Teacher lets students vote out classmate

I have a close friend who is learning all about autism. Her adorable young son was diagnosed with a mild form of autism just a few weeks ago. I put a news filter in to help learn a little about the subject. So far it has been a horrifying experience. First I leaned of a young autistic boy being banned from Church. Now it seems a teacher allowed her kindergarten class to vote a newly diagnosed autistic young boy out of the class.

After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.

By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex — who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism — out of the class.

Source: Teacher lets Morningside students vote out classmate

I normally reserve my moral wrath for fudies and wayward pastors. But this one ticked me off. I'm willing to bet there is a fundie involved here too. She is either a fundie or a woman completely devoid of human decency. It is the same thing right?

You can tell Wendy Portillo what you think by emailing her at the address below. Be nice.

Ms. Wendy Portillo
portillow@stlucie.k12.fl.us

Technorati tags: Wendy Portillo, autism, disabilities

Pastor Norman Brooks accused of touching young girl

And so the sad story continues as another youth pastor stands accused of yet another heinous crime against an innocent child.

Prosecutors say 61-year-old Norman Brooks was a youth group leader at Carmel Presbyterian Church in Glenside when he had inappropriate contact with a 13-year-old church member over the last few months.

Source: Youth Group Leader Accused of Inappropriate Contact with Minor

The reaction from members of the Church is disappointing.

Members of the Carmel Presbyterian Church found it difficult to believe an employee there was arrested.

"I'm surprised, a little disappointed if it is true," Denise Bottinger, a church member, said.

Source: Church Youth Leader Accused Of Touching Girl, 13

A "little disappointed"? Where is the moral outrage? Where is the disgust? I don't understand these people. A "little disappointed" my ass. I'd be furious. Can you imagine?

Technorati tags: Norman Brooks, pedophilia, pedophiles, clergy sexual abuse, Presbyterians, hypocrisy

Video of Joe Barron's arrest

A reader sent me a link to video of Pastor Joe Barron's arrest. I get the feeling from watching it that Barron may be heading to prison for a long time.

While watching the video I picked up something I did not realize. Joe Barron claims to have driven 200 miles because he wanted to buy a 13-year-old girl a coke. The condoms in his possession were going to be used for what? To stir her drink?

Related posts:

• Texas minister caught in Internet sex sting
• Baptist Pastor resigns

Update: I found more info here.

Technorati tags: Texas, clergy sexual abuse, pedophilia, pedophiles, Joe Barron, hypocrisy

Feed The Muse: Jamie Livingston's Polaroid-A-Day

I found this site via Mental Floss and Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn. The picture above is from the day I  married my wonderful wife (A very long time ago). I found myself flipping through the years looking for significant days in my life. I wanted to see what Jamie was doing in his life.

Jamie Livingston (1956-1997) took a Polaroid every day for 18 years, including the day he died in 1997.

Few things affect me in quite the way Jamie Livingston's Polaroid-A-Day project does. It is one of those special places on the web that I would like to see preserved.

Technorati tags: Photography, Art

Blogroll Update: The Atheism Tapes

I wanted to plug a new DVD series called The Atheism Tapes which came to my attention via our new Atheist blogroll member Secular Philosophy. They have been kind enough to send me a review copy. I'll post a review soon.  Until then, NoGodBlog has posted a review.

This via an email exchange: There is some exciting news this weekend.

If you are inspired, we are really trying to push our wonderful promotion with the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and would appreciate a mention this weekend. There is a huge 20% discount on the DVD for customers and a $3 donation to the MAAF.

Here is more info and a few clips.

I would also like to introduce Secular Philosophy to the Atheist Blogrolling community:

Secular Philosophy is a site dedicated to the exchange of ideas and debate relating to all things secular with an emphasis on philosophy. Here you will find exclusive films, books and blogs by Daniel Dennett, Colin McGinn and Massimo Pigliucci and Mark Rowlands, as well as the Center for Inquiry’s Point of Inquiry podcast every Friday evening. Secular Philosophy is part of Alive Mind, which distributes the ground-breaking documentary “The Atheism Tapes”.

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Atheism, The Atheist Tapes

Blogroll Update: Pink Triangle

It is always interesting to see what our atheist/humanist friends across the pond have to say. We have about a dozen or so Atheist bloggers in in Europe already. With the addition of Pink Triangle, our community continues to grow in new and exciting ways.

In the authors own words:

Pink Triangle is the blog of an UK charity called the Pink Triangle Trust. You might say it's the mouthy part of the charity's dealings with the world, the attitude. And just occasionally, when we're talking about the extremes of religious fervour, we can get pretty darn attitudinal!

The charity itself was set up in 1992, so it's getting on a bit. It's part educational and part grant-funding, and is aimed squarely at dealing with humanism, secularism, freethought and so on from an LGB perspective, although most of the posts don't deal with sexuality at all: they just have a healthy dig at religion.

