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On Monday, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters sued the Freedom From Religion Foundation for daring to fight back against his push to Christianize public schools throughout his state. Walters said in a video that he was suing the “radical atheists”—a phrase he used multiple times as if there are tiers of atheism—because they were supposedly harassing students and teachers for “freely expressing their religious beliefs.”

Today in Oklahoma, we're fighting back. I've got this lawsuit that I filed today against the Freedom From Religion Foundation. They're a group of radical atheists that continue to attack our students and teachers in the state of Oklahoma. Well, never again.

These radical atheists can find somewhere else to go because we're not gonna allow them to harass our students and teachers for freely expressing their religious beliefs.

This lawsuit will continue to ensure that in Oklahoma your rights will be protected, our teachers and students can absolutely pray if that's what they choose to do. So Freedom From Religion [sic], we will see you radical atheists in court.

What was he talking about? After all, FFRF has never gone after teachers or students for freely expressing their religious beliefs; they’ve only fought against people like Walters who have shoved their Christianity down everyone else’s throats. For example, FFRF and a coalition of church/state separation advocates sued Walters over his plan to spend millions of dollars to shove the Bible in every classroom. (It worked. Last month, the Oklahoma Supreme Court temporarily blocked Walters from doing that.)

But what was Walters referring to? If this wasn’t purely about retaliation and obtaining attention for himself, on what grounds was he suing FFRF?

The situation itself began in December when the FFRF wrote a letter to the superintendent of the Achille Public Schools about a new policy “allowing teachers to read Bible verses at the beginning of their classes.” In at least one case, a teacher had a student read the Bible verses to the class. This wasn’t secular. This had nothing to do with the lesson plan. It was just straight-up indoctrination.

It got even worse. The district apparently began the day with “mandatory student-led prayers” over the loudspeaker during morning announcements. While a moment of silence would be legal, the district often had students saying it was time for a “moment of silence or prayer”… which was then followed by the student “praying over the intercom.”

This took place at both the elementary school and high school. FFRF added that students were unable to skip these prayers since they occurred “after the first period has already started.”

The group didn’t sue the district. They just told the district this needed to stop because it was all illegal. At no point did FFRF say students couldn’t pray on their own, only that school-sponsored prayers—like when a teacher reads Bible verses in class or students say them over the intercom—were illegal. They reminded the district that none of the Supreme Court’s recent pro-religion decisions negated that.

All of that was perfectly sensible.

So was a completely separate letter FFRF sent to the Putnam City Schools in 2018 after the high school designated a “team chaplain” whose job was leading the football team in Christian prayer before games. That religious leader openly stated that his goal was to “share the Gospel with them.”

Yet according the lawsuit filed by Walters, those letters warning the public school districts that they were violating the law… were violating the law.

That’s seriously his whole argument. He doesn’t explain why the FFRF’s complaints are wrong; he merely insists his job is to protect “individual religious freedom” and these warning letters—not even lawsuits, but warning letters—stifle the ability for students and teachers to practice their faith. And he claims the courts must stop FFRF’s “threatening and harassing behavior”… of reminding districts what the laws are.

The lawsuit itself is absurd. At one point, Walters writes:

Supreme Court precedent has long-recognized the secular value of religious texts, including the Bible, in school settings, as well as the secular value of chaplains as mentors and counselors in government-run institutions.

Sure. The Bible can be studied in school in a secular way. The key word there is “secular.” Reciting Bible verses for the sake of indoctrination, with no connection to what is being taught, which is what’s happening in Oklahoma, is still not acceptable. Christian chaplains may be allowed to offer secular services, but proselytizing to a football team, which is what’s happening in Oklahoma, is still forbidden.

In short, Walters is furious that FFRF dares to defend the law when his goal is to violate it or tear it down entirely. The Oklahoma Department of Education’s attorney Jacquelyne K. Phelps says FFRF is interfering with Walters’ and OSDE’s “statutory duty to oversee Oklahoma’s public schools and their duty to implement curricular standards, investigate any complaints levied against an Oklahoma school, and advocate for its students and parents.”

