Reading Time: 4 minutes Is organized atheism too much like a religion? Is it okay for secular people to participate in rituals? If a humanist holds beliefs, is this dogmatic? Can a nonreligious person say “bless you” after someone sneezes? Probably every atheist or nonreligious person has, at some point in their lives, asked themselves or been asked questions […]
editor’s pick
Posted inDeath & Dying
Disbelieve as you grieve: Rejecting the Almighty God of Mental Illness
Reading Time: 4 minutes Imagine no mental illness It isn’t hard to do No suicide, no grieving And no hospitals, too Apologies to John Lennon for those lyrics, but if you can imagine these things, you’re smarter than God. If an all-loving, all-powerful deity existed, why couldn’t He visualize a world free of mental illness, then proceed to create […]
Posted inParenting & Family
Raising curious kids
Reading Time: 8 minutes OnlySky · Raising Curious Kids | Dale McGowan There is a sentence that gets said a lot in our house. We’re watching a show and somebody asks Where else have I seen this guy? or, How do they do that special effect? Or we’re having a conversation at dinner, and somebody says If prunes are […]
Posted inPhilosophy
Is simulation theory just another form of religion?
Reading Time: 4 minutes You’ve likely heard of simulation theory—the idea that the world we live in isn’t actually real but was created by hyper-intelligent beings for their own ends. If this is a new idea for you, also know that the theory is taken very seriously by some very serious thinkers. Adherents of the theory usually argue that […]
Posted inScience
Curious science
Reading Time: 8 minutes OnlySky · Curious science | Dale McGowan Science is one of the first things that nonreligious parents want to share with their kids. I have multiple friends with kids whose first or middle name is Darwin or Sagan or Tesla. There are now board books introducing babies to quantum physics, relativity, and organic chemistry, I […]
Posted inHealth
The busiest abortionist
Reading Time: 5 minutes “They took it out in pieces,” she told me. My friend was discussing a pregnancy that she had very much wanted as a married woman in her 20s. It had failed inside her and had to be removed, as she said, in pieces. Otherwise, she would have died of sepsis. She was devastated by this loss. […]
Posted inLGBTQ
The transgender swimming ban is not about sports
Reading Time: 6 minutes FINA, the international swimming federation, has banned trans women from competing in women’s categories for the sports it governs. Within days of this announcement, a raft of other sporting bodies had announced reviews of their policies for transgender inclusion, and the International Rugby League banned trans women from competition, pending “further research.” The decision has […]
Posted inReligion
Our biggest mistake: We did as we were told
Reading Time: 7 minutes OnlySky · Our biggest mistake: We did as we were told | Neil Carter Those of us who broke up with Jesus (he wouldn’t return our calls) are accustomed to having our motives and our sincerity questioned by those still happy with their faith. We get it all the time. We hear that we weren’t authentic enough, […]
Posted inParenting & Family
Of curious women and dead cats
Reading Time: 6 minutes OnlySky · Of curious women and dead cats | Dale McGowan Search not to find what lies too deeply hid Nor to know things whose knowledge is forbid. That bad advice is from John Denham, an English poet and politician in the 17th century. Bad advice, but also really common in our culture. If we […]
Posted inPolitics
America? We need to talk.
Reading Time: 2 minutes I want to start by saying I will always love you. You’ve been here my whole life. You gave me MTV. And let’s face it, without Madonna or Tawny Kitaen, I might have ended up a DMV clerk or some other horrendous thing. We’ve had a lot of good times together. Remember when we thought […]