Free Republic

"It is an attack on God Himself." This was how Brent Bozell, founder of the conservative Media Research Center, felt about the prospect of representatives from the American Atheists attending the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual gathering of conservative leaders and organizations in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, the Atheists announced they would host a booth at the conference next week; within hours, they had been disinvited. The group "misrepresented itself about their willingness to engage in positive dialogue and work together to promote limited government," a CPAC spokesperson told the Washington Post yesterday. The American Atheists were invited—and...

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – A high school football coach in North Carolina has been ordered to cease leading his team in prayers following a complaint by a prominent atheist activist organization. Officials with the Mooresville Graded School District recently told Mooresville High School football coach Hal Capps to stop leading the Blue Devils in prayer, and Capps has agreed to discontinue to the practice. The Madison, Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) had contacted the district last fall after learning of Capps’ practice and asserted that the prayers were unlawful. According to reports, a parent of a student had complained to...

British professor Antony Flew wrote over thirty philosophical works which established the foundations for atheism for half a century. His 1950 paper "Theology and Falsification" was the most reprinted philosophical publication of the 20th century. In December 2004 Flew announced in a symposium and subsequent video that he had completely changed his view and now, based on scientific evidence, believed that God exists. In 2007 he wrote the book There Is a God (Amazon USA) (Amazon UK) , subtitled How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. This is the man without whose ideas the various Richard Dawkins,...

Former Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Ryan Bell made an unusual New Year's resolution: to live for one year without God. He used to lead a congregation in Southern California, but in March, he was asked to step down after voicing some of the doubts that led to this decision to "try on" atheism. Just a few days into the new year, after announcing his resolution, Bell was asked to leave the teaching positions he held at the Christian Azusa Pacific University and Fuller Theological Seminary. Bell spoke with NPR's Arun Rath about his flirtation with atheism and how he arrived at...

Ryan Bell, a former pastor who lost all his jobs after announcing he will experiment with atheism for a year, is currently getting overwhelming financial support from atheists and others after revealing in the fourth day of his controversial experiment that he was running out of money. "So I find myself, on Day 4, without any employment. My savings will run out in about two weeks and I'm scrambling to find immediate work doing, well…anything—manual labor, waiting tables, other teaching and consulting, or whatever I can find," wrote Bell, a Seventh Day Adventist, on his blog 'Year Without God'. Atheist...

A new display proposed for the Florida Capitol rotunda may leave you asking if the devil made them do it. After the state agreed to allow a private Christian group to put up a nativity scene and a private group to put up a Festivus pole made up of empty beer cans; more groups are applying to put their own displays in the rotunda. The latest filings for a Capitol display are from the Satanic Temple and from the Tallahassee Atheists, according to the News Service of Florida. The Satanic Temple hasn’t said what it would put on display in...

It seems that those who favor the all or nothing inclusion of December symbols in the annual display in front of the municipal building have been successful in making that happen. Over the weekend - with it still unclear if the lighted tree is to be called a "Christmas tree" or a "Holiday tree" - a crèche and an atheist sign were added to the display. Meanwhile the official name for the lighted tree in the display remains an issue for some. Resident Tim Wagner and others said they will continue to press for administrative action to call the "Holiday...

Prompted by a billboard calling Christmas a myth, the Catholic League erected a pro-Jesus billboard Tuesday. MANHATTAN — The Catholic League, upset over an anti-Christmas billboard at the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, threw a "counterpunch" at atheists Tuesday with a billboard of their own on the New York side of the tunnel.The new 26-by-24-foot billboard at Dyer Avenue and West 31st Street features a depiction of Joseph and Mary looking adoringly at baby Jesus, with the message: "You know it's real. This season, celebrate Jesus. Merry Christmas from the Catholic League," according to the Catholic League's website....

A group called American Atheists has posted a high-profile billboard in New York City's Times Square depicting Christianity as a “myth,” apparently mocking Jesus Christ on the cross. The group, which first launched its Christmas “myth” campaign in 2010, ramped up its campaign with a giant sign that features an image of Santa Claus, an equally large picture portraying a suffering Jesus on the cross, along with the phrase, “Keep the Merry — Dump the Myth!”David Silverman, president of the atheist club, claimed in a press release that his group thinks “a large population of Christians are actually 'atheists'...

I was asked by the Young Adult group in my parish to address some ads on our local buses and subway trains here in Washington. The members of the Young adult group found the ads offensive and troubling, especially since they were aimed at kids. The ads are posted by the American “Humanist” Association (AHA) and are indeed aimed at kids and teenagers. The focus of the message is “Kids without God: You’re not the only one.” I have altered the ad at the upper right of this post to avoid listing its website but as you can see God...

