Title	Excerpt	Author	Date	Total Comments	Recent Comment
Watson’s World and Two Models of Communication	Rebecca Watson inhabits an alternate universe.  At least that is the most charitable explanation I can provide for her recent smear.  Watson has posted comments on my opening talk at Women in Secularism 2.  It may be the most intellectually dishonest piece of writing since the last communique issued by…	Ronald A. Lindsay	05/18/13	363	05/22/13
A Few Examples of “Shut Up and Listen”	So I gave a talk yesterday afternoon in which I emphasized how horrible it was that women had been suppressed for thousands of years, and, on many matters, had been instructed to remain silent.  As I stated at the end of my talk, this enforced silence robbed women of their…	Ronald A. Lindsay	05/18/13	78	05/21/13
My Talk at WIS2	There has been some discussion, including many tweets, about my talk today at Women in Secularism 2. I think some of the comments have been highly misleading. One of the principal points of my talk was the critical importance of advocacy for women’s rights, and how this advocacy was integral…	Ronald A. Lindsay	05/17/13	56	05/21/13
Catholic-Atheist Dialogue—or Just a Soft Sell?	I read The Morning Heresy. If I didn’t do that and watch the Colbert Report, I would never find out what’s happening.  So the other day, an item caught my eye: Leah Libresco announcing a new forum for Catholic-atheist dialogue.  I am interested in dialogue.  I like to discuss ideas…	Ronald A. Lindsay	05/11/13	4	05/13/13
Those Filthy Women: The Catholic Church’s Objections to the HHS Rule on Contraceptive Care	As you probably know, back in August 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a proposed rule requiring employers to offer employees health insurance that provides preventive health care services. Based upon advice from the scientific and medical communities, these services include contraceptive care. Based upon advice…	Ronald A. Lindsay	04/08/13	3	04/11/13
Some Lessons from the LGBT Movement	The battle for same-sex marriage isn’t over, but the outcome is no longer in doubt. When politicians begin stumbling over each other in a rush to tell the press that they too support same-sex marriage, I think it’s safe to say the tide has definitely turned. Oh, it’s not going…	Ronald A. Lindsay	03/28/13	7	04/01/13
He Who Doesn’t Pray to God Prays to the Devil	Been gone for a few weeks. Living in a cave in north Pakistan. Little known fact: Al-Zawahiri snores. Seriously, I was on a leave of absence, so I have to catch up now. Let’s see what’s happening: Red states passing laws restricting abortion. More heated exchanges in blogosphere about sexism…	Ronald A. Lindsay	03/16/13	10	03/20/13
Cats Versus Birds: The Limits of Ethics	Morality does not always provide us with a definitive answer about what’s right and what’s wrong, even when pain and suffering are involved.  This is especially true when we try to extend moral reasoning beyond its usual territory—as when we try to weigh benefits to cats against harm to birds.…	Ronald A. Lindsay	02/03/13	5	02/11/13
Why the BSA Will Not Admit Atheists Any Time Soon	The Boy Scouts of America appears to be ready to take a small, but significant step forward by changing its national policy prohibiting gay scouts. This is good news. Unfortunately, the BSA will continue to exclude atheists, and I predict the organization will continue to do this for some time.…	Ronald A. Lindsay	01/30/13	3	01/30/13
The HEADS Meeting: Your Input Requested	I think it’s fairly common knowledge that the leaders of the various nationwide secular organizations have an annual meeting (called “HEADS”) to exchange ideas and discuss how we can best advance our shared objectives. This is your opportunity to give me some input prior to the meeting on a couple…	Ronald A. Lindsay	01/09/13	85	01/25/13
The President’s Remarks and the Grief of Atheists	President Obama gave a moving speech at the Newtown memorial service Sunday night. His remarks contained several explicitly religious references. I don’t care. I also don’t care that President Obama appeared to endorse belief in heaven and eternal life. (I say “appeared” because there was some ambiguity in his remarks.)…	Ronald A. Lindsay	12/18/12	24	12/20/12
On Shunning Fellow Atheists and Skeptics	Shunning and boycotting may be gaining acceptance in the atheist and skeptic communities.   In particular, it appears they are being adopted as tactics against fellow atheists and skeptics.  This is regrettable. By shunning I mean deliberately avoiding association with an individual, even when the association is as attenuated as attending…	Ronald A. Lindsay	11/25/12	172	12/06/12
