Reading Time: 3 minutes Idaho is one of only six states where belief in “faith-healing” can help you escape charges of negligent homicide, manslaughter, or capital murder. So if a child dies because her Christian Science parents refused to take her to a doctor, those parents won’t be punished. Consider the state’s laws regarding children and vulnerable adults, which includes this […]
Politics
Posted inPolitics
If Iowa passes a voucher bill, this guy says he’ll open up a Satanic school
Reading Time: 3 minutes If Republican leaders in Iowa give millions of dollars to private religious schools through a controversial voucher program, there’s a chance it’ll support a Satanic school as well. That’s what non-theist Joe Stutler told lawmakers on Tuesday during a hearing for House Study Bill 1, a piece of legislation that’s being called a “top priority” […]
Posted inEducation
Mississippi Democrat files ‘trigger’ bill to bring prayer back to public schools
Reading Time: 4 minutes Lawmakers in Mississippi are proposing a bill that would reinstate prayer in schools if the Supreme Court were to overturn a 1962 decision banning such an act. It’s essentially a “trigger law” meant to go into effect as soon as the conservative justices do away with that vital brick in the wall between church and […]
Posted inLaw
Are the Biden documents a Trumpian parallel? Not even close
Reading Time: 4 minutes It might be easy to think that the recent Biden classified documents blunder is one that mirrors the Trump debacle, but you would be wrong. Here’s why. First, let’s unpack exactly what happened with the Trump classified documents. Trump’s documents Back in May 2021, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA—responsible, indeed, for the archiving […]
Posted inPolitics
A giant pink phallus may come to Florida, thanks to Jesus and an atheist
Reading Time: 3 minutes A giant phallus may be coming to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and if that happens, we’ll have Jesus and an atheist to thank. A couple of months ago, the city hosted a Christmas tree lighting ceremony as well as a Menorah Lighting Celebration. Those were religious celebrations promoted by government officials, suggesting that the public square […]
Posted inSociology
If we’re losing, who’s winning?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Everyone in American politics thinks their side is losing. How is this possible, and how can we counteract the zero-sum message of all against all?
Posted inLaw
New Brunswick legislature rejects Hindu invocation request, citing tradition
Reading Time: 2 minutes The legislature of New Brunswick, in Canada, rejected an invocation request from a Hindu activist because lawmakers insisted the prayer could only come from a fellow Christian. It’s a startling admission of how legislators supposedly committed to religious neutrality have no problem letting Christianity be the default religion of the government. The request, made this […]
Posted inPolitics
Two days of infamy
Reading Time: 2 minutes President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 7, 1941 to be “a day of infamy.” That was two weeks before my fifth birthday. January 6, 2021 was also a day of infamy. That was shortly after my 84th birthday, almost 80 years after the earlier one, which has long been known as Pearl Harbor Day. On December […]
Posted inPolitics
Far right attacks in Brazil highlight world’s ongoing anti-democratic wave
Reading Time: 3 minutes On January 8, thousands of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, the far right past president of Brazil who flew to Florida days before the end of his term in office, stormed Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace in the capital, Brasilia. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) condemned these attacks as the work […]
Posted inPolitics
Did anti-vaxxer deaths from COVID swing elections?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Anti-vaccine conservatives suffered a disproportionate death toll during the COVID pandemic, compared to liberals who got vaccinated in huge numbers. Could this dynamic have affected the outcome of any elections in 2022, and if so, which ones?