You don’t need to be a lawyer to understand how comical all this is. Instead of bothering to explain why religious proselytizing in public schools is legal—because they can’t—they’re going after FFRF for warning the schools (on behalf of local complainants!) that what they’re doing is against the law. Walters even says in his press release that FFRF is trying to “erase faith,” which has absolutely nothing to do with any of the letters they’ve written. He’s a Christian liar.

News articles about this lawsuit fail to point out that Walters has no argument here. He can’t prevent FFRF from telling districts they’re breaking the law nor can he stop FFRF from suing those districts, if it came to that, on behalf of local parents willing to fight these cases.

What Walters wants is attention. And the headlines all say that Walters is suing an atheist group, so he can build up his credentials with Christian Nationalist organizations. He also gets a few one-liners in all these articles by saying ridiculous things like “Oklahoma will never be bullied by radical, out-of-state atheists who use intimidation and harassment against kids.” Meanwhile, he’s the one who’s shoving his religion on all the non-Christian students in the state because he doesn’t give a damn about their religious freedoms.

There’s no argument here. There’s nothing judges can even latch onto if they wanted to. It’s desperation in the form of a lawsuit.

For their part, FFRF says they’re not backing down:

“Ryan Walters is a loose cannon bent on destroying secular public education in Oklahoma,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We are proud of FFRF’s record of support for true religious freedom and the rights of conscience of a captive audience of schoolchildren to be free from government-sponsored indoctrination in our public schools.”

… The nonprofit association is confident that the courts will reject Walters’ meritless claims and reaffirm that public schools must remain free from religious coercion.

It’s absurd that Walters is wasting his office’s resources fighting fake battles like this instead of doing anything to actually help the students in his state. But unless voters decide education matters, they’re stuck with a theocrat hellbent on destroying secular education and replacing it with religious indoctrination.

Neil deGrasse Tyson went on Bill Maher’s terrible show (that’s not good, I wish everyone would just starve that guy of air) and dismissed him quickly when he brought up Elon Musk’s plan to go to Mars. It makes no sense.

I have strong views on that. My read of the history of space exploration is such that we do big, expensive things only when it’s geopolitically expedient, such as we feel threatened by an enemy. And so for him to just say, let’s go to Mars because it’s the next thing to do. What is that venture capitalist meeting look like? ‘So, ELon, what do you want to do?’ ‘I want to go to Mars?’ ‘How much will it cost?’ ‘$1 trillion.’ ‘Is it safe?’ ‘No. People will probably die.’ ‘What’s the return on the investment?’ ‘Nothing.’ That’s a five minute meeting. And it doesn’t happen.

Tyson has offended Elon Musk! We need more of that. Musk fired back on Shitter.

By “gathering resources,” of course, he means “plundering our investment in space research”. Sure, he doesn’t need venture capital money now, because he’s got his hooks into the federal government.

I am most aghast at that claim that Wow, they really don’t get it. Mars is critical to the long-term survival of consciousness. The arrogance of the man! He sees himself as vital to humanity when he’s actually a selfish, weird parasite with an ego that leads him to think all he has to do is build a bigger rocket and people will love him as a savior.

That was enough to entice another very stupid man, Piers Morgan, to bring Tyson on to his show. If there’s anything Morgan likes, it’s being able to pit high profile people against one another in a spectacle. His second favorite thing is to ladle out smarm for rich people, so he says I’ve got massive respect for you [Tyson], I also have a lot of respect for Musk. I also like the fact that he dares to dream very big. Morgan sucks up painfully, talking about vacationing in the south of France with Musk and how he wants to protect humanity from total ecological collapse and the heat death of the sun. So Tyson launches an even longer discourse on how the whole Mars dream is impractical and wrong.

Tyson is laughing throughout, which baffles Morgan, who thinks he’s chuckling about the eventual destruction of humanity. No. He’s laughing at how ridiculous and how ignorant Morgan and Musk are. They don’t discuss Musk’s follow-up accusation.

The real problem is that Neil decided to grovel to the woke far left when he got hit with a #MeToo. You can avoid being canceled if you beg for forgiveness and push their nonsense ideology. The truth hurts.

It’s an all-purpose excuse: any criticism is met with an accusation of wokeness. He is not a clever or rational man. Also, you should realize that being in favor of equal rights for women is not antithetical to being in favor of science and exploration.

