Weekend Coffee: November 5

On my old site, I had regular link roundups for all the stories I saw that interested me, but that I didn’t have the time to write about at greater length. And I’ve had a lot of those stories this week, so here’s some things to read over your Saturday morning coffee:

• I’ve previously reported on whether the American Cancer Society turned down a big donation because it came from atheists. Now the redoubtable Greta Christina has written a lengthy follow-up piece for AlterNet, laying out the evidence which shows that the ACS has been and continues to be dishonest and evasive in their explanations of why they didn’t accept the FBB’s offer.

• A petition drive is launched to rename a street in George Carlin’s honor in his old neighborhood of Morningside Heights. Carlin’s old church lashes out at the idea. Personally, I don’t know why they’re so upset – Carlin owes his Catholic education a debt, as he said himself:

“They gave me the tools to reject my faith. They taught me to question and think for myself and to believe in my instincts to such an extent that I just said, ‘This is a wonderful fairy tale they have going here, but it’s not for me.'”

• Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine, had its office firebombed after publishing an issue guest-edited by the Prophet Muhammad. (“100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter!”) No perpetrator has yet been arrested, though the connection seems too obvious to deny.

• Female bloggers speak up about the onslaught of sexualized hate and threats they receive on a regular basis. This is a phenomenon that doesn’t affect men to anywhere near the same degree and isn’t discussed nearly often enough.

• And lastly, here’s the definitive advice on how to keep your child from becoming an atheist.