The War Against Christmas

Does the pope read the Daily Mail? It seems possible given some of the contents of his speech at Westminster Hall today: There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none. There’s… Continue reading The War Against Christmas

Sobering Lessons

In his first speech after arriving in the UK, the pope said: As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus… Continue reading Sobering Lessons

Third World Country

The BBC are reporting that Walter Kasper, one of the pope’s senior advisers has pulled out of the papal visit to the UK after saying in a magazine interview that the UK is a “third world country” marked by a “new and aggressive atheism”. Of course, atheists are used to being called aggressive because we… Continue reading Third World Country

Please Don’t Label Me

Last night I was discussing my opinions of religion with some friends. I made it clear that, contrary to what it might appear from what I write, I don’t actually want religion banned. I believe that people should be free to believe whatever nonsense they like. There are, however, three conditions that need to be… Continue reading Please Don’t Label Me

Updates from Jesusistan

Time for a couple of snippets of news from those lovable nutters on the American religious right. Firstly, take a look at this. The artist has created a “work of art” which sums up his view of contemporary America. And it’s a pretty weird view. Well, perhaps it’s not so weird if you’re looking through… Continue reading Updates from Jesusistan

Does God Exist?

If you’ve travelled much on London Transport over the last few weeks, you’ll have seen the new Alpha Course poster pictured on the left. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have experienced an almost irresistible urge to fill in the survey by ticking the ‘no’ box. It appears that doing so might be a somewhat… Continue reading Does God Exist?

More Christian Voice Idiocy

Christian Voice (Stephen Green’s one-man extreme christian hate-squad) have written to the Advertising Standards Authority registering an objection to the atheist bus adverts. Green is quoted as saying that the adverts “break the ASA’s codes on substantiation and truthfulness”. He claims that the atheists need to produce evidence that there’s probably no god and goes… Continue reading More Christian Voice Idiocy

Atheist Quotations

The Atheist bus campaign raised so much money last year that they have been able to massively expand their plans. Instead of the original 30 buses they were planning in London, they are now running 200 buses in London and 600 more in other places in the UK. The bus campaign officially launched yesterday. They… Continue reading Atheist Quotations

Non-Magic Bus

Last June, writer Ariane Sherine wrote an article on Comment is Free complaining about the amount of religious advertising on the side of London buses. As part of the research for the article she calculated that it would take about 4,500 atheists donating £5 each to get together enough money to have an atheist advertising… Continue reading Non-Magic Bus

Planet Atheist

I’ve mentioned before that I run a few planets. A planet is a simple web site which aggregates web feeds on a particular subject. They are named after the software which is used to build many such sites. I’m always looking out for good ideas of other planets to add to my collection. Yesterday on… Continue reading Planet Atheist