Archive for July, 2011

I asked and received permission to share the following story. I was told that was fine, so long as I withheld the student’s last name, which I am glad to oblige… Dear fellow atheists, I’ve been having an ongoing issue in my Critical Thinking class that I’m taking this semester at college; it’s a private for-profit secular institution. The problem is not so much with the class itself, but with the professor who teaches it. I’ve brought up the issue casually with my academic department and they have expressed their belief that it is a non-issue. Unless I’m willing to withdraw from the course and have it appear on my transcript, I’m forced to stay in it for the remainder of the term. That’s why I’m coming to you in the hope that you could provide me with some coping advice. I’m not kidding; this class is driving me completely insane. A couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with my professor along with another student during our class break. At one point she asked me to provide an example of a belief I had that I didn’t realize I had. Confused by the question, I asked her to elaborate. She gave me her own example of how she used to believe God was a punishing God, but then came to know Him as a loving and caring God. Right off the bat I informed her that I couldn’t think of anything as significant as her example, since I personally do not believe in anything supernatural or paranormal. It was then that she moved forward with the conversation by asking me, “You don’t even believe in the paranormal?” My adamant stance on the subject clearly bothered her, especially when I stated that many supernatural and paranormal claims could be easily refuted with scientific evidence. My professor’s adult son passed away several years ago, and she replied “My son is around me all the time and communicates with me every...
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I’m going to talk about abortion again this week. This time, I’m taking a completely different tactic. I’m going to apply my own personal moral principles to the problem and see how well I do against those of the religious right, supposedly backed by their god. Guess which one will come out objectively better? Hopefully, this leaves the question of why an individual atheist is doing better than American Christendom backed by the Author of morality. Feel free to treat this as an open thread on episode 719. Postscript: I found out late that Greg Paul was to be a special guest caller on the show, so I wasn’t able to get to my topic. I’ll save it for next time.

I’m not just on the Secular Student Alliance‘s Speaker’s Bureau, I’m a fan of the work they do and as supportive as I can possibly be. (Which basically means that I talk them up whenever I can and then run around to whatever schools ask me to speak.) Well, Jen McCreight of Blag Hag fame, is gearing up for another BLOGATHON to raise more money for the SSA. It seems that some people actually find time to not only blog, but blog for a good cause. In 2009, she raised $531.17 and last year she raised an amazing $2753.10…and this year, she’s trying to raise BILLIONS (or at least “more”). So, if the SSA is your bag (and why wouldn’t it be?!) and you have some money that you were saving for a good cause, get over there and donate! Yes, I know, I’ve asked people to donate to the ACA, Camp Quest, American Atheists, The Atheist Community of Austin, Atheist Alliance America, The Texas Freethought Convention, The Texas Freedom Network, The Seculare Coalition for America, The James Randi Educational Foundation, Atheists Helping the Homeless and a few others…and it will continue. Why? – Because these are organizations that are doing good work and need funding. – Because everyone can’t donate every time (or any time, for some) but without reminders donations tend to drop off. Don’t worry, I don’t assume that you’re a bad person for not donating. I’ve been poor (more than I’d like to admit) and unable to donate money. I won’t even think you’re a bad person for not donating time – everyone isn’t comfortable helping out. But for those who can, or feel like the should, I’ll happily show you a picture of intellectually-starved college and high-school students that should tug at your heart and purse strings…

Tomorrow (later today, actually) I’ll be heading down to the studio, in drag. I wanted to take a few minutes, before the show, to talk about the process of making this happen and why it’s unlikely to happen again (I think you’ll agree I’ve got good reasons). That said, this is a positive post – because the process has been educational and that’s something that I tend to enjoy. First, I’m probably not going to be very attractive (but I’m sure someone out there will certainly disagree). I’m a big guy and it was difficult to find clothes that fit, so this won’t be any sort of slinky, sexy number…because my body just won’t do that. We had difficulty finding a dress in my size that didn’t cost a fortune. We ended up settling on the Urban Nomad versatile skirt from Earthbound Trading Company. It’s actually a pretty cool item and I think I can safely recommend it. Beth got one as well and mine won’t be going to waste as I already have a good friend who would like mine after the show is over. (It’s late, so I’m not linking all of these items…Google is your friend). I wear a 48R suit jacket and we had one hell of a time finding any bra that would actually fit. We settled for a cheap 52DD bra from Walmart that we’re going to stuff with socks and other things to give me the breasts I’ll need to hold up the dress. We also grabbed a plus-sized camisole, which will give me a layered look. The bra and camisole probably won’t find a home, so I’ll box them up for future costume events that are less extravagant. We picked up cheap jewelry at the mall, but I only had one of my ears pierced. I didn’t want to take too many shortcuts, so we went ahead and got the other one pierced as well. (Actually, we re-pierced the one that had previously been pierced, as it had partially closed up.) I actually like wearing the earrings, so that will...
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