A reporter for a small Florida newspaper decided that he wanted to see if he could get the city of Chipley to remove its nativity scene from public property because he claims it is somehow against the US Constitution. There is that unbiased media we are so in love with, eh? Reporter” Randal Seyler of the Washington County News decided to try and use his position in the media to destroy a community nativity scene when he noticed that the decoration was put up at city hall. This biased, troublemaker ran to city hall and warned them he was going...

<p>SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. — Officials at Shaw Air Force Base are trying to determine what to do about a holiday display after a Nativity scene was taken down last week.</p> <p>Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Keavy (kev-EE) Rake said Tuesday a Nativity display was set up Friday by a group of volunteers from the base chapel at a small lake on the installation. The site was near where a tree lighting ceremony was scheduled Friday evening.</p>

There’s nothing like the holidays for laughing at anti-religious malcontents being driven to madness by the thought of Christians and Jews celebrating their faiths. Crosses, menorahs, happy people with satisfying personal lives – these things drive the militant atheists into a sputtering rage. Watching them fume is the gift that keeps on giving. Normal atheists just don’t believe in God, and those of us who do, figure that’s between them. They respect our religion and we respect their right to have no part of it. Sure, some religious folks talk to people about their faith, but it’s not clear why...

Imagine if an activist group blanketed a major city with 55 billboards urging that illegal aliens go back to their own country. Or that homosexuality is a crime against nature. Or that Muslims are responsible for most of the world’s terrorist attacks. The mainstream media would be all over the story. Organizations – like La Raza, like GLAAD, like CAIR – would organize protests. President Obama would publicly condemn the billboards (while defending illegals, homosexuals and Islam). And the sponsors of the billboards would be branded a “hate group.” Yet, there has been little outrage over the 55 billboards that...

Why do some atheists embarrass themselves year after year trying to eradicate Christmas from American culture? Why do they make themselves societal hemorrhoids during this hallowed season? Is it because they are crusaders for equality, secularism’s saviors and humanism’s heroes? I’m sure that’s what they tell themselves when they’re pouting on their couches all alone on Christmas Eve after every single one of their friends has dumped them for being a rabid jackass. I believe, however—and I could be wrong—that the reason some rage against the machine is that they hate God and love their sin, and bringing up Jesus...

Not long ago, I blogged about a movement led by British comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans to establish atheist “churches” across the globe. They’ve been on a world tour covering Great Britain, the U.S., and currently my homeland Australia, helping atheist groups establish “Sunday Assemblies”—basically, churches for atheists. (You can read my prior blog posts on these atheist churches at the following links: Atheist Church (Yes!) Now Meets on Sunday and Why Would They Do This?) Now, I’ve said before that the reason these atheists feel the need to establish some sort of church-like gathering is because they know...

Another day, another secularist attempt at religious cleansing. The United States Supreme Court, which, with jaw-dropping irony, opens every session with prayer, recently heard – for the umpteenth time – oral arguments on whether local governing bodies can likewise open every session with prayer. (The U.S. Congress does it, too. Always has.) The answer, of course, is a resounding “yes,” and, unless the high court goes completely off the rails this time (anything’s possible under its presently imbalanced liberal makeup), so it shall remain. The case is Town of Greece v. Galloway. Hyper-litigious atheists – always on the prowl for...

It looked like a typical Sunday morning at any mega-church. Hundreds packed in for more than an hour of rousing music, an inspirational sermon, a reading and some quiet reflection. The only thing missing was God. Dozens of gatherings dubbed “atheist mega-churches” by supporters and detractors are springing up around the U.S. after finding success in Great Britain earlier this year. The movement fueled by social media and spearheaded by two prominent British comedians is no joke. The inaugural Sunday Assembly in Los Angeles recently attracted more than 400 attendees, all bound by their belief in nonbelief. Read more here:...

A student from a Christian university in Oregon ditched the privacy of the confessional and went public about his faith, writing in the school newspaper: "I am an atheist. Yes, you read that correctly, I am an atheist." Eric Fromm, 21, a senior at Northwest Christian University in Eugene published his thoughts about not believing in God in the Beacon Bolt, the student-run online newspaper -- despite the fact that his university is a Christian school. Although Fromm didn't share the religious beliefs as the school, he said in his post he decided to enroll because Northwest Christian had a...

Sunday Assembly, a godless church, founded by two British comedians that meet to hear "great talks, sing songs and celebrate life" throughout 30 cities around the world, launched a new congregation in Nashville, Tenn., last night as part of their effort to expand as a non-religious "megachurch." The Sunday Assembly opened its first church in London in January and both Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, leaders of the atheist group, decided to break ground in Nashville as their way of "church planting" since the pair has already established stateside congregations in San Diego, New York and Washington, D.C. Close to...