1. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208707 by onlysky on July 11, 2008 at 6:57 am

Email Sent!

Dear President Bruininks,

I'm writing to show my support for Professor Myers regarding the campaign against him by the Catholic League.

I strongly support PZ Myers' right to free speech on this issue. All he did was to point out the glaring absurdity of beliefs that allow for a cracker to be treated with more respect than a human being.

The fact that PZ Myers is now receiving death threats and hate mail demanding he be fired because of his words is a very sad commentary on how ready the religious fanatics of this country are to silence those who disagree with them.

My hope is that this will only strengthen the resolve of those of us who support reason and freedom of speech to never capitulate to such hate-filled, threatening, and unreasonable demands.

Sincerely,

Amber Boas
Winter Garden, FL.

2. Cutting Edge: Baby Bible Bashers

Comment #129735 by onlysky on February 19, 2008 at 2:15 pm

And onlysky, you're right, homeschooled kids are 75% evangelical, not 95%. My mistake.

Sorry to keep harping, but you're still missing the point. It was 72% who said one of their reasons for homeschooling was to provide "religious or moral instruction." I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that this religiously motivated 72% is NOT comprised solely of evangelical Christians (since there are in fact other religions in this country), although I'm sure you're right that evangelicals are still the majority in this percentage.

basically there is no homeschool diploma...you take the GED...thats your diploma..

the_ultimate_samurai,
You just don't know what you're talking about. Some homeschoolers do not earn a traditional diploma, but many DO earn one through the numerous correspondence high school programs available, as I did, or though public school programs like Florida Virtual School as I mentioned before. Homeschool for many people is just distance learning.

I apologize for this off topic tangent, but it would be nice if people did just a little research before making incorrect, generalized statements on here.

By the way, talking about homeschoolers as if they are all religious is kind of like talking about Americans as if they are all religious. Only the percentage of non-religiously motivated homeschoolers seems to be larger (28%) than the percentage of non-religious Americans (10 - 20%)

3. Cutting Edge: Baby Bible Bashers

Comment #129499 by onlysky on February 19, 2008 at 8:14 am

Whenever I see anything about home-schooling, it appears to be only the sick/deeply deluded and/or stupid parents who do this. Apologies if I am generalising on very, very little knowledge about it, but that is how it seems from my home in the UK.

No, you're correct, something like 95% of homeschooled kids are evangelical. Or as Professor Dawkins would say, have evangelical parents.

PJG and Quill,

I just have to step in here and defend homeschooling from some unfair characterizations. I am a former homeschooler for non-religious reasons. I grant you am in a minority and that homeschooling is largely done for religious reasons, but it's not 95% religious as Quill states and certainly not 95% evangelical.

According to the Dept of Education's 2003 study on homeschooling: 72% cited "to provide religious or moral instruction" as an important reason for their choice to homeschool Other reasons included: "the social environments of other forms of schooling" (including safety, drugs, bullying and negative peer-pressure)(85%) "dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (68%) "Child has physical or mental health problem"(7%) "Child has other special needs"(7%) and finally 9% just had other reasons including "child's choice," "allows parents more control of learning" and "flexibility."

There are a lot of other reasons besides religion that causes people to homeschool, so although it is understandable that when you think about homeschooling a picture of a crazy creationist brainwashed kid jumps into your head, it's not reasonable to judge all homeschoolers based on that image.

Lastly, homeschooling has come a long way since I was homeschooled back in the early 90s. I would agree with you that standards were lacking then and I probably succeeded in spite of the education I received and not because of it. However, my brother who is 16 now and has been homechooled all his life, has access to fantastic educational recources that are now available over the internet. Most of his education has been through Florida Virtual School, which is just another public school, only fully online.

Hopefully I've cleared up some of these mischaracterizations of homeschooling and showed that we are not all crazy fundamentalists.

-Amber

4. Happy Birthday Josh Timonen!

Comment #119066 by onlysky on January 31, 2008 at 9:46 am

Happy Birthday Josh!

Add me to the long list of people who love this website! I come here daily to check on the latest atheism related news. You do a fantastic job of keeping things up to date and well organized. Thank you!

5. Sunday School for Atheists

Comment #90792 by onlysky on November 26, 2007 at 11:33 am

Comment #90714 by 35bluejacket on November 26, 2007 at 7:38 am
onlysky:

Amen brother

Thanks!
However, not all atheists are male, you know..;)

6. Sunday School for Atheists

Comment #90704 by onlysky on November 26, 2007 at 7:19 am

I'm always disappointed when I read a great article like this about the important need for community resources for Atheists, especially with regard to children, and then I read the comments and see how many Atheists are frightened and contemptuous of this idea.