They had this discussion and focused only on the possibility of getting a spaceship to Mars, which we know is possible — it’s been done. Getting a crewed spaceship there is much, much harder, but like Tyson says, is entirely within the realm of possibility if you throw enough money at it. What they don’t discuss is the whole absurd idea of colonizing Mars, which I think is not possible in this era, and if it were, the effort would be better dedicated to supporting our existence on this precious jewel of a planet, Earth.

Maybe Morgan should read A City on Mars and learn something. That’s not as profitable as sucking up to billionaires, though.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last August, the Palm Beach County School Board instituted a mask mandate in defiance of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The blowback from parents was swift. By October, school board members were getting death threats. One member was approached and told to “sleep with the fishes” while another received a message saying “parasites have more value in life.” One email said a member would become “worm food” and that “soon the wrath of Satan will be upon you.”

The violent rhetoric wasn’t unique to Palm Beach. An anti-mask woman was arrested after threatening to bring a loaded gun to a school board meeting in Page County, Virginia. After another school board voted to institute a mask mandate in Missouri, a fistfight broke out.

A recent Reuters investigation found over 220 examples of school boards facing hostile messages and threats of violence. 

As debates over mask and vaccine mandates have become more contentious, the use and threat of violence is making it much harder for people to navigate local politics—perhaps because an increasing percentage of Americans no longer consider the use of violence an unacceptable means to achieve their political goals. According to a report from The COVID States Project, 1 in 4 Americans said violence against the government was ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ justifiable. A Washington Post poll put the number closer to 1 in 3.

When Americans think of domestic political violence, the January 6th insurrection generally comes to mind. But political violence and threats more often come at the local level, where they don’t receive the same amount of coverage and media attention.  

Demographic and cultural change has created a feeling of status threat, as many white Christian Americans worry that their social dominance is imperiled and that violence may be necessary to restore the social hierarchy.

What is driving this increase in Americans who believe that political violence is acceptable? One of the answers is in the intensity of Christian nationalism and its conflict with democracy. The percentage of Americans who identify as Christian has fallen to 63% in 2021, and the percentage of Americans who identify with no religion is up to 29%. This, along with demographic and cultural change, has created a feeling of status threat as many white Christian Americans worry that their social dominance is imperiled and that violence may be necessary and justified to restore the social hierarchy.

But much of the rest of the country views Christian nationalism suspiciously. A 2019 poll from Morning Consult found that nearly half of the country views Christian nationalism as a threat to their interests. But Republicans are far more likely than other groups to believe that political violence is necessary to achieve their goals. 

The normalization of political violence has dire implications for democracy, which is meant to be deliberative, not coercive. If this process continues, the breakdown of democratic norms and practices is all but certain.

The post Are Americans normalizing political violence?  appeared first on OnlySky Media .

Reading Time: 3 minutes

On January 19, talk show host Phil McGraw stepped out of his comfort zone and invited transgender rights activists Addison Rose Vincent and Ethan Alexander to give a presentation about pronouns on his show Dr. Phil. To the guests’ surprise, only ten minutes before the show, they were informed that conservative commentator Matt Walsh would show up to “debate” them.

A fair fight?

In an Instagram comment, Ethan wrote,

. . . We went into the show believing we would be sharing our story and doing a presentation on gender pronouns. 10 minutes before we went live they came into our room to let us know what’s his face would be in the panel along with other guests. We would have never agreed to do this show had we known ahead of time, our existence is not up for debate.

That said, it’s not like the show planned a sensible episode without Walsh either. The very idea that there’s a debate to be had over whether someone’s identity is valid or not doesn’t need a “both sides” presentation. More to the point, people like Walsh, who espouse harmful transphobic views for a living, don’t deserve a platform on a show like this when he brings nothing to the table except inflammatory rhetoric.

The show wasn’t a dumpster fire the entire time. McGraw began by presenting the idea of using gender neutral pronouns as something that was understandably confusing for his older, mostly conservative, audience, but he did express that it was something they should try and understand. While he didn’t seem to follow Addison and Ethan’s logic as they explained why and how people should share their pronouns, he gave them the floor to offer their perspectives.

