Author: Adam Lee

I recently received an e-mail from an atheist asking for advice: I’ve always been afraid of death, and usually I tell myself that it’s pointless. But lately, I’ve started thinking about my existence and ultimately, my death. I was, and still am to some extent, horribly afraid of losing myself forever, which is quite irrational…

I was away last weekend and came back to an astonishing story: Ellen Johnson, Madalyn Murray O’Hair’s successor as president of American Atheists, has proudly announced that she didn’t vote in the recent presidential primaries. Even more jaw-dropping, she’s urged atheists not to vote in the general election either. Here’s the video, which is still…

You’ve just been to the doctor, and she has some bad news. There’s a deadly new disease sweeping the population – one which strikes 1 out of 100 people and invariably kills everyone who catches it. Medical science has developed a test that is 95% accurate during the incubation period: that is, when given to…

There’s been so much important news pouring in this month that it’s hard to keep up with it. But despite the flood of information, there’ve been a few especially significant discoveries that I think shouldn’t be overlooked. There are three that I thought deserve special notice: • On February 13, astronomers announced the discovery of…

Religious beliefs, as a general rule, aren’t based on evidence. I have little doubt that my fellow nonbelievers will agree without reservation, and equally little doubt that religious believers will call me arrogant and uninformed for so sweepingly dismissing the basis of their beliefs. But that’s not what I’m trying to say. By this statement,…

“Saint Jnanadeva is revered for his Bhagavad Gita translation and commentary in the Maharastrian language. Among several miracles that established this 13th-century saint’s reputation, the most famous involved a water buffalo. Challenged by the arrogant brahmins of Paithan that he was not qualified to recite the Vedas, Jnanadeva replied, ‘Anyone can recite the Vedas.’ He…

Today’s Poetry Sunday features Anna Akhmatova, one of the most famous and critically praised Russian poets of the twentieth century. Anna Ahkmatova was born Anna Andreyevna Gorenko in 1889; she started writing early in life, and took the surname of her grandmother after her father forbade her to sully his respectable name by publishing “decadent”…

In the past, I’ve written much about the philosophy of humanism and how it offers a transcendent, spiritual view of life’s purpose that is at least as appealing as anything offered by religion (and in fact, is superior – at least in my opinion). Well and good, but I’ve been thinking lately that what we…

Back in November, U.S. senator John Kerry made some probably accurate, if rather unfortunate, remarks about the probability of an atheist being elected to national office: “The vast majority of Americans say they believe in God,” Kerry said, responding to a question about the likelihood of an atheist or agnostic winning the presidency. “The vast…

Today I’m inaugurating a new series on Daylight Atheism, Strange and Curious Sects. The follies and fallacies of larger, mainstream religions are well known; this series will examine some of the smaller and lesser-known splinter groups, cults, and sects, both past and present, that are part of the vast diversity of religions imagined by human…