My theory is that most of the Atheists who think that this could be an example of "Atheism indoctrination" or "Atheism being shoved down kid's throats" are probably Atheists by conversion themselves, who have no idea what it's like to actually grow up as an Atheist.

As a former child of Atheist parents myself, I find it very hard to fathom the idea of Atheist indoctrination. Atheism is the default position. Growing up in an atheist family just means growing up without religious indoctrination. I don't see how Atheist summer camps or community groups would be doing anything more than teaching children to use reason and value evidence, explaining values and morality without using religion, and most importantly, providing a sense of community and belonging to children who are very likely to feel a sense of social isolation if they grow up surrounded on all sides by an overwhelmingly religious community, as I did.

I wish some Atheists would get over their overly righteous sense of individuality and realize that there is a very great need, in such a religious world, for organization, community and outreach among Atheists. There is really no basis for the criticism and disapproval of these efforts and programs as far I can see.

7. CBC Atheism and Humanism Documentary

Comment #77333 by onlysky on October 9, 2007 at 4:41 am

21. Comment #77331 by Logicel on October 9, 2007 at 4:33 am
onlysky, check the comment Posting Guidelines (for using HTML code like for blockquotes)

Thanks:)

8. CBC Atheism and Humanism Documentary

Comment #77328 by onlysky on October 9, 2007 at 4:29 am

Can someone tell me how to reply to someone's comments so that the quote I'm replying to gets put in that neat, easy to read, box?

9. CBC Atheism and Humanism Documentary

Comment #77327 by onlysky on October 9, 2007 at 4:24 am

15. Comment #77261 by jagmarz on October 8, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Didn't the kids' camp freak anyone else out?

Most of these kids aren't old enough to make Rational decisions. At their age kids should be curious, not certain! So all their testimonials are just Jesus Camp all over again from the other side.

Sad evidence of Atheist dogma, exactly what we should be avoiding.



No, It doesn't freak me out. Know why? Because atheism is not a religion or a dogma! Does it freak you out when kids start professing that they don't believe in Santa Clause? Or the Tooth Fairy? There is no indoctrination into this kind of lack of belief.

It's amazing how even other atheists fall into the trap of thinking about atheism in religious terms. "Well, they are all gathering together in a group and talking about stuff they feel strongly about, so that must somehow be religious." If that were true, then every hobby group on meetup.com would have to be called a religion.

Stop confusing "being religious" with those who are just being passionate, and wanting a sense of community.

10. CBC Atheism and Humanism Documentary

Comment #77092 by onlysky on October 8, 2007 at 12:35 pm

Does anyone else get sick of the way the atheist position is ALWAYS couched in religious terms in these interviews and tv spots… "Born again atheist" "evangelistic atheist", "preaching the atheist gospel", "Greydon Square finds his congregation" "His flock lines up to get a copy of his latest sermon."

Maybe the reporters are trying to be funny, maybe they are just that uncreative and unwilling to think of phrasing that would accurately reflect atheism, or maybe they do it intentionally and maliciously to make atheism look like just another religion.

Whatever the reason is, it's really annoying and inaccurate.

11. God Talk on 'The View'

Comment #71691 by onlysky on September 19, 2007 at 1:23 pm

That was utterly pathetic. The saddest part is that a lot of the people watching that show will probably see it as a serious conversation about religion and science, when in reality, they all showed an apparent lack of understanding of basic scientific concepts and they certainly didn't have anything intelligent to say about religion.

12. CNN Request for 'I-Reports' on religion

Comment #65220 by onlysky on August 23, 2007 at 8:14 am

This is what I sent:

I am very proud to be among those millions who do not live by faith. I'm proud to lack faith because "faith" is just an excuse people give themselves to believe what would otherwise be unbelievable.

I think religion is under attack in modern society, but that is to be expected. As modernity has progressed and we've learned more and more about our world, (courtesy of science) the simplistic, faith based explanations from religion seem more and more ridiculous. Notice that this "attack on religion" is not one of violence. It's not even one of censorship or repression. It's just an ideas war, where one idea over time begins looking very silly.

The people with the strongest faith today are not the religious moderates who will be responding to questions like this. If you want to find really strong faith, look to the people who blow themselves up daily in Iraq, and the people who flew planes into the towers on 9/11. They are the epitome of strong faith. They believe so completely in their eternal reward that they are willing to kill and die for it.