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Talking to John Loftus

Former FtBer John Loftus of Debunking Christianity has a post up today titled Ed Brayton, PZ Myers, and Freethought Bloggers, Listen to Me.

John is absolutely welcome to his opinions, but as some large part of what he said is a whack at FtB, and as I disagree with it, I answered him in the comments, and I echo it here.

___________________

Freethought Blogs blogger here, specifically the Blue Collar Atheist.

Quoting you: “I know you have a herd mentality and have a strong tendency not to listen to outsiders …” Continue reading “Talking to John Loftus”

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Because I Am An Atheist

Ian Cromwell, brilliant fellow FtBer who writes a profound and witty blog under the Crommunist Manifesto banner, asked me to contribute to his “Because I am an atheist” series. He printed my piece a bit less than a week ago, with an intro that referred to me as “the incomparable Hank Fox.” (How can you not like a guy who calls you THAT?)

I’m echoing the piece here. If you’d like to contribute your own take on the subject, Crommunist is actively soliciting submissions.  Click the title link below to go to his original post, and contact him via his email address from the About the Author box in the right column.  (Also, take the time to read the wonderful comments to Ian’s original piece.) Continue reading “Because I Am An Atheist”

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The Funny Thing About Sexual Harassment. And Then the Unfunny Thing.

Tell you a coupla stories:

When I was about 16, I worked part-time as a stock boy and gofer at the central office of a chain of health clubs in Houston.

One of my not-quite-co-workers was Bobby, a big black guy who was the right-hand man of the distribution director. The performance of our duties would normally almost never put Bobby and I in the same room together, but I saw him everyday anyway. Continue reading “The Funny Thing About Sexual Harassment. And Then the Unfunny Thing.”

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Sexual Harassment: FtBers Hang Out on Google Hangout

You’ll probably see this all over Freethought Blogs, but …

Big news these days is the subject of policies addressing harassment, sexual and otherwise, at atheist/freethought conventions. In this Google Hangout video, Freethought bloggers discuss a controversy surrounding TAM, The Amazing Meeting.

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In Which I Admit to Being Wrong

Kudos to the lot of you! I’m more than a little pleased with how the discussion worked out in comments to my Liberal Knees post about the burkha.

All of the comments were thoughtful, most were lengthy, and none of them were flames against me or the other readers/commenters.

Best of all, I learned some stuff, and I hope others did too. There were more nuances in the issue than my simple formulation of “I don’t get to wear a mask in public; I don’t think anyone else should.”

Most telling was the argument that Muslim women, arguably already suffering the repression of being forced to wear the burkha in the first place, were the ones being legally penalized for … well, wearing the burkha. Definitely something worth considering. Continue reading “In Which I Admit to Being Wrong”

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The Great Debate

I went to the “great debate” – Does God Exist? – last night at Binghamton University in Upstate New York. The event was double-hosted by the Campus Bible Fellowship and the Secular Student Alliance.

Ex-Mormon Erin M. and I caught a ride with Michael McElroy, all members of the local atheist Meet-Up group, Capital Region Atheists and Agnostics. Nice trip, the both of you. I enjoyed the wide-ranging conversation immensely. Sorry I fell asleep on the late-night return trip; hey, I’m old. —Oh, yeah, also saw Rick Martin, one of the CRA&A founding members.

McElroy has an excellent recap of the actual substance of the debate on his own blog.

I’ll post the YouTube videos when I see them up. Don’t know when that will be. But meanwhile …

I thought Matt Dillahunty (host of The Atheist Experience) did a fantastic job against Christian apologist Jay Lucas.

Matt was thoughtful, open, generous, honest and funny. Continue reading “The Great Debate”

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Reason Rally: The Speech That Didn’t Happen

This is the speech I would have given, if I’d been asked to speak at the Reason Rally. No, there’s no reason anyone should have asked – I’m not well enough known just yet – but that didn’t stop me from wanting to be up on stage anyway. Saying this:

Hank’s Reason Rally Speech

Just as we still talk about the Enlightenment, or the discovery of fire, a thousand years from now, people will still be talking about this moment.

Because this is the moment when civilization left the launch pad. This is the moment when we broke free from the restraints of unreason, when the umbilical of religion finally fell away, the moment when the rocket of our true capabilities really began to thrust up into the sky.

There’s still that long, long journey ahead of us. But this is the moment when we made our final break from the insanities of the past, and people a thousand years from now will know it, and talk about it.

Or … they won’t. Continue reading “Reason Rally: The Speech That Didn’t Happen”

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Throwing Out Leftovers, Civilization-Wide

I’m gonna tell you about four things I used to do. Four actions – habits – I picked up when I was a kid and continued at least into my early adult life.

First, I used to eat large amounts of ice cream and other rich, fatty foods at every opportunity.

Second, I used to actively avoid stepping on cracks in the sidewalk when I was walking.

Third, I used to vigorously snap my towel when I stepped out of the shower and pulled it off the towel rack.

Fourth, I used to look both ways when I stepped out into the street. Continue reading “Throwing Out Leftovers, Civilization-Wide”