When it went sour

All that goodwill went out the window, however, when Walsh showed up and said,

Just to clarify, with all due respect, most of what we just heard in the previous segment was total nonsense, which is why when you were pushing for definitions and that sort of thing that they were not able to provide it, because it’s just nonsensical.

After his predictable tirade on why he believes the word “woman” can only be defined as “adult human female,” the right-wing talking points kept pouring out and hit their peak when he used an analogy to refute the entire concept of using personal pronouns:

You don’t get your own pronouns, just like you don’t get your own prepositions or your own adjectives. It’s like if I were to tell you my adjectives are handsome and brilliant, and no matter what, whenever you’re talking about me you have to describe me as handsome and brilliant because that’s how I identify, makes no sense. You don’t get your own pronouns. That’s grammar. That’s language.

Walsh’s false confidence

That’s not grammar or language. It’s not a 1:1 comparison. You don’t get your own adjectives — which is what Walsh offered — but you do get your own pronouns. Everyone does, including Walsh. His pronouns are he/him. He might not be mortally offended if you refuse to call him handsome and brilliant, but he’d almost certainly flip out if I resolved to only use she/her pronouns for him. Pronouns are a substitute for your name, and you have a right to tell people how to refer to you.

Others calling you by your chosen name is a form of respect. The same principle applies to pronouns.

Walsh also acted like language was on his side here. It’s not. Language is not some ancient objective truth. It changes and evolves. It has been doing that long before it was verbal. When another guest, Dr. Suzy D’Enbeau, a gender and communication expert from Kent State University, called Walsh’s views extreme, he countered,

She began by saying that my view is extreme. Okay, so the view that every single person on Earth has held up until 15 seconds ago is extreme, and the view that almost everyone does right now still still hold is extreme, apparently, according to her.

An extreme, offensive belief held by many people can still be extreme and offensive.

Bursting Walsh’s Eurocentric bubble

This argument is the same as when someone says that the Bible is true because it’s the “best-selling” book of all time. That wouldn’t make it true. But even on Walsh’s point, he wasn’t right. Earlier in the episode, McGraw shared survey results showing that Americans are split nearly 50/50 on whether they are comfortable sharing and using preferred pronouns. Fifty percent of the United States, Walsh might be surprised to learn, is not even close to “every single person on Earth.”

But more importantly, the idea of being gender non-conforming is a thousands-of-years-old idea which Indigenous cultures have embraced since long before our country existed. Societal acceptance of gender non-conformity is much older than the Western and European idea of a strict gender binary that we imposed on Indigenous Americans when we invaded their land. Matt Walsh is a perfect example of what happens when we don’t teach people that history and they subsequently internalize it as though cultural norms of predominantly white Americans are the only cultural norms the world has ever seen.

The post Dr. Phil ambushed trans guests with online troll Matt Walsh appeared first on OnlySky Media.

Pastor Terry Murphy doesn't think he's a bigot. The video tells another story.

The Christian Love just shines through, doesn't it?

Remember when Glenn Beck announced four years ago that he was going to create an entire city that would be totally self-sufficient, along with a global media department that would revolutionize news and entertainment? Alas, his American Dreams Lab has gone kaput. “Hank Rearden is about to pour some steel,” Beck pompously boasted as he [Read More...]

Todd Starnes, Fox News’ resident hysteric, is beside himself over the decision by the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) to stop playing Dixie at football games. Tyranny! Oppression! ObamaMuslimCommie! This is just like ISIS! “The newly expanded and renovated Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will further highlight our best traditions and create new ones that give the Ole [Read More...]

Our world is wracked with tragedy. Much of it could be avoided, much of it is the result of cruel chance. Whatever the tragedy, my friends, family, and acquaintances often have the same response: #PrayFor________ I’m sick of it. Those who know me personally know that I’m a tender-hearted cinnamon roll who cries at basically everything. I [Read More...]

Professional Islamophobe Frank Gaffney and professional moron Sandy Rios spent some time fondly reminiscing about the good old days of Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee, wishing they could send their political enemies in front of it today. Discussing work that Soros’ Open Society Foundations has done in combatting Islamophobia, Rios lamented that [Read More...]

Happy day, everyone!

