Free Inquiry Forum

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 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.

9.12 DC TEA PARTY - INTERVIEW B-ROLL

The Vatican recently announced that it will make it easier for disenchanted Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church. Below are segments from The Daily Show and Colbert Report regarding this news.