Free Inquiry Forum

Jennifer Hancock’s thoughts on Crist’s run in with an Atheist at a local pizza joint:

Over the weekend Florida governor Charlie Crist had a negative encounter with an Atheist (read details here). I think this confrontation is important as we Floridians evaluate Crist as a potential Senator. The question we need an answer to, is why did he loose his cool with this guy. I have a hard time imagining Crist would loose his cool with anyone having met him years ago when he was still just a local representative. However, if he has become so intolerant of Atheists that he can’t contain his feelings in their presence anymore, then perhaps his religious views have been radicalized since he became Governor.

Read Jennifer’s full post here.

Blogger, Angie the Anti-Theist, had been live tweeting, blogging, and creating videos on YouTube about her abortion procedure. Here she is on CNN talking about that experience:

From The Washington Times:

The Postal Service’s decision to release a stamp honoring Mother Teresa has prompted criticism and an online petition of support, but the service says it will not reconsider.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has expressed public disapproval of the stamp, saying the Postal Service is violating its own selection criteria. The Postal Service’s guidelines bar stamps that honor “religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs.”

Rebecca Markert, a staff attorney with the foundation, said the Catholic nun who worked with the poor in Calcutta and won the Nobel Peace Prize fits that description.

“The foundation objects to the stamp because the issuance of this stamp is in violation of the regulation,” Ms. Markert said in an interview Thursday. “Her humanitarian work was tied with her religious beliefs. You can’t separate that.”

Read the full article here.

CatholicVoteAction.org has their own petition to urge the USPS to continue with the issuing of the Mother Teresa stamp here. The petition describes the protest of the Mother Teresa stamp as bigotry. While there may be some valid arguments on both sides of this debate, the protesting of the stamp because it is believed to violate postal regulations, isn’t bigotry. Perhaps it could be argued that the protest against the stamp is hypocritical or petty. On the other side, it could be argued that the stamp is undeserved. There are criticisms of Mother Teresa that people should be aware of in this debate. Below is a 3 part series about Mother Teresa by Christopher Hitchens that is worth watching.

From David W.:

The Placebo effect with Ben Goldacre:

NYC - Radiolab: Placebo (May 18, 2007)
Three 15-20 min audio podcasts

What’s The Harm?
Blog about what the lack of critical thinking causes

From TampaBay.com:

A group representing people who do not believe in God or any gods has revved up an awareness campaign in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

The United Coalition of Reason paid to have two billboards erected that feature a blue sky with clouds and the words: “Are you good without God? Millions are.”

The move is the latest in an advertising blitz involving religion that has people talking.

Best-selling atheist author Sam Harris pushes back against Karen Armstrong’s sympathetic take on religion.

Full article

From Skeptico:

I was reminded of the Kennedy/Thimerosal fiasco when I looked at the recent Climategate hacked emails. You know the ones. The leaked emails that proves, just proves I tell you, that global warming is a hoax, a conspiracy of lefty scientists, environmentalists and Al Gore.

From citypages.com:

University of Tennessee professor Stan Guffey is considering legal action against Ray Comfort, the evangelist who has spearheaded a nationwide drive to distribute free copies of his doctored version of Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of the Species” on college campuses, including at the University of Minnesota. Comfort, who denies evolutionary biology, published his own edition of Darwin’s treatise so he could annotate it with fundamentalist Christian criticism. But it turns out that Comfort’s introduction apparently contains whole passages from Guffney’s biography of Darwin — without citing Guffney. And here’s a twist: Guffney is an ardent opponent of Comfort.

From Huffingtonpost.com:

Jon Stewart went after “Fox & Friends” host Gretchen Carlson last night. Saying she plays the “troubled mom, just trying to make sense of this modern country,” Stewart explained Carlson seems to be dumbing herself down in order to connect with an audience that sees intellect as an elitist flaw.

From TimesOnline:

Chip fat, dogs’ rear ends, potato chips, factory walls, the foil wrapper of a cider bottle…

God moves in mysterious ways to show his face in even more peculiar places and he’s been exceptionally busy this year.

Inspired by BuzzFeed’s comprehensive round-up of this year’s sightings, here’s Comment Central’s pick of the 10 best objects in which Our Lord (in his infinite wisdom) chose to reveal himself in 2009.

Read the rest of the article here.