I wanted to pop in to let you know that we have a new class starting Tuesday at Online Card Classes. It’s called Mask-erade and it’s all about the wonderful world of masking. Masking is one of the best techniques for a stamper to master as it opens to the door for getting new looks with the supplies you have. Masking is also helpful for making easy-to-mail cards with the look of dimension.

Here is a bit of info about the class:

Masking is one of the most magical techniques in crafting—there’s nothing like peeling away a mask to reveal a cool design! And now Online Card Classes has created an entire class dedicated to this amazing technique: it’s time to unmask our creativity with Mask-erade!

Our all-star line up of instructors is ready to take you on a masking adventure! Join Kristina Werner, Jennifer McGuire, Shari Carroll, Debby Hughes, and Laura Bassen for a week of techniques, cards, inspiration, and—of course—fun with masks! Gather your supplies (or take advantage of our student-only exclusive shopping discounts) and get ready to try everything from simple paper masking to liquid masking to freezer paper. Plus, we’re here to help you navigate the dos and don’ts of masking so you can achieve the best results possible!

Class begins May 26, 2015, and registration is open now!

GIVEAWAY

How would you like to join us for class? I have a free spot for THREE winners! For your chance, leave a comment below by 11:59pmEST on 5/24/15 telling me your plans for this weekend. (The winner’s name will be randomly selected and posted on my “Winners page” after the giveaway closes. International folks are eligible, too! If you have already paid for class, you will be refunded.)

MEMORIAL DAY

Memorial Day is coming up here in my neck of the woods. I really enjoy going with my family to the city parade for a chance to honor those who lost their lives. (We haves lots of veterans who take part in the parade.) I am thinking of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect us… and sending a hug to the loved ones left behind. xo

Take care!

Michele Bachmann went on one of the many Christian right radio shows that push the “end is near” nonsense and ranted incoherently about how Obama is on the side of the terrorists and is causing God to destroy America with financial and natural disasters — but this is a good thing.

“If we actually turn our back on Israel as we have seen Barack Obama do today, if that happens then I think we will see a scale and a level of push back in the United States, negative consequences,” Bachmann told Understanding the Times radio host Jan Markell on Sunday. “I don’t know what they are, but I believe that the Bible is true. And believe what the Bible says is that our nation and the people of our nation will reap a whirlwind, and we could see economic disasters, natural disasters.”

“The United States does not want to be in that position and unfortunately the people put into office Barack Obama,” she opined. “Not only once, but twice. And the people have to rise up against his actions and demand that their leaders take steps accordingly.”

So Obama is evil and the people have to rise up to stop him. But he’s also bringing on the return of Jesus, which is cause for celebration:

“These are not fearful times, these are the most exciting days in history,” she insisted. “Talk about what you see in the newspaper. We can talk about God’s time clock and the fact that Jesus Christ’s return is imminent. Is there anything more important to talk about?”

“We need to be so on fire right now about the things of Christ and the things of God, that needs to occupy our time and our thoughts virtually from morning to night because we have very little time — in my opinion — left before the second return of Christ. That’s good news!” the former congresswoman added. “The world is embracing degeneracy, but what that also tells us as we look at what the world is doing that they’re going according to God’s time clock. Pastors, preach it from the pulpit!”

As usual, she is utterly oblivious to her own contradictions. If Obama’s actions are causing the imminent return of Jesus, why would she want to rise up against him and stop him? Does she not want Jesus to return? If it’s “good news,” why are you trying to stop it?

Well this is certainly awkward. An American priest from the Catholic Church, which denies to women even the right to be priests, says that he visited heaven during a near-death experience and found out that God herself is a woman.

A 71-yr-old Catholic priest, John Micheal O’neal has claimed that God is a woman, with a warm and with a comforting motherly figure.

John Micheal O’neal from Massachussetts was said to have been declared dead for more than 48 minutes, he was miraculously revived by medics and had woken up with a shocking revelation that he had gone to heaven and met God.

Reports say Father O’neal was rushed to the hospital on January 29 after a major heart attack, but was declared clinically dead soon after his arrival…

He claims that at that point in his experience, he went to heaven and encountered God, which he describes as a feminine, mother-like “Being of Light”.

