Author: Adam Lee

You’ve probably already heard that Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, sinking in the polls as primary season approaches, is making one last bid for relevance with a new campaign ad: Here’s the transcript: I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know…

When this life is all you have, you’re naturally motivated to care more about it. That’s why I’ve often encouraged readers to support the Foundation Beyond Belief, an excellent secular charity, and this holiday season I’d like to renew that call. If you don’t already know how the FBB operates: Each quarter, they choose a…

If you were a regular commenter on the old site, you’ve probably noticed a shift in the commenting community since Daylight Atheism came here to Big Think. The old site had a smaller, more homogeneous community, and as a result, there were a lot more “atheism 201” discussions – how we can organize and build…

Apropos of my recent posts on whether Unitarian Universalism is welcoming to atheists, I just got the winter 2011 issue of UU World magazine. And guess who wrote the blurb in this book ad I saw on the front page (click the image on the left to enlarge and read the whole thing). It says:…

I may have mentioned that, at Skepticon IV, JT Eberhard gave a fantastic talk on why the skeptical community must concern itself with mental illness. For the most part, the response from the community has been enthusiastically supportive – but there were a few sharp notes of dissent, like this post by Gina Colaianni. Most…

Tonight, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be speaking to the Secular Student Alliance at Syracuse University on December 9, one week from tomorrow. The talk will be about ethics and morality: why divine command morality is inferior, what it means to say that morality is objective, and how we can decide between right and…

You may have heard that another atheist billboard campaign has been censored, this time in Ohio. The Mid-Ohio Atheists had spent several weeks coordinating with the billboard company, planning locations and designing graphics, with no hint of a problem. Then, just days before the first billboards were to go up, they received an unexpected e-mail…

One hypothesis for the origin of religion is that it’s a kind of “costly signaling” – a way for people to prove their loyalty to the group by participating in complex rituals and extravagant shows of devotion. But there’s an underappreciated danger to this: when everyone in a community already follows a strict interpretation of…

Editor’s Note: After a holiday that’s all about gratitude, it seemed appropriate to post this. Please welcome Jessa Jackson as she tells the story of how she went from Mormonism to atheism. We’re thankful to have you, Jessa! —Adam Lee One thing I remember hearing repeatedly claimed about ex-Mormons is that they “never really knew…

Read the recap of Day 1 here. Day 2! I have to admit I missed the first talk of the day by Joe Nickell (see my previous post about goings-on at the gastropub – an early rising just wasn’t in the cards). Jen McCreight of Blag Hag led off the morning instead with a talk…