Adam Lee
Big Think Contributor, Daylight Atheism Blog
Daylight Atheism advocates secular humanism as a positive, uplifting and joyous worldview that deserves a larger following and wider recognition in the marketplace of ideas. Original posts and essays explore atheism and humanism, science, politics, philosophy, and the ever-present threat of fundamentalist religious darkness.
Coming very soon: Daylight Atheism: The Book! Click here for reviews and purchase information.
The Purview of Skepticism
I may have mentioned that, at Skepticon IV, JT Eberhard gave a fantastic talk on why the skeptical community must concern itself with mental illness. For the most part, the […]
Speaking at Syracuse University
Tonight, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be speaking to the Secular Student Alliance at Syracuse University on December 9, one week from tomorrow. The talk will be about ethics […]
Victory by Adversarial Overreaction
You may have heard that another atheist billboard campaign has been censored, this time in Ohio. The Mid-Ohio Atheists had spent several weeks coordinating with the billboard company, planning locations […]
Religion Imprisons Women
One hypothesis for the origin of religion is that it’s a kind of “costly signaling” – a way for people to prove their loyalty to the group by participating in […]
Weekend Leftovers: November 26
Thanksgiving has come and gone, and if your family is like mine, you’ve got leftovers enough for days. And speaking of leftovers, here are some links that I didn’t have […]
An Ex-Mormon Story
Editor’s Note: After a holiday that’s all about gratitude, it seemed appropriate to post this. Please welcome Jessa Jackson as she tells the story of how she went from Mormonism […]
Skepticon Wrap-Up: Day 2
Read the recap of Day 1 here. Day 2! I have to admit I missed the first talk of the day by Joe Nickell (see my previous post about goings-on […]
Skepticon Wrap-Up: Day 1
As promised earlier, here’s a full wrap-up of my weekend attending Skepticon IV in Springfield, Missouri. I really have to give tons of credit to the organizers, who not only […]
Further Thoughts on Gelatogate
I was going to update my previous post, but this got long, so I’m spinning it off into a separate post. Read the other one first if you need more […]
Skepticon Impressions: Gelatogate!
I’m back! As you may know, I’ve spent the last three days in Springfield, Missouri, having a blast at Skepticon IV. The convention was a weekend of great talks that […]
Can an Atheist Be a Unitarian Universalist? (Part 3)
In my previous post in this series, I quoted a shockingly anti-atheist letter written by Rev. John Buehrens, former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. This letter repeated all the […]
See You At Skepticon!
As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be at Skepticon IV this weekend in Springfield, Missouri, and I’m eagerly looking forward to it. Given the sheer number of fantastic speakers, we’re at […]
Intelligence Squared: Would the World Be Better Without Religion?
On Tuesday night, I attended a debate at NYU’s Skirball Center that was part of the Intelligence Squared debate series, “Resolved: The World Would Be Better Off Without Religion“. Supporting […]
Are Arab Countries Ready for Democracy?
In a previous post, I wrote about the Arab Spring’s effect on women and and whether it may actually be a setback for human rights. It so happens that in […]
Birth Control Can Save the World
The world population, by U.N. estimates, has just surpassed seven billion, and it’s growing even faster than demographers’ predictions. Nicholas Kristof has an insightful column (though I depart from him […]
Weekend Coffee: November 12
Here’s some miscellany to accompany your morning coffee: • 70 major U.S. corporations and civic organizations call for DOMA to be struck down in a friend-of-the-court brief supporting a federal […]
Can an Atheist Be a Unitarian Universalist? (Part 2)
In my previous post, I quoted the letter I wrote to John Buehrens, Unitarian Universalist minister, to ask if he stood behind the anti-atheist denunciations in his book A Chosen […]
Anti-Atheist Prejudice at the Polls
Why do American voters remain prejudiced against atheists, especially when groups like Mormons hold beliefs that are equally incompatible with mainstream Christianity?
Can an Atheist Be a Unitarian Universalist? (Part 1)
As I’ve mentioned in the past, my wife and I have for several years been attending a Unitarian Universalist church in the New York area. Unitarian Universalism is officially a […]
More Christians Defending Genocide
The professional debater William Lane Craig has been putting on a great show of offense lately that Richard Dawkins won’t debate him, complete with silly stunts like leaving an empty […]
Weekend Coffee: November 5
On my old site, I had regular link roundups for all the stories I saw that interested me, but that I didn’t have the time to write about at greater […]
Donate Organs, Save Lives
The other day I came across this article from Bloomberg News, from which I learned something that surprised me: a large black market exists for human organs, in spite of […]
Sand Grains on a Distant Shore
In his book Unweaving the Rainbow, Richard Dawkins opens with an arresting analogy: “We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going […]
Is the Arab Spring Hurting Arab Women?
While protests continue to rage in Syria and a new government takes shape in Libya, the origin of the Arab Spring has attained a huge milestone: Tunisia successfully held its […]
Moving the Overton Window
When I tell people that I’m an atheist, I’m often asked if I think that fiery rhetoric and sharp critiques of religion, like the kind found in the writing of […]
Secular Help for Trafficking Survivors
I’ve written in the past about the phenomenon of people who think that their religious beliefs excuse them from doing their job