Fredericksparks

Author's details

Date registered: November 3, 2011

Latest posts

  1. Professional basketball player Jason Collins comes out — April 30, 2013
  2. Ray Comfort thought that ‘bibliophile’ meant what? — April 1, 2013
  3. Rising economic inequality and the “racial entitlement” of the Voting Rights Act — February 27, 2013
  4. Black Atheist characters revisited — February 26, 2013
  5. Black Skeptics Los Angeles observe Day of Solidarity — February 25, 2013

Most commented posts

  1. Be Scofield, Greta Christina, and New Atheist racism — 65 comments
  2. Trekkie-in-Chief:Obama and Uhura — 31 comments
  3. Aurora, Colorado: Tragedy, Wingnuttery, and a possible racial angle? — 26 comments
  4. Black Skeptics talk Scientific Racism at CFI Los Angeles — 24 comments
  5. The NRA, the KKK, and the 2nd Amendment’s Black History — 23 comments

Author's posts listings

Apr 30 2013

Professional basketball player Jason Collins comes out

Jason-Collins

by Frederick Sparks “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.” In case you hadn’t heard, NBA journeyman center Jason Collins has declared to the world that he is a gay man.   Collins entered the NBA twelve years ago, along with his twin Jarron, after the two played collegiate basketball at Stanford.  He …

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Apr 01 2013

Ray Comfort thought that ‘bibliophile’ meant what?

ray comfort

…a cross between pedophile and Bible.   Yup, this is the man who will topple a well evidenced scientific theory that happens to cornerstone of modern biology.

Feb 27 2013

Rising economic inequality and the “racial entitlement” of the Voting Rights Act

rosa

By Frederick Sparks On the day the statue honoring civil rights icon Rosa Parks was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol,  stark reminders  of persistent socio-economic disparities between blacks and whites remain.  And comments from a sitting Supreme Court justice show inexcusable blindness in high places. A Brandeis University study found that the gap in racial wealth …

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Feb 26 2013

Black Atheist characters revisited

by Frederick Sparks A few years ago I wrote a post overviewing the (limited) portrayals of black atheist characters in popular television and film. In it, I argued that more numerous portrayals of black nonbelieving characters (particularly in a positive light) would go a long way in normalizing the experience of black nonbelievers, in the same way …

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Feb 25 2013

Black Skeptics Los Angeles observe Day of Solidarity

day of solidarity 1

By Frederick Sparks Black Skeptics Los Angeles observed the Day of Solidarity for Black Non-Believers with a visit to the California African-American Museum (CAAM) followed by lunch at a south Los Angeles restaurant. CAAM is located in Exposition Park, part of a complex of museums  (including the science museum that now houses the Space Shuttle …

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Jan 17 2013

On Faith, Mante Te’O's fake girlfriend and the Age of Narrative

Manti Te'O

by Frederick Sparks “Faith is believing in something you most likely can’t see, but you believe to be true”  – Manti Te’o In what has to be one of the oddest stories of the new year, the story of celebrated Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’O’s triumphant performance against arch rival Michigan after losing his girlfriend to …

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Dec 20 2012

The NRA, the KKK, and the 2nd Amendment’s Black History

malcolm-x-by-any-means-necessary-276x400

by Frederick Sparks “A Winchester Rifle should have a place of honor in every black home.” – Ida B. Wells Barnett Grabbing a group lunch after our latest Los Angeles Black Skeptics meeting, the conversation inevitably turned to the massacre in Newtown and the related issue of gun laws and gun control.  One new member expressed his opposition …

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Nov 13 2012

Lee Atwater breaks down the GOP “Southern Strategy” in 1981

By Frederick Sparks Jimmy Carter’s grandson, James Carter IV, who brought us the infamous “47%” Mitt Romney video, has uncovered the audio recording of an interview of the famed political consultant Atwater by late political science professor Alexander Lamis.  Lamis published the interview without using Atwater’s name in his 1984 book  The Two Party South, and …

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Nov 08 2012

Besting them at their own game: Planned Parenthood PACs outperform Rove’s

By Frederick Sparks And it wasn’t even close. According to the Sunlight Foundation,  97.82% of the expenditures of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund Inc. and 98.58% of the expenditures of Planned Parenthood Votes’ ended in the desired results, in terms of candidates supported and opposed.   As a comparison: The worst performers were the NRA’s super …

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Oct 16 2012

FL Judge: Schizophrenic death row inmate’s Jesus visions no crazier than many Christians’

ferguson_j

By Frederick Sparks He’s sane enough for us to kill him. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court in Ford v. Wainright confirmed the common law principle that execution of the mentally insane violates the constitution (“ For today, no less than before, we may seriously question the retributive value of executing a person who has no comprehension …

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