I look in on American religious and antireligious sites quite often, and sometimes feature posts about stories that happen in several countries; but, as you'd expect, we're mostly UK-centric, with issues that really affect us all: Brits, Americans, Ozzies and little green Martians.

So I'd welcome seeing you on the blog now and again, perhaps leaving us a comment to make us feel we're being read. Your comments don't have to agree with the post in question. Lively debate is welcomed.

Cheers from this side of the Pond

Andy Armitage

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Atheism, blogging

25 Ways to Help a Fellow Human Being

I read Zen Habits every day. Today's read was a jewel. I thought I would share.

So strike back against the selfishness and greed of our modern world, and help out a fellow human being today. Not next month, but today.

Helping a fellow human being, while it can be inconvenient, has a few humble advantages:

1. It makes you feel better about yourself;
2. It connects you with another person, at least for a moment, if not for life;
3. It improves the life of another, at least a little;
4. It makes the world a better place, one little step at a time;
5. And if that kindness is passed on, it can multiply, and multipy.

Read More...

My favorite is number 10.

Buy food for a homeless person. Cash is often a bad idea if it’s going to be used for drugs, but buying a sandwich and chips or something like that is a good gesture. Be respectful and friendly.

Technorati tags: Zen Habits

Weezer - Pork and Beans

IMHO - This is the best video of the year.

Technorati tags: Music, Weezer, YouTube

Top Ten Hagee-isms

Via Katie Halper on 23/6

Number 1

"God says in Jeremiah 16 - 'Behold I will bring them the Jewish people again unto their land that I gave unto their fathers' - that would be Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - 'Behold I will send for many fishers and after will I send for many hunters. And they the hunters shall hunt them' - that will be the Jews - 'from every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks.' If that doesn't describe what Hitler did in the Holocaust... you can't see that. So think about this - I will send fishers and I will send hunters."

- Pastor John Hagee in a sermon

This guy is scary and crazy. Read the rest of the list here.

Technorati tags: John Hagee, Evangelicals, nutballs, politics

Face of Jesus appears on cider bottle

This one looks so fake.

"When I saw it I got goose pimples," 35-year-old Mr Cartwright said yesterday. "I have no doubt it is the face of Jesus. You can even see his beard and hair."

Mr Cartwright, a taxi driver from Darlington, noticed the extraordinary image while drinking with a group of friends at his local, the Tanners Hall.

"As the barmaid removed the cap to the cider I suddenly realised what was staring back at me," he added.

One of Mr Cartwright's friends took a photograph. It was only the following morning that he realised how clear the image was. But by then it was too late to retrieve the bottle.

"It ended up getting collected by a barmaid when no one was paying attention and thrown away," said Mr Cartwright.

Technorati tags: Jesus, apparations

Israelis take out the trash

A few days ago the Christian press was full stories about Israelis burning bibles. The act even prompted an official apology from a deputy mayor. Now it seems some Israelis are arguing that the unsolicited bibles and evangelical pamphlets are in fact trash and should be burned like any other piece of garbage. 

The people who burned these books and pamphlets broke no law. Despite the allusions being made to the burning of Jewish holy books during the times of the inquisition or the holocaust, there is absolutely no comparison here. The New Testaments and evangelistic leaflets had been basically thrown out -- they were unsolicited garbage, and there is no law against incinerating garbage, even by religious Jews, even in public.

Source: israelinsider: Views: Harrassed by Christian missionaries, Israelis take out the trash

One man's trash is another man's holy book. By now everyone should understand this. If it is ok to burn the bible in Israel, then it is ok to shoot the Koran in Iraq. In this case, the Israelis are simply saying STOP trying to convert our citizens to your nutball religion.

Technorati tags: Bibles, Israel, Christians, Jews, Intolerance

Youth Pastor Gets Jail

And lifetime probation...

Peter Kim, 40, will also be on lifetime probation, meaning he must stay away from his three children -- and all children under 18 -- for the rest of his life, according to a report in Thursday's Boulder Daily Camera.

Source: Youth Pastor Gets Jail, Lifetime Probation For Sex With Teen - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver

I've watched Peter Kim from the very start of his ordeal. He's a bad man who has been slapped down hard. He deserves it too. I've posted on him four time already. And if I ever get off my ass and write a book about pedophile pastors, Peter Kim will be a headliner.

• Saving face in the eyes of the church

• Mistrial declared in Kim molestation case

• Pastor Peter Kim arrested again

• Peter Kim Arrested Again (yes again)

And least we forget - this man was a youth pastor.

Technorati tags: Peter Kim, sexual abuse, pedophilia

Drake to be SBC president nominee

This can only be bad news.

Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention during the SBC's June 10-11 annual meeting in Indianapolis...

