-time. The middle part is cut out, but the opening dialogue is timeless. Here's the link.

....That noble form of humanism has its roots in the Enlightenment, in Kant's defense of the moral law, and in the progressivism of well-meaning Victorian sages. And the memory of it leads me to take an interest in something that calls itself "humanism," and is now beginning to announce itself in Britain. This humanism is self-consciously "new," like New Labour; it has its own journal, the New Humanist, and its own sages, the most prominent of whom is Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene and vice-president of the British Humanist Association. It runs advertising campaigns and letter-writing campaigns and...

Smoking Gun Proof there is an Atheist Media Bias (click link for news report)

‘Unshakable’ Rationalist Blogged Her Way Into the ChurchJennifer Fulwiler “always thought it was obvious that God did not exist.” Fulwiler grew up a content atheist. Having a profound respect for knowledge, particularly scientific knowledge, Fulwiler was convinced that religion and reason were incompatible. Not surprisingly, she was also emphatically anti-Christian and, especially, anti-Catholic. “Catholic beliefs seemed bizarre and weird,” she says. Fulwiler would have been astonished to know that she and Joe Fulwiler, her husband, would come to embrace those “bizarre,” “weird” beliefs. On Easter 2007, they entered the Catholic Church with deep joy and a sense of coming home...

-- snip -- The atheist bus campaign began in England with London comedy writer Ariane Sherine and signs that read "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." Funds were collected by the British Humanist Association, and Richard Dawkins pledged to match donations up to £5,500. The ads are on some 600 buses and in many tube stations. So far only one bus driver has refused to drive his bus because of the ads. -- snip -- The idea for an atheist bus campaign is now global and includes nations in Europe, Australia, North America, and South...

A federal judge in Washington, D.C, dismissed a case yesterday brought by Michael Newdow and the American Humanist Association seeking to ban prayer and the phrase "so help me God" from presidential inaugurations. Newdow, a California attorney who pushed a case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in an unsuccessful effort to remove the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, previously joined Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and others in an attempt to obtain an injunction barring pastors Rick Warren and Joseph E. Lowery from praying at Barack Obama's inauguration. As WND...

It started out as the dream job for a passionate Christian -- reporting about religion for a major newspaper. But writing about other people's religions ended up costing William Lobdell his own. The former Los Angeles Times reporter chronicled his soul-wrenching, emotion-laden journey in the recently released book "Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America -- and Found Unexpected Peace," published by Harper Collins. Lobdell's spiritual journey led him from an uninspired Protestant childhood to agnosticism before he attended a weekend Christian men's retreat where he was "born again." Concerned with what he considered...

That religious instruction constitutes child abuse is another theme of contemporary militant atheists such as Richard Dawkins and A. C. Grayling. Consider the competing 'truths' taught by different faith-based schools, e.g. that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is not, etc. Grayling complains that . . . in schools all over the country these antipathetic 'truths' are being force-fed to different groups of pupils, none of whom is in a position to assess their credibility or worth. This is a serious form of child abuse. It sows the seeds of apartheids capable of resulting, in their logical conclusion,...

Atheists strategize against book on God Online plot reveals plan to give Christian writing low rating The Christian author whose book "You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can't Make Him Think" bumped atheist Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" on Amazon.com's best-seller list says he's uncovered a conspiracy to attack his work...

Humanists wish Darwin happy 200th: Evolution theme of party Charles Darwin got a birthday celebration in Kingston yesterday. The Kingston Humanist Association threw a Happy Birthday Chuck celebration, marking the 200th birthday of the scientist who first posited the Theory of Evolution. There was a cake with "200" spelled out in candles, a rendition of happy birthday and a lecture on evolution by Queen's professor Adam Chippendale, as well as the screening of a movie questioning the religious-based intelligent design movement put forth by evangelicals as a rival to evolution. Darwin Day was celebrated around the world in February, and...

... Dawkins loves ‘science’, Darwinism in particular, and delights in singing its praises. Christians delight in science as well—as the handiwork of God. But Dawkins loves science as god, and consciously tries to build a world and life view around science, wearing many hats in the process...

When one reads the new atheists, one gets the impression that the influence of Christianity has been entirely baleful, that Christianity’s contribution to morality has been entirely negative, and that the United States, far from being a Christian country historically, is really the finest flower of the anti-religious Enlightenment, and that we therefore ought to stamp out all public manifestations of Christianity, which will most likely wither away anyway as Americans become as sensible as contemporary Britons and Scandinavians. These peculiar beliefs often find expression in lawsuits trying to suppress all public expressions of Christianity. It is therefore with some...

Thursday, 30 October 2008 A four year old who knows she needs a saviour! O wretched little girl she is, who will deliver her from her body of death. First thing in the morning my 4 year old daughter normally says to me, "I am going to be a good girl today mummy". When she says this she really means it, and I can see how she longs to finish even just one day in her life without doing anything wrong. However my daughter knows as well as I do that within at the least an hour of saying she...

The first Italian bus to boast an atheist advertisement rolled out Monday and certainly did not have God on its side. No sooner had the bus — carrying the message, "The Good News Is There Are Millions of Atheists In Italy; The Excellent News Is They Believe In Freedom Of Expression" –- hit the streets of Genoa when it suffered battery problems and had to go straight back to the depot for repairs, UPI reported.

Currently, the bestselling book on Amazon is Christian . . .