A Distortion of Religious Liberty	Score one for the Catholic Church and everyone else who thinks religious liberty implies the right to impose their dogma on others. A federal judge has prohibited the Obama administration from requiring a publisher owned principally by a Christian foundation to provide its employees with contraceptive coverage, pursuant to the…	Ronald A. Lindsay	11/19/12	1	11/27/12
Some Curious GOP Campaign Literature	It’s presidential campaign season and I’ve received some literature from the Romney campaign that I find curious for a couple of reasons. To begin, let me say that I don’t find campaign literature and campaign ads annoying. I know some people complain about the airwaves being inundated with political ads.…	Ronald A. Lindsay	10/16/12	0
International Blasphemy Rights Day 2012	International Blasphemy Rights Day (IBRD)—September 30—is almost here, and that’s a good thing because freedom of expression can definitely use a rallying point. From many governments, there has been a stronger push to prohibit “offensive” speech about religion than we have witnessed in years. CFI helped launch IBRD in 2009…	Ronald A. Lindsay	09/28/12	1	09/30/12
Who Would Jesus Endorse—Pulpit Freedom Sunday	On October 7, 2012, hundreds of clergy will intentionally defy the law by engaging in actions they might describe as coordinated civil disobedience. I view it as an unjustifiable defiance of the law and a constitutionally unsound attempt to get the government to subsidize political endorsements by clergy. As tax-exempt…	Ronald A. Lindsay	09/24/12	10	10/04/12
Divisiveness Within the Secular Movement	Greta Christina and PZ Myers have recently suggested that is it not necessarily a bad thing to be divisive.  True, it is not necessarily a bad thing.  It depends on what one is separating oneself from.  In her blog post, Greta Christina responded to the charge that the Atheism Plus…	Ronald A. Lindsay	09/12/12	341	09/20/12
Reality Check: The Nod to God	So the Democrats inserted God into the party platform. What did we expect? Look: there’s no doubt that the nonreligious are increasing in number in the US. But even if we take a high estimate of the number of nontheists (say 16 percent), that still makes us a very distinct…	Ronald A. Lindsay	09/06/12	13	09/07/12
Some Observations About Atheism Plus	WARNING: This post contains mild language, constructive criticism, occasional reasoning, and no invective (except by way of parody). Atheism Plus (hereafter A+) has arrived with a bang—it was just five days from Jen McCreight’s first post on the subject to recognition in the New Statesman. Congratulations to Jen McCreight (hereafter…	Ronald A. Lindsay	08/27/12	114	09/15/12
A Concise Review of a Clump of Matter	Just read the book, The Atheist’s Guide to Reality. It is a clump of matter. The author, Alex Rosenberg, assures it is. Further, as a clump of matter it cannot be about anything, because “one clump of matter can’t be about another clump of matter,” and clumps of matter (or…	Ronald A. Lindsay	08/25/12	3	09/13/12
The Nuns vs. Ryan: The Futility of Basing Public Policy on Religion	An instructive reminder of the futility of trying to base public policy on religious doctrine is the current dispute between some politically progressive Catholics and Paul Ryan and his supporters regarding who is more faithful to Catholic teachings.  A number of Catholic nuns have been traveling the country this year…	Ronald A. Lindsay	08/22/12	1	08/22/12
Leaving Sanctity Behind	Jonathan Haidt, in his recent book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, claims that “sanctity” is one of the six foundations of moral psychology. Central to his claim is his argument that we find some actions abhorrent, yet we cannot explain how they harm…	Ronald A. Lindsay	08/17/12	11	08/21/12
Religious Beliefs and Politics	One of the explicit goals of CFI is to end the influence that religion has on public policy. Obviously, we are adamantly opposed to any politician who seeks to impose her/his religious views on other Americans. That said, not everyone who is religious is a theocrat, and religious beliefs, by…	Ronald A. Lindsay	08/13/12	5	08/14/12
From London to Mars: Moving Forward with Science	Promoting science is part of CFI’s mission. Presumably, most people reading this post do not need to be persuaded of the worth of this objective. Nonetheless, two recent events underscore just how marvelous a tool science is. NASA has landed the rover Curiosity safely on Mars. Following a trip of…	Ronald A. Lindsay	08/06/12	0
Be a Hero in Less Than Five Minutes	You can stand up for freedom of conscience without any danger to yourself—indeed without breaking a sweat. You can help someone who is being unjustly persecuted without leaving the comfort of your chair. You can advance the cause of freethought internationally without spending a dime. You can be a hero…	Ronald A. Lindsay	07/26/12	9	08/19/12
