Time: Tuesday, 5:00pm – 6:30pm

Location: Chapel on the Ave, 4130 University Way NE

Topic: Ask a Muslim

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=16127762753

What is Islam? What does it mean to be a practising Muslim? As the subject of much controversy, Islam has more misconceptions in American society than almost any other religion.

The Muslim Student Association has kindly agreed to come and answer any questions you may have about Islam.

Austin Dacey is the author of the book “The Secular Conscience” and editor of the magazines “Skeptical Inquirer” and “Free Inquiry”. He also serves as representative of the the Center for Inquiry to the UN. He is coming to the UW campus this Friday to give a talk on the intersection between religion, science, and ethics.

For more information, check out his website:

http://www.austindacey.com/index.html

Zombie Jesus’ words and acts are recorded in one of the apocryphal books (books which were not included in the New Testament by the Catholic Church), the “Book of Brains”. The most famous part of the “Book of Brains” is the “Parable of the Brains”, in which Zombie Jesus spoke unto the assembled masses: “Braaaiiins…. braaaiiinnnss… braaaaiinss!!” (in the original Greek of the Gospel, “μυαλό…. μυααααλό…. μυααααλό!!!”).

It’s incredibly easy to draw metaphors from this one…

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At least 50 people in Kottayam district have reportedly lost their vision after gazing at the sun looking for an image of Virgin Mary.

Though alarmed health authorities have installed a signboard to counter the rumour that a solar image of Virgin Mary appeared to the believers, curious onlookers, including foreign travellers, have been thronging the venue of the ‘miracle’.

St Joseph’s ENT and Eye Hospital in Kanjirappally alone has recorded 48 cases of vision loss due to photochemical burns on the retina. “All our patients have similar history and symptoms. The damage is to the macula, the most sensitive part of retina. They have developed photochemical, not thermal, burns after continuously gazing at the sun,” Dr Annamma James Isaac, the hospital’s ophthalmologist, said.

The hospital has been receiving patients with these abnormal symptoms since Friday. When the doctors found a pattern in the case sheets, they reported it to the district medical officer.

The health department has now put up a signboard at the hotelier’s house near Erumeli, where the divine image is said to have appeared, warning people against exposing their eyes to sunlight.

Even the churches in the vicinity disowned the miracle during Sunday mass after health officers and doctors approached the clergy. The house in question has been the centre of local rumours for a few months. The hotelier, who has since moved to another house, had claimed that statues of Mother Mary in his house have been crying honey and bleeding oil and perfumes.

Though people have been flocking to the “blessed land” - hastily christened Rosa Mystica Mountain - for long, the mad rush for the image in the sky began a week ago.

There are quite a few people still seeking the miracle, despite the experiences of their unfortunate predecessors and strict health warnings against gazing at the sun with the naked eye.

“The patients show varying degrees of severity. They are mostly girls in 12-26 age group. Our youngest patient is 12 and the oldest 60. Most of them were looking at the sun between 2 and 4 pm, when UV1 and UV2 rays are harshest,” Dr James Isaac said. He added that they could identify the problem as solar retinopathy because they were aware of the local sensation.

“Most patients may hopefully improve their vision. But there may be long-term effects on the retina,” he added.

—————-

Atheist Sees Image of Big Bang in Piece of Toast

So Hemant over at friendlyatheist.com recently posted my story on his blog.

I hear it makes an entertaining read.

Interesting article in USA Today:

Key findings from the survey:

•Faith is fluid: 44% say they’re no longer tied to the religious or secular upbringing of their childhood. They’ve changed religions or denominations, adopted a faith for the first time or abandoned any affiliation altogether.

•”Nothing” matters: 12.1% say their religious identity is “nothing in particular,” outranking every denomination and tradition except Catholics (23.9%) and all groups of Baptists (17.2%).

•Protestants are fading: 51.3% still call themselves Protestant but roughly one third of this group were “unable or unwilling” to describe the denomination in which they fit.

•Immigrants sustain Catholic numbers: 46% of foreign-born U.S. adults are Catholics, compared with only 21% of native-born adults. Latinos are now 45% of all U.S. Catholics ages 18-29.

Read the whole article here.

So one of my personal heroes was interviewed on the Infidel Guy Show: Dan Barker, former minister and now President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

I decided to call in to ask a question that is quite important to me at this moment… “Dan, do you have family members that are Christian? How do you maintain your freethinking perspective, especially when visiting during the holidays?”

I was QUITE flustered and unprepared, as you can hear in the audio, because I was expecting an answering service of some sort when I called. Instead, the phone was completely silent after it stopped wringing, and then after a minute or so, I heard (faintly) the Infidel Guy on the phone. Almost immediately after that, he said I was on the air!

…next time, I’ll be quite a bit more composed.

At any rate, the audio is streaming live at www.infidelguy.com right now, but I’ll post the full audio of the interview as soon as it becomes available.

Hope the break is going well for everyone!

Hope you like the new look and feel of the site. The blog-ish style will make it significantly easier for us to keep the content fresh and current. Check back frequently to see what fun things we have planned!