By now, many of you have probably seen the study that shows that atheists, liberals and sexual exclusive males tend to be more intelligent.

Young adults who subjectively identify themselves as “very liberal” have an average IQ of 106 during adolescence while those who identify themselves as “very conservative” have an average IQ of 95 during adolescence.

Young adults who identify themselves as “not at all religious” have an average IQ of 103 during adolescence, while those who identify themselves as “very religious” have an average IQ of 97 during adolescence.

While I find this interesting, it is important to take this with a grain of salt. It makes sense that many who would declare themselves as atheists tend to be smarter, as most atheists use a system of logistical thinking versus faith based. Remember these are just statistics though. Personally I know many atheists who have shown themselves to be incredibly stupid.I also know many highly intelligent religious folks. You can’t just look at these numbers and begin to judge others. I realize that to say we are “all created equal” is bullshit, but that doesn’t mean we can’t treat each other like its true. At least until others give us a reason not to. I’m not trying to say this study isn’t great news, I’m just worried some people will use it as “scientific ammunition” to backup their foolish elitist beliefs.

I’m sure you are familiar with the phrase “One bad apple spoils the bunch”. It seems like we may have another case of this unfolding. Just because somebody is an atheist, doesn’t mean they want to burn down churches. Of course, that won’t stop the media from misrepresenting things and putting atheism and demon worshiping together.

From DallasNews:

One of two East Texas church arson suspects kept books on demon possession and atheism as well as assault rifles and guns, and may have left graffiti offering inside information about one of the attacks in a local store bathroom, according to court records.

Jason Bourque, 19, was under police surveillance on Feb. 13 when he went in the bathroom of a ranch store in Tyler, according to one search warrant affidavit filed in Smith County District Court.

Investigators later found an upside-down cross topped with flames carved onto the store’s bathroom wall, the documents said. Beside the cross were the words “Little Hope was Arson,” an apparent reference to the first of 10 churches burned in the spree that terrorized three East Texas counties.

…

A search of Bourque’s home after his arrest recovered books titled Demon Possession and The Atheist’s Way.

Also seized from Bourque’s residence were a Chinese-made SKS assault rifle, a Ruger 7 mm rifle and two .22-caliber rifles, a GPS and several pairs of brown shoes.

The thing is, it doesn’t even explicitly say the guy is an atheist, but he very well might be. I mean I own a copy of the Bible and a book about alchemy, but that doesn’t make me a Christian Alchemist. Unforutnately, I’m betting the average Bible-Belt American will make that connection. I see this all the time when I’m asked if I “worship Satan” or if I “dabble in dark magic”. Atheism is not connected with any supernatural phenomena. I don’t merely reject Yahweh, I reject his counterpart Satan equally. It is completely unfair to blame the actions of one fool on atheism in general. Personally, I’d never burn down a church or anything like this. Clearly the media is once more trying to make atheists out as the “bad guys” and I fear they may succeed.

Today I read about this in an email from the AA. It is quite a loss to the “atheist community”. If anything, she was truly an inspiration to anybody who wants to be an activist. For those of you not familiar with the name, she is also the co-founder of the Camp Quest program.

Here is the AA article:

Kagin was a heroine and activist in the Atheist movement.  Along with her husband, attorney Edwin Kagin, she co-founded Camp Quest, a summer camp for the children of nonbelievers, which has grown into an international outreach.  She and Edwin were frequent guests at various conventions, and belonged to several freethought groups.

In 2005, Helen and Edwin were named “Atheists of the Year” at the National Convention of American Atheists.  Helen was active in the Free Inquiry Group of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.  She worked closely with Edwin and others organizing countless demonstrations and meetings, including the Rally for Reason which attracted hundreds of pro-science supporters who peacefully protested outside the opening of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY.

She  was an outstanding wife, mother, friend to so many; and Helen also had an illustrious career as an anesthesiologist

We will miss her infectious laughter, her wonderful friendship and stalwart support for the cause of Reason and state-church separation.

Helen Kagin will be cremated.  Edwin Kagin asks that expressions of sympathy in the form of donations be used to send kids to Camp Quest.  There will be further announcements, including details of a Memorial event.

She will definitely be missed.

If you follow me on Twitter, you have probably noticed me talking about this. I always thought the ads on the buses over in Europe were awesome, so I decided to try and bring them to my state. After emails and a post on Reddit, I noticed there would be sufficient support for such a project. I then proceeded to email the American Humanist Association. Sadly I found out the ads cannot be put on the actual MARTA buses, but I can get a billboard. Today CBS approved the idea and now I begin the task of fundraising. Hopefully I will soon have an independant site for this project or atleast a part on this site where you can read more about it. In short, I need to collect $5000. If the idea of pissing off some Bible-Belt religious people is appealing, here is a donation link: http://secure.americanhumanist.org/Atlanta They are a charity so its all tax exempt and they will send each donor a thank you letter. I plan on keeping everybody updated, but I will only be able to check the balance every week. Please spread the word to everybody you know. Put the link or Reddit, Stumble this post, Tweet it, anything! If you want more information, feel free to email me: godlessblogger@gmail.com or post in the comments. Thank you for your support!

