Author: Adam Lee

The allegations against one of our Big Names that have been simmering in the atheist community for more than a year have erupted into the public eye, with the publication of a long article by Mark Oppenheimer on Buzzfeed, “Will Misogyny Bring Down The Atheist Movement?” Oppenheimer’s article is largely about the serious accusations made…

As I’ve written before, I get a huge quantity of junk mail from charities begging for money, some of which are religious. (Poor targeting.) Lately, I’ve gotten several of these come-ons in a row, and most of them are either ironic, galling or both. Here’s an example, a solicitation from a group called the Catholic…

Atlas Shrugged, part II, chapter V I’ve said that, in the name of being fair to Ayn Rand, I’ll point out the passages in Atlas that struck me as good, effective writing. This part has one of them, a suitably moody and atmospheric description of what’s happening to New York City: In the second week…

(Editor’s Note: This review was solicited and is written in accordance with this site’s policy for such reviews.) Summary: A dense philosophical-historical synthesis that rewards the diligent reader by opening up a new window on the beliefs of America’s founders. Matthew Stewart’s book Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic, like Susan Jacoby’s…

I’m not much of a video gamer (I spend my free time writing!), but I’ve been following the work of Anita Sarkeesian, a media critic whose non-profit group Feminist Frequency critiques sexism in popular culture, with a special focus on video games. Her series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games points out lazy, sexist clichés…

• This week, Bob McDonnell, a.k.a Virginia’s former “Governor Ultrasound“, was convicted by a jury on multiple counts of corruption. The schadenfreude-y part is that McDonnell ran for office as a religious-right, pro-marriage, Christian-family-values candidate, whereas his defense at trial basically consisted of arguing that his own marriage was a shambles and that everything he…

Atlas Shrugged, part II, chapter V As the next chapter opens, halfway through Part II of Atlas, the crumbling of society is accelerating. Fuel has become scarce, household appliances and other modern conveniences are vanishing, and people are dying by the hundreds in winter blizzards. But what’s far worse is that Hank Rearden has failed…

The Civil Rights Act is an abiding dilemma for members of the right-wing Church of Not Gay. As marriage equality continues to progress, their latest cause celebre is arguing that believers should have the right to refuse service to gay couples – whether they be photographers, bakers, owners of wedding venues, even county clerks –…

The worst-ever outbreak of Ebola virus is still raging in West Africa. There are over 1,500 confirmed deaths so far – including, heartbreakingly, doctors and nurses treating other sufferers – though the real number is probably much higher, since widespread fear and mistrust means that many of the sick never come forward. The epidemic has…

My latest column is up on AlterNet, Is Religion Inherently Authoritarian? It’s about the increasing conflict between liberal and moderate religious believers who feel the doctrines of their churches should be open for reexamination, and the authoritarians who are determined to quash these democratic notions at any cost. Read the excerpt below, then click through…