By August Berkshire
Almost fifty people took part in marching in our contingent in the Twin Cities Gay Parade on June 24, or staffing our booth in Loring Park during the Gay Pride Festival on June 23 and 24. Our friendly volunteers collected lots of hugs and handed out a hundred “Saved By An Atheist” cards as we marched, as well as signed up almost 200 people at our booth to get more information about Minnesota Atheists. Most of us were wearing our new Minnesota Atheists’ “Minnesota Atheists Supports Marriage Equality” t-shirts.
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Read more: President's Column: Pride!
By George Kane
The Secular Coalition for America ignited a major controversy when it announced that it had hired Edwina Rogers as its new Executive Director. Without question, Rogers brings to the job an impressive inside-the-beltway résumé; the problem is that her work has been entirely for the Republican Party. That party is firmly established in the minds of most organized atheists as the wholly-owned property of the religious right and the champion of undoing the separation of church and state. Rogers was an economic advisor for both Presidents Bush, and General Counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
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Read more: News and Notes
By Bill Lehto
Inventing Jesus: The New Testament Narrative as Fiction, by Paul Gabel
702 pages
©2012, Paul Gabel
In Inventing Jesus, Paul Gabel, a history teacher, argues that Jesus was an entirely fictional character, with no historical basis, having been completely invented by the writer of the Gospel of Mark. The book is 700 pages long, and covers a lot of ground. Gabel is a good writer, and some of his sections provide succinct and balanced summaries of critical thinking on particular topics: his sections on feminism in biblical studies and on the debate over whether Jesus was apocalyptic are good examples. But these sections are just asides to his main augment about the historicity of Jesus.
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Read more: Book Review: Inventing Jesus
By Eric Jayne
If you are thumbing through this month’s newsletter looking for the President’s Column, you’re not going to find it. Since August was busy with other adventures, including a debate with theists in Canada, I agreed to fill in with an “Associate President’s Column.” I’m going to use this platform to make a public confession followed by a plea for help.
First, the confession: I’ve been regularly attending church lately and I’ve been joining others in prayer. That’s right; the associate president of the Minnesota Atheists has been going to church…a lot! It’s a little bit of a personal existential crisis but before you demand a recall election, please allow me to explain.
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Read more: Associate President's Column: Help!
By George Erickson
Candidate Without a Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt,
by Herb Silverman
702 pages
©2012
If a man is going to publish his life story, he had best take the precaution of leading an interesting life first. Or at least to being a very funny writer or of lacing his pages with wittily unconventional wisdom. Or even being just an exceptionally nice person. Fortunately, Herb Silverman ticks all these boxes, and more.
With these words, Dr. Richard Dawkins, yes, the Richard Dawkins, began the foreword to Candidate Without a Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt, and Herb deserves every word.
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Read more: Book Review: Candidate Without a Prayer
