It was something over a year ago that I learned that Cleveland was going to be the site of the 2016 Republican National Convention. The prospect of having a bunch of misogynistic, homophobic, mostly white guys invading The Best Location in the Nation was not a welcome thought, as you might well imagine, and that many of them were scornful of the concept of church/state separation did not help matters. However, I was encouraged by some discussion at a meeting of the Northern Ohio Freethought…

As a secular humanist who was raised Jewish, I have learned to ignore the Christmas excesses and platitudes that inundate us for two months of every year. 

But one idea, especially on display at Yuletide, I have never accepted: America is founded on “Judeo-Christian values.”   This claim has no basis in reality.  “Judeo-Christian values” are either moral precepts so obvious (love thy neighbor) as to be ubiquitous among the world’s major religions, or they are rooted in the primitive…

As a secular humanist who was raised Jewish, I have learned to ignore the Christmas excesses and platitudes that inundate us for two months of every year. 

But one idea, especially on display at Yuletide, I have never accepted: America is founded on “Judeo-Christian values.”   This claim has no basis in reality.  “Judeo-Christian values” are either moral precepts so obvious (love thy neighbor) as to be ubiquitous among the world’s major religions, or they are rooted in the primitive…

The preamble of the US Constitution reads as follows:



We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.



In short, the purpose of the United States government, as outlined by the preamble,…

I had thought this was going to be yet another quiet Sunday, where the most I might do is watch CBS Sunday Morning, make breakfast for my wife and myself, perhaps watch some auto racing or golf and enjoy the company of my step-grandson when he and his mom came over in the evening.  It was almost true, right up to when my inbox alerted me with a note from a friend at the Northern Ohio Freethought Society.  It referred to a recent piece from The Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, who had…

This post is prepared specifically for political candidates concerning their positions on policy issues related to church-state separation.  It is adapted from The Reason Revolution: Atheism, Secular Humanism, and the Collapse of Religion, a short, free e-book available at dandana.us/atheism

The number of nontheistic Americans is now about 20% of the general population (higher among those with college degrees), and is…

What is the difference between Islam's end times and that of…

"Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear."

-- Thomas Jefferson

Jesus H. Christ!!  I cannot believe that the Supreme Court is AGAIN about to debate the legitimacy of the spouting…

   Hello fellow free thinkers, I was recently at a local muncipal government health clinic. There on a stand with information purtaining to the clinic, and it's services was a stack of issues from a local, "community monthly publication". The title is: "Changing Times", and evident by the cross accompaning the title, and the content within; this is a christian publication! This clinic is run by the local municipality, which in turn is part of the state's department of health & hospitals,…

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- A parent’s complaint and action by Gwinnett County school officials has apparently not stopped volunteers at a church from asking students to pray before a test. A parent contacted Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh on Wednesday and said it happened to her son twice before he took an exam at a local church. Thursday a student told Kavanaugh it happened again, despite intervention by school officials.

THEY MIX LIKE OIL AND HOLY WATER - George Carlin was right.

After calls to unseat MN Dem Keith Ellison at least…

In April of this year, U.S. District Court Judge (Western Wisconsin District) ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, and equated the 1952 and 1988 laws establishing the Day of Prayer as federally mandated calls for religious action. In so deciding, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote that the government can no more enact laws supporting a day of prayer than it can encourage citizens to fast during Ramadan, attend a synagogue or practice magic.…

In a story released today by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, Oasis Church, a huge mega-church in Los Angeles, posted a statement on their website noting that a church official was seeking re-election. Alex Jones-Moreno, already on the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood City Council was…