Source: Townhall.com: Wiley Drake to be SBC president nominee

Drake is a local nutball. I've posted on him before: He's the pastor who called for Imprecatory Prayer - As in God should kill his political opponents.

• Fundie Quote: Pastor Wiley Drake

• How is this different from Jihad?

Drake's church is a mile or so down the road from where I live. He packs in a few dozen people each Sunday for his particular brand of hate. He's known around these parts for turning his church into a boarding house for the homeless. You would think this is a good thing - but it is a complete disaster.

Technorati tags: Fundies, Buena Park, Wiley Drake

Blogroll Update: Up to 696

We shrink:

• Suddenly South (Inactive)
• Talk Reason (Not a blog)
• Tarpan's blog (No content)
• Televangelists with Toupees (Inactive)

We change:

• A new url for The Uncredible Haliq

We grow:

• Daily Rant
• BSAlert.com
• Indoctrination
• Deranged Ramblings of an Angry Reptile Keeper
• Godless Business
• Pink Triangle
• Secular Philosophy
• Nihilist Future
• A Voice Crying in the Metropolis
• Godless Sunday
• British Atheists
• ohm sweet ohm

Tip:

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarks manager which allows groups of people to share bookmarks. When you bookmark an atheist's blog you are helping to move that blog up in the social network. More importantly, when you accurately bookmark a blog, it helps drive traffic to the blog, increases the the overall Atheist presence on the web, and helps build our community.

Take a look at the Del.icio.us site for The Atheist Experience. Some entries are linked by as many as 44 other Del.icio.us users. A fine blog like the The Atheist Experience should have thousands of links. Even with it's outstanding podcast, one would think it would garner at least a few hundred links. If half the our members bookmarked The Atheist Experience, it would be a top ten search result.

I find Del.icio.us an outstanding research tool. If I'm looking for the latest news on Jesus Sightings, I'm sure to find somebody else has already found the story. I'll bookmark it, and then eventually make a post.

Here is a good Del.icio.us tutorial.

Keep sending those dead link in!

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Atheism, Blogging, del.icio.us

Many High School Biology Teachers Still Teach Creationism

Wired Science has an interesting article called School Biology Teachers Still Teach Creationism.

One in eight U.S. high school teachers presents creationism as a valid alternative to evolution, says a poll published in the Public Library of Science Biology.

Of more than 900 teachers who responded to a poll conducted by Penn State University political scientist Michael Berkman and colleagues, 32 percent agreed that creationism and intelligent design should be taught as scientifically unsound. Forty percent said such explanations are religiously valid but inappropriate for science class.

However, 25 percent said they devoted classroom time to creationism or intelligent design. Of these, about one-half -- 12 percent of all teachers -- called creationism a "valid scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species," and the same number said that "many reputable scientists view these as valid alternatives to Darwinian theory." (The full study makes for interesting reading: Evolution and Creationism in America’s Classrooms: A National Portrait.

Read More...

People ask me why I care. It seem obvious, no?

Dream in Doubt

PBS will air the Independent Lens documentary "A Dream in Doubt" on May 30. The documentary is about a surge in hate crimes following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In particular it explores the death of Balbir Singh Sodhi a Sikh who was mistaken for a Middle Eastern Muslim. And killed for it.

The film cuts between interviews and footage of Rana Sodhi and his family and news headlines and audio of 911 calls that recall the racially charged atmosphere in the months after Sept. 11. The result is a portrait of a hardworking family man attempting to live his own American dream amid extraordinary chaos.

At the time, Balbir Sodhi's shooting in the parking lot of his Mesa gas station sparked sympathy and outrage worldwide. In his native India, the prime minister put in a call to President Bush. Nearly 3,000 people of all different backgrounds mourned him at a public service in Phoenix. Some called Sodhi the final victim of Sept. 11.

I remember this incident. It made me feel ashamed to be an American. At about this the time local Sikhs were trying to open a temple near my home in Buena Park. I had a conversation with a neighbor about the new temple building when he mentioned we should "Run those Muslim bastards out of town". I mentioned the Sodhi murder as I explained that not only were Sikhs not Muslims, but that they were traditionally enemies. The point was lost on my redneck neighbor.

A Dream in Doubt looks promising. I'll post a review after I watch it.

Autistic boy banned from church

Apparently God does not like Autistic children, even if he created them that way.

The mother of a 13-year-old autistic boy says she wanted to take him to Mass on Sunday despite a court order that bans him from her church. Carol Race ended up attending a different church - after the Todd County sheriff stopped her and said she'd be arrested if she brought Adam to the Church of St. Joseph in Bertha.

Source: Mom told she'd be arrested if autistic son went to church

It seem odd that a court order is required. I mean - he needs to attend mass right? Or are there rules against giving autistic children access to God? I don't understand. There must be more to the story.

Technorati tags: Autism, Christians