The Gulf Disaster: Prayer And Priorities

Some atheists online have mocked calls for prayer made by Obama and legislators.  You’re Not Helping argues that while there is clearly something awful about treating prayer as a substitute for practical action (such as when true believers in “faith healing” forgo actual medical treatment for prayer) not all those who turn to prayer are [...]

Florida Passes Bill Allowing Teachers To Take Part In Student-Led Worship

Another legislature with contempt for the 1st Amendment: “I know our football team prays a lot before and after games, and those are always student-led,” [high school junior John Bielby] said. “Once a coach gets involved, it might get more influential or less influential, and it kind of becomes a slippery slope.” That’s why some school [...]

Encouragements Of Imprecatory Prayers Against Obama

So insidious: Over the past few days, a Biblical verse has reportedly topped the google trends charts. It is also turning up in bumper stickers and tee shirts across the country. It reads: “Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8” But what do you see when you look up that Psalm? “May his days be few; may [...]

Thank God Prayer Doesn’t Work!

Good Atheist remarking on a campaign to pray for liberal politicians makes the following astute value judgment: It’s a good thing prayer does absolutely nothing (well, other than waste people’s time I suppose). If it did, can you imagine the kind of world we’d be living in? How many times have people prayed for terrible, [...]

If These Are God’s Miracles, Where Are His Priorities?

Brand new from ZJ:  The French have a spring that is alleged to perform miracles.  ZJ reasons that even if it did perform miracles it wouldn’t speak much of the deity behind them: Mr. Deity on the other hand seems to understand these criticisms and that’s why he never intervenes: Your Thoughts?

On Meeting People Where They Are

While he was hospitalized a couple years ago, Daniel Dennett got irritated when people offered to pray for him and insisted that they thank doctors rather than offer their ineffectual prayers.  The Wittenburg Door was appalled and inferred (quite unjustifiably) that Dennett did not understand that all many people mean to say when they say [...]

‘Nuff Said Award Winner: “Time To Think” On Helping Instead Of Praying

Shortly after posting my thoughts on what to say as an atheist to those who are in situations where it is traditional to offer the promise to pray, I came across this article via Hemant Mehta.  In the article, Stephen Bates talks about how much his experience covering religion for 7 years as a journalist [...]

Not “I’ll Pray For You” But “I Love You”

Joe Bob Briggs from The Wittenburg Door visited a convention of atheists last year.  The Wittenburg Door is primarily a satire magazine written by Evangelicals with a sense of humor and perspective which I remember fondly from my teen years. So, writing for a “with it” sort of Evangelical publication, Briggs’s barbs at the atheists [...]

An Atheistic Invocation

Pharyngula has a great find: Cobb County, Georgia is infamous for its efforts a few years ago to slap a warning sticker on biology textbooks, which might have given the impression that it’s full of southern yahoos. However, intelligent people and godless people are everywhere, including Cobb County, and they now have another claim to [...]

The Power of Prayer?

From my new favorite blog.