Humanism and Wealth	There’s been a lot of talk in the secular blogosphere recently about sex and gender issues. This is an important set of topics, but just for a change of pace, I thought I would bring up another subject that can rev up our engines, namely money. I thought of this…	Ronald A. Lindsay	07/12/12	22	07/13/12
CFI’s New Policy on Hostile Conduct/Harassment at Conferences	Warning: the reaction of some of you to this post may be “tl;dr.” Fine, I’ve already posted some abbreviated comments on CFI’s new policy and you can limit yourself to reading those comments if you want. Others, however, may be interested in a longer discussion. Genesis of the policy: Since…	Ronald A. Lindsay	06/29/12	10	07/21/12
CFI’s New Policy on Hostile Conduct/Harassment at Conferences (Abridged Post)	CFI has issued a new policy on hostile conduct/harassment at its conferences. This post will provide an abridged explanation of why CFI issued this policy. A second post will provide a longer explanation and discuss how the policy will be administered. Although CFI had an existing policy governing employee conduct…	Ronald A. Lindsay	06/29/12	0
Can We Drop “Balls”?	Many people, including many skeptics, atheists, and humanists, use the term “balls” or its myriad equivalents as a metaphor for courage, determination, resolve or similar attributes.  I suggest we should stop using such terms, for a pretty obvious reason: one doesn’t need testicles to be courageous, determined, or resolute. There…	Ronald A. Lindsay	06/11/12	48	06/22/12
Coming Out: Gay vs. Atheist	June is LGBT Pride Month. And the LGBT movement can take pride in many accomplishments. In the space of a few decades, gays have moved from being pariahs and criminals to being generally accepted in many parts of the U.S. The transformation in the political, legal, and social landscape has…	Ronald A. Lindsay	06/06/12	9	06/13/12
What If The Catholic Church Wins?	As you probably know, on Monday, a number of organizations affiliated with the Catholic Church, including various organizations that provide secular services, filed suit in several federal courts around the country. The lawsuits maintain that HHS has violated the First Amendment rights of these organizations by requiring them to include…	Ronald A. Lindsay	05/23/12	2	05/25/12
We Can’t Stop Now	Based on my own experience—let alone the many favorable reactions we have received from attendees and speakers—I think we need to have another Women in Secularism conference. When, where, and other logistical items that go into conference planning need to be discussed and determined over the next few months (we…	Ronald A. Lindsay	05/22/12	8	06/05/12
Edwina Rogers—An Inspired Choice?	I am becoming leery of taking trips overseas. It seems that controversies within the American secular movement tend to flair up soon after I flash my passport in some foreign land. During the overseas trip I took last summer, about a week into the trip I was suddenly hit with…	Ronald A. Lindsay	05/09/12	14	05/09/12
A Closer Look at The Republican Brain	The Republican Brain is a well-written and informative book. I learned a lot from it. It’s also an important book. It advances a thesis that, if true, has significant implications for psychology, politics, and public policy. The book marshals a wide array of research in support of its thesis, and…	Ronald A. Lindsay	04/15/12	8	04/26/12
The Republican Brain—Is It Sound Science?	Chris Mooney is an experienced science journalist, a skilled writer, a great host for Point of Inquiry, and a friend. Not a close friend, but he is someone who has helped me and CFI on several occasions and I never forget a favor. But, paraphrasing Aristotle, although Chris is dear…	Ronald A. Lindsay	04/10/12	10	04/12/12
And Why The Reason Rally Was But One Step Forward On A Long Road	The Reason Rally showed the secular movement has come a long way—but much remains to be accomplished. If there were any doubt about this, just take a look at some of the reaction to the Rally, as well as related initiatives by secular organizations. This blog post collects some of…	Ronald A. Lindsay	03/29/12	2	03/30/12
A Brief Recap of The Reason Rally	The Reason Rally was a wonderful event—rain and all.  The Reason Rally was rightfully billed as a “coming out” party and a celebration.  We showed our fellow Americans that we have the numbers and the commitment to be taken seriously—and we had a great time doing so.  The speakers were…	Ronald A. Lindsay	03/29/12	5	04/01/12
Shouldn’t Arizona Scrutinize How Men Are Using Viagra?	In the controversy over contraceptive coverage for women in health care plans, things get crazier by the minute. Arizona is considering legislation that would permit religious employers to require women who want reimbursement for the cost of contraception to submit a claim, supported by evidence, that the pills are not…	Ronald A. Lindsay	03/16/12	1	03/17/12