“Her presence was both overwhelming and comforting” states the Catholic priest. “She had a soft and soothing voice and her presence was as reassuring as a mother’s embrace. The fact that God is a Holy Mother instead of a Holy Father doesn’t disturb me, she is everything I hoped she would be and even more!”…

Despite the disapproval of his superiors, Father O’neal says that he will continue dedicating his life to God and spread the word of the “Holy Mother”.

Now I’m not entirely sure the news source is legit. It seems to have been picked up by several African news sources, but also by a handful of American ones, so I’m going to assume it’s legit for now. I just wonder if God looked like Alanis Morrissette.

Remember the Dayton, Ohio public-bus driver who, in February, was assaulted by three teenagers? Rickey Wagoner‘s assailants supposedly fired three shots at him, point blank, and stabbed him for good measure. The story made national news because Wagoner told everyone his survival was a bona fide miracle: two bullets aimed at his chest never penetrated the Bible that he happened to carry there. Praise the Lord!

Just like the bulk of the stories in Wagoner’s favorite book, his account of the attack turns out to have been nothing but a fanciful fabrication (I guess the man doesn’t believe in the Biblical commandment that prohibits bearing false witness).

Here’s why police investigators are now calling Wagoner’s account pure bunkum:

A video and audio recording of the incident by a device aboard the bus showed Wagoner had only 22 seconds to disarm two of the assailants, stab one of them with his own pen knife, fire at them with the bullets remaining in the handgun he said he had wrestled away from one of men, and travel 200 to 300 feet to get back on his bus. He then radioed in to the dispatcher, but did not appear to be out of breath or winded, [Dayton Police Chief Richard] Biehl said, or having just been involved in a life-or-death struggle.

Additionally, Wagoner said a religious book stopped two of the bullets fired at him. Two bullets were found lodged in the book titled, “The Message,” which is a modern translation of the Bible that was inside Wagoner’s shirt pocket. Biehl said it’s “not credible” that bullets were fired into the book without penetrating the torso. … Police ballistics tests showed that bullets fired from the handgun — a 25-caliber Raven model semiautomatic — at the same distance as had been fired at Wagoner’s book penetrated the book and traveled 15 inches through a gel designed to simulate the effect of bullets on a human body.]

Also,

Biehl also said Wagoner’s injuries were not consistent with defensive wounds, but were consistent with hesitation wounds. Alongside a deeper wound were shallower, smaller cuts. The knife Wagoner said he used to stab one assailant was never recovered.

Wagoner owes the city of Dayton more than $100,000 in property taxes, Biehl said. The Chief speculated that the bus driver may have planned to enrich himself by inventing a tale that, in a country where religious bullshit sells like hotcakes, might have conceivably made him the next Todd Burpo.

Remarkably, the cops do not intend to file charges against the bus driver for his false statements; and all that the city of Dayton has done so far is suspend Wagoner — with pay.

I suppose we’ll never know if the authorities would treat Muslims or atheists who are guilty of similar infractions with such leniency and consideration.

Twice over the past two weeks, British Prime Minister David Cameron has made statements that, while strange to hear overseas, wouldn’t be out of place in the Tea Party:

Some people feel that in this ever more secular age we shouldn’t talk about these things. I completely disagree. I believe we should be more confident about our status as a Christian country, more ambitious about expanding the role of faith-based organisations, and, frankly, more evangelical about a faith that compels us to get out there and make a difference to people’s lives.

Well, that’s what the faith does in theory. We’ve seen plenty of awful examples of how that plays out in real life. In any case, his statements are very dismissive of non-Christians in the country, who also support action over words. It might make sense for a preacher to say those things, but not a politician who leads everybody.

Now, a group of more than 50 Nobel Laureates, philosophers, authors, and others have signed an open letter, published in The Telegraph, urging Cameron to rethink that stance:

We respect the Prime Minister’s right to his religious beliefs and the fact that they necessarily affect his own life as a politician. However, we object to his characterisation of Britain as a “Christian country” and the negative consequences for politics and society that this engenders.

Apart from in the narrow constitutional sense that we continue to have an established Church, Britain is not a “Christian country”. Repeated surveys, polls and studies show that most of us as individuals are not Christian in our beliefs or our religious identities.

