The Age of Mockery
Although the initial riots and flare-ups of violence over the “Innocence of Muslims” video were over a month ago, the global battle over blasphemy laws is still raging. In London this week, thousands...
View ArticleFighting War the Biblical Way
After several days, the fragile ceasefire in the latest iteration of Israel and Gaza’s endless war is still holding. But while the bombs were falling, there was no shortage of voices calling for the...
View ArticleSingle-Issue Lives: On Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Hero Worship
[Editor's Note: Please welcome guest blogger Andrew Tripp, author of Considered Exclamations and president and co-founder of the DePaul Alliance for Free Thought, a Secular Student Alliance and Center...
View ArticleThe Arab Spring in Danger
I first covered the Arab Spring just over two years ago, and since then, I’ve written about whether the revolutions were a setback for women’s rights, as well as the unresolved tension between...
View ArticleSave the Atheists of Bangladesh
I’ve been getting more and more worried by the news coming out of Bangladesh, where there’s a climate of steadily increasing hostility and hate against nonbelievers. Earlier this year, there were...
View ArticleFollowup on the Atheists of Bangladesh
In my post on Monday, I said I’d write an update if I found out about anything else that could be done to help the Bangladeshi bloggers imprisoned for their atheism. I have a few more suggestions for...
View ArticleWhat’s the Purpose of Topless Protests?
Note: This post is SFW; links may not be. Last month in Tunisia, a young activist named Amina Tyler posted a topless photo of herself online, with the phrases “My body belongs to me, it doesn’t...
View ArticleWhy the New Atheism Isn’t Islamophobic
In the past few weeks, there’s been a barrage of attacks on the so-called New Atheists, accusing them of inciting bigotry against Muslims or of fostering irrational hatred for Islam. This charge has...
View ArticleOpposing Imperialism and Islamism
There was a searing editorial in the Times the other week, dictated by one of the men still being held prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. A hunger strike is spreading among the detainees there, which strikes...
View ArticleWeekend Coffee: May 5
• A Christian fundamentalist couple that believes in faith healing has now killed two of their children by refusing to seek medical care for them. This likely violates the terms of their probation,...
View ArticleWorld News Roundup
I can’t write about every story that crosses my radar, as much as I’d like to. But so much that’s noteworthy has been happening in the world lately, I’m overdue for a catch-up post. First, there’s a...
View ArticleCan We Have an Intervention for Richard Dawkins?
They say the first step to getting better is recognizing when you can use some help, and I really think Richard Dawkins needs someone to sit down with him and explain a few things. Lately, it seems...
View ArticleBoko Haram Is an Islamic Terrorist Group
I would have thought some facts were too obvious to need proving, but if these past few years of atheist blogging should have taught me anything, it’s that no excuse is too far-fetched for those who...
View ArticleMaher, Harris and Atheist Islamophobia
Last week on Bill Maher’s TV show, Maher, Sam Harris and Ben Affleck sparred over Islam and whether it’s prone to violence: “Freedom of speech, freedom to practice any religion you want without fear of...
View ArticleWeekday Coffee: Skepticon Edition
I’ve spent this past weekend at Skepticon 7, and I’m still recovering (especially from the Skeptiprom dance party on Saturday night). In the meantime, here are some links I picked up from the weekend’s...
View Article#JeSuisCharlie
While trying to absorb the awful, awful news out of Paris this morning, I kept thinking of this passage from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, addressed to the poet’s detractors: But yours the cold heart,...
View ArticleWeekend Coffee: January 10
• A can’t-miss account of Charlie Hebdo‘s first editorial meeting since last week’s horrific attack. • One-man outrage band Bill Donohue didn’t kill anyone at Charlie Hebdo, but he’s understanding and...
View ArticleWeekend Coffee: February 22
• Oliver Sacks, the neurologist and science writer, has terminal cancer. Here, he writes a beautiful, elegiac, deeply humanist essay about confronting the prospect of death and what he intends to do...
View ArticleWhat’s Behind the Appeal of ISIS?
Amidst the steady drumbeat of grim headlines in the Middle East, the trend I’ve been most concerned by is the strange drawing power of ISIS, also known as Islamic State or Daesh, the brutal extremist...
View ArticleBangladesh Is Killing Atheists
There’s horrific news from Bangladesh: the atheist activist and writer Dr. Avijit Roy was murdered on the street in Dhaka, hacked to death by two assailants wielding machetes as he left a book fair at...
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