Ocassional Thoughts of an Independent Progressive Atheistic Humanist
This week the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) released a report titled ‘The IHEU Freedom of Thought Report 2013’ which focused specifically on discrimination against Humanists, atheists and the non-religious in every country in the world. While the worse result of being a freethinker could be death, there was some kind of discrimination in most countries including the United States.
This about sums up my views on the so-called ‘War on Christmas’
The Associated Press had a wire story on November 10th about the rising popularity of an atheist gathering called the Sunday Assembly. The AP report referred to it as a “mega-church”. A collective panic in the atheist movement screeched about how it wasn’t a church and how dare anyone call it that. However, If you look like a church, act like a church, and meet on a Sunday then don’t get upset when the religious majority think you are a church. This is a prime example of why using warmed over religious terms or activities and in the case of the Sunday Assembly, avoiding talking about atheism can cause confusion and hurt the atheist movement in the long term.
From the AP report:
An article published on Salon this weekend made the claim that I’ve been making for some years. It is impossible for an atheist to identify with the Republican party. CJ Werleman offers some evidence why atheists need to “grow up”. I agree with most of the article.
This past Friday was the season premiere of the sitcom ‘Last Man Standing’ starring Tim Allen on ABC. He plays Mike Baxter. His character reminds me of a tamer Archie Bunker where he believes and says some ignorant and/or bigoted things but by the end of the 30 minutes it shows his views were wrong and he changes his views or he comes to understand the “other side”. But in the episode ‘Back to School’, one character is told to break the law so her child can go to a ‘good’ school and another character agrees that only god can give one a purpose in life. Did I just watch a Kirk Cameron movie? I need a shower now.
If you aren’t familiar with the show here is a blurb: