This song is Christmas to me.

"I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

- Stephen F Roberts

"This crime called blasphemy was invented by priests for the purpose of defending doctrines not able to take care of themselves." - Robert Green Ingersoll

Don't ever be afraid to say what you believe, what you think, what you feel. Nobody has the right to not be offended.

The purpose of this event is to set a particular day as a day to support free speech, support the right to criticize and satirize religion, and to oppose any resolutions or laws, binding or otherwise, that discourage or inhibit free speech of any kind. The focus on 'blasphemy' is simply because it is such a salient issue, and one for which a lot of consciousness-raising is necessary.

Just because I can.

Thanks for the story, PZ: These... are my people. I wish I could be there.

I found this on Pharyngula when I was trying to catch up with my (too many) news feeds, so I apologize if it's late and you've already seen it: [caption id="attachment_650" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Electricity, how *does* it work?"] [/caption] This is a scanned page from a "science" textbook published by Bob Jones University. I'm assuming it's for the homeschool crowd. Is this really what people are teaching their children? It makes me weep for the future of humanity. I love the first part, "Electricity is a mystery. No one has ever observed it or heard it or felt it." I have an experiment for anyone who believes this (18 and over, please): Go into your kitchen drawer, take out two knives. Find an electrical socket. Stick one knife into each slot. Now come back and tell me you can't feel electricity. Seriously. I'll wait.

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