Recently there has been quite a bit of talk about making donations to Haiti Relief Efforts, especially on Twitter. On the hashtag #atheism I have seen many posts glorifying the fact that “atheists are giving” or that “nonbelievers raised $100,000 in 24 hours”. I have no problem with the idea of giving to secular charities, in fact I would encourage it. I donated some money to the Red Cross, because they are secular. My problem is it seems like the fact that atheists are giving is what’s being touted about. Who cares? Isn’t it more important that money was raised, not who gave it? Haiti needs our help. This should not be about an opportunity to make atheists look good. The point of charity should never be about even making yourself look better. Donations should be made because you actually  care, not because you think you should. So can we please focus more on giving rather than the fact who is giving? A Christian’s money is just as good as mine in buying food and medical supplies.

Are you interested in helping? I would suggest giving to these groups which are dedicated to helping the people:

Red Cross

Doctors Without Borders

Additionally, if you want to give money more easily to the Red Cross, TEXT “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10.

Did you hear what this asshole said? As the poor people of Haiti lay in the waste of a massive earthquake, this guy is giving the best explanation he can muster: the Devil. WTF. I wish this guy was not serious.

Watch him say it on his broadcast:

something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it, they were under the heel of the French, uh, you know, Napoleon the third and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the devil, they said, we will serve you, if you get us free from the Prince, true story. And so the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ And they kicked the French out, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free, and ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor. . . the Island of Hispaniola is one island cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti, on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is, is, prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty, same Islands, uh, they need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God.

I guess the worst thing about this is that Hell doesn’t exist. If it did, Pat Robertson might be able to get what’s coming to him. To take an event of such sadness and corrupt it in this way is just wrong. And as usual the guy has no clue what he is talking about. Salon.com did a great job tearing apart his confused ideas.

Part of the revolution mythology is that one of the revolution leaders sacrificed a pig in Bois Caïmin in a voodoo ceremony and made a contract with Petwo [Haitian voodoo spirits]. It may or may not be true, but to call that a pact with the devil is a gross misrepresentation of what voodoo is. It’s about anything but the devil. He’s imposing an evangelical religious order on a much more sophisticated practice, and he’s turning it into a cheap invocation of Satanism.

I can hardly believe it, but Fox just became stupider. It has signed a large, multi-year contract with none other than Sarah Palin. Guess it foolish to hope that she would disappear. At least she won’t have her own show, but then they can’t give it a fun name like “Watching Alaska” or “The Maverick Minute”. Sarah Palin is frequently inaccurate on just about every “fact” that comes out of her mouth. Have you seen or read her book? It is loaded with inaccuracies! Fox’s bullshit machine will no doubt increase its capacity. There is just so much fail in one place, I plan on avoiding the channel like the plague. Except for Sunday night cartoons.

As the media frenzy continues over the “Christmas Bomber” we are starting to see people being stupider than usual. My prime example is Rudy Guiliani. The former mayor of NEW YORK said something I find incredibly fucking stupid.

Read for yourself:

“What he [Obama] should be doing is following the right things that Bush did – one of the right things he did was treat this as a war on terror. We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama,” Giuliani said.

Now anybody saying this would be foolish. The former mayor of New York saying it intensifies this. Here is my counter argument to that statement: 9/11. I’m pretty certain of two facts surrounding 9/11. One, it was on our soil. Two, Bush was president. It happened in his own state for fuck’s sake! Why did Bush treat it as a so called “war on terror”? Because we were attacked! It just shows someone who is biased and in at time of crisis, is projecting his fears onto those he is biased against. Isn’t it also an oxymoron to put the words “Bush” and  “right” together anyway?

This morning I bring you a story almost too nutty to be believed.

“Teabagger Worried His Magic Prayers Made God Kill Sen. Inhofe”

http://gawker.com/5432568/teabagger-worried-his-magic-prayers-made-god-kill-sen-inhofe

I just can’t think of anything to add, it really does speak for itself.  Sometimes the stupid (and nastiness) really burn.

–Scott H

And so everyone knows just how high the crazy goes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AZAWKfbmvE&feature=related

Watch and weep.

Recently North Carolina has been in a big debacle over their recent election of an atheist to a public office. It turns out, there are SIX OTHER states which prohibit atheists from holding office. WTF. Most of them are in the South. The states are: Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Maryland.These laws are outdated and illegal. Our United States Constitution overrules any of these state’s religious requirements. For more information, watch this video I found.

At least we have atheists getting elected though. It’s a positive step towards a less biased and more accepting future.