At a social level, Britain has been shaped for the better by many pre-Christian, non-Christian, and post-Christian forces. We are a plural society with citizens with a range of perspectives, and we are a largely non-religious society.

Constantly to claim otherwise fosters alienation and division in our society. Although it is right to recognise the contribution made by many Christians to social action, it is wrong to try to exceptionalise their contribution when it is equalled by British people of different beliefs. This needlessly fuels enervating sectarian debates that are by and large absent from the lives of most British people, who do not want religions or religious identities to be actively prioritised by their elected government

The letter was organized by British Humanist Association President Jim Al-Khalili.

Will it have any effect? For the Prime Minister, probably not. But to the general public, the weight of the signatories could be pretty powerful. The reception so far has been fairly positive.

(Image via Frederic Legrand / Shutterstock.com)

Okay, this is just hilarious to me. Young earth creationists are whining that they’re not allowed to make their case on Neil deGrasse Tyson’s remake of Cosmos. It’s just unfair, you see, that he isn’t giving them equal time on his TV show. You know, like preachers always do in churches by letting scientists rebut their sermons every week.

Creationists are accusing astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson’s reboot of “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” of being scientifically unbalanced because it doesn’t represent their beliefs.

Right Wing Watch posted audio of Danny Faulkner of Answers In Genesis and the Creation Museum speaking Thursday on “The Janet Mefford Show,” in which he blasted deGrasse Tyson for ignoring the creationist point of view.

“Creationists aren’t even on the radar screen for them, they wouldn’t even consider us plausible at all,” Faulkner told host Janet Mefford.

Yeah, that’s because your ideas aren’t plausible or even minimally credible. They’ve been disproved over and over again. And hey Danny, since you’re with AIG, perhaps you can point me to all those exhibits in your creation museum that allow scientists to present actual science that conflicts with your young earth bullshit. Oh, they aren’t there? Imagine that. Wouldn’t that make you a hypocrite?

“But when you have so many scientists who simply do not accept Darwinian evolution, it seems to me that that might be something to throw in there,” Mefford said. “You know, the old, ‘some scientists say this, others disagree and think this,’ but that’s not even allowed.”

I know, right? Just like they don’t spend time presenting the views of flat earthers, hollow earthers, Raelians, Scientologists, Hindus and Zoroastrians. It’s just not fair!

Remember that Michigan woman who starred in a commercial paid for by Americans for Prosperity to slam Rep. Gary Peters for voting for the Affordable Care Act, which claimed her health insurance costs would now be so high that she might die from cancer as a result? The conservative Detroit News reports that she will actually save at least $1200 a year.

A Dexter cancer patient featured in a conservative group’s TV ad campaign denouncing her new health care coverage as “unaffordable” will save more than $1,000 this year.

Julie Boonstra, 49, starred last month in an emotional television ad sponsored by Americans for Prosperity that implied Democratic U.S. Rep. Gary Peters’ vote for the Affordable Care Act made her medication so “unaffordable” she could die. Peters of Bloomfield Township is running for an open U.S. Senate seat against Republican Terri Lynn Land.

The Detroit News and fact checkers last month cast doubt on the accuracy of the TV ad. On Monday, Boonstra acknowledged which health plan she chose, offering the first evidence of cost savings..

Boonstra said Monday her new plan she dislikes is the Blue Cross Premier Gold health care plan, which caps patient responsibility for out-of-pocket costs at $5,100 a year, lower than the federal law’s maximum of $6,350 a year. It means the new plan will save her at least $1,200 compared with her former insurance plan she preferred that was ended under Obamacare’s coverage requirements…

Boonstra’s old plan cost $1,100 a month in premiums or $13,200 a year, she previously told The News. It didn’t include money she spent on co-pays, prescription drugs and other out-of-pocket expenses.

By contrast, the Blues’ plan premium costs $571 a month or $6,852 for the year. Since out-of-pocket costs are capped at $5,100, including deductibles, the maximum Boonstra would pay this year for all of her cancer treatment is $11,952.

When advised of the details of her Blues’ plan, Boonstra said the idea that it would be cheaper “can’t be true.”

“I personally do not believe that,” Boonstra said.

Funny thing, though — math doesn’t change based on your personal beliefs.