Search Results

"The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next." - Matthew Arnold (born on this date in 1822)

Many Americans are being misled on serious scientific issues, and science journalists have to spend an inordinate amount of time debunking myths which seemingly never die.

Christopher Hitchens, Demystifier Extraordinaire.

A Harvard Business Review blog this week presents fascinating data on long work hours, and speculates on why men work so hard. They cite experts who note that long hours […]

The outcome of a ménage à trois involving desperation, selfishness, and moral consideration, apology came into the world already tainted by its origin. Out of these weak beginnings, we could […]

This article was originally published on AlterNet. What kind of world would we have if a majority of the human race was atheist? To hear religious apologists tell it, the […]

Hemant Mehta has just published a new book, The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide. It’s about the growing and increasingly important demographic of atheist high schoolers – their trials and travails, […]

So I’ve gotten several emails asking what I think about the idea talked up by the devoted Democratic professor Jonathan Zimmerman in the semi-iconoclastic Christian Science Monitor: affirmative action for conservatives […]

Summary: The compelling true story of the Renaissance humanists who rescued Greek and Roman philosophy from oblivion and wrenched the Western world out of the Dark Ages. After the collapse […]

While the desire to tax churches is not new, it seems as far from reality as possible at this moment. As has been commented, no atheist could possibly hope to […]

Now that the election is over, it’s time for American freethinkers to turn our attention to some unfinished business. And here’s one thing that should be at the top of […]

This past weekend, I was in Springfield, Missouri for Skepticon V (“the fifth most annual Skepticon yet”). I had such a fantastic time at Skepticon IV in 2011, it was […]

My latest column has been posted on AlterNet, 9 Great Freethinkers and Religious Dissenters in History. Based on my series “The Contributions of Freethinkers“, it’s a listing of some famous […]

I’m home again, safe and sound. As I mentioned, this weekend I was in Columbus, Ohio at the 2012 Secular Student Alliance Leadership Conference, having a blast with some of […]

Summary: A solid, informative history of the rise of the American secular movement. Books like Jennifer Michael Hecht’s Doubt: A History or Susan Jacoby’s Freethinkers show how brave nonbelievers have […]

[Author’s Note: I’m reposting some old favorites while I’m away on vacation this week. This post was originally from August 2010.] I’ve been writing since the beginning of Daylight Atheism […]

I’m a bit busy this week, since I’m at Netroots Nation until Sunday. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the major fundraising drive that’s just kicked off: the […]

As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be speaking at the Secular Student Alliance’s 2012 national convention in Columbus, Ohio over the July 4 holiday weekend. The conference schedule has now been […]

We’ve survived fire and flood! The Reason Rally in March was a day of gusty cold and battering rain. This July 4 weekend we went to the opposite extreme, as […]

Read Part 1 here. On Saturday, the SSA conference was in full swing, with three simultaneous tracks of talks going on throughout the OSU student union. As Murphy’s Law predicts, […]

I had a run-in with an old adversary lately, and after I’ve sent him on his way, I always feel compelled to point out some of the hopeful things he […]

Longtime readers of this blog may remember that I wrote a book some time ago. What happened to it is something I’ve only alluded to a few times. Suffice to […]

Well, this business with the NAP notwithstanding, the Reason Rally is swiftly approaching, and it still promises to be awesome. On March 24, atheists and freethinkers from all across the […]

As you may be aware, this past Sunday was Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, in which freethinkers are exhorted to draw pictures of Mohammed to reaffirm their right to free expression […]

(Author’s Note: The following review was solicited and is written in accordance with this site’s policy for such reviews.) Summary: A surprising, welcome reminder that atheism has a long and […]

Read Part 1 here. Before I deliver my recap of the speakers at the Reason Rally, I need to give a shout-out to the people who accompanied me for the […]

Warning: Don’t read this if your funny bone’s in traction, or if your tongue can’t be planted firmly in cheek… On a talk show I heard an ex-agent describe the […]

In the first of my posts summing up the Reason Rally, there was a commenter who said that gathering on the National Mall was “sink[ing] to the level of the […]

It’s Sunday morning, and I’m writing this on the train from Washington, D.C. back to New York. I’m exhausted, washed out, and my calves are two knots of pain from […]

In my essay “Into the Clear Air“, I wrote about how people leaving religion often go through a stage of profound darkness. In the end stages of deconversion, there’s acceptance […]