Being Clear About Our Objectives	Moving Secularism Forward, the joint conference of CFI and the Council for Secular Humanism, took place in Orlando a little over a week ago. The presentations at the conferences have generated a fair amount of commentary (for examples, see here and here). This is a good thing. One of the purposes…	Ronald A. Lindsay	03/14/12	14	03/20/12
Women in Secularism—A Conference for Everyone	CFI’s upcoming conference on Women in Secularism (register here) is most decidedly not a conference targeting an exclusively female audience. Yes, the speakers are all female and yes, the conference is focused on women’s concerns. But the concerns of women are not a concern for women only.   One of…	Ronald A. Lindsay	02/24/12	7	03/06/12
Contraception and Religious Liberty	As everyone is aware, the Catholic Church and some other religious institutions have argued that the Obama administration’s rule requiring employers to include contraceptive care within the scope of their health insurance plans violates the freedom of conscience of “individuals and organizations.”  This argument distorts the First Amendment guarantees of…	Ronald A. Lindsay	02/20/12	7	02/28/12
Protect Zygotes and Corporations; Piss on Women	You may have noticed that in the last couple of years, there’s been an effort by some conservatives to extend rights of “personhood” to entities many of us don’t regard as persons, namely corporations and zygotes. Corporations and zygotes are not conceptually related, but, nonetheless, the extension of personhood rights…	Ronald A. Lindsay	02/16/12	3	02/17/12
Mohammed Was Not a Divinely Inspired Prophet and There Is No Allah	I know for many who read this blog, this assertion is hardly startling, but it is blasphemous, at least from an Islamic perspective. In fact, it’s probably the simplest, most direct blasphemous utterance one can make regarding Islam since it denies the central tenet of that faith. I thought today…	Ronald A. Lindsay	02/09/12	3	02/18/12
Obama, the Prayer Breakfast, and Plato	Not much has been said in the atheist blogosphere about President Obama’s appearance and remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 2. Probably a couple of reasons for this. The appearance in itself is not really news. Sadly, this is just what our presidents, Democrat or Republican, do. Also,…	Ronald A. Lindsay	02/06/12	2	02/09/12
Hosanna-Tabor and the Weird Status of Religion	Today the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the Hosanna-Tabor case that there is a “ministerial exception” to the nation’s laws forbidding discrimination in employment. The Court ruled that both religion clauses of the First Amendment—the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause—effectively provide religious institutions with absolute discretion to select…	Ronald A. Lindsay	01/11/12	2	01/15/12
About Free Thinking	What is the cornerstone of CFI’s mission? Is it atheism or humanism? No, not really. Commitments to atheism or humanism or any other “ism” are conclusions we arrive at, presumably after consideration of the relevant evidence and arguments. The cornerstone of our mission is freedom of expression and critical inquiry.…	Ronald A. Lindsay	01/06/12	19	01/15/12
“Between Consenting Adults”	Many of you have probably heard about the resignation of Catholic Bishop Gabino Zavala.  You may have heard of it without even becoming aware of it, because it is the type of news that no longer attracts special attention.  Another day, another sex scandal for the Catholic Church.  Nowadays, weather…	Ronald A. Lindsay	01/06/12	5	01/14/12
Plantinga’s Closing Argument	Alvin Plantinga’s latest book, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion and Naturalism, has received a fair amount of attention. Plantinga has even been written up in the New York Times. Having read most of his book, I will acknowledge that it confirms he is a clever polemicist. He can…	Ronald A. Lindsay	01/03/12	7	01/08/12
Atheist Boosters?	CFI recently held a conference on the work of Daniel Dennett and the scientific investigation of religion. It may be the best conference I’ve ever attended. The presentations of the speakers were of uniformly high-quality—and I say that even for the speakers with whom I had some substantive disagreement. Interestingly,…	Ronald A. Lindsay	12/12/11	3	12/15/11
Flogging God	The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed overwhelmingly a resolution “reaffirming” the phrase “In God We Trust” as our national motto.  The vote was 396 to 9. The need for reaffirming of this motto was not clearly stated in the resolution, but the real motivation for this resolution is both…	Ronald A. Lindsay	11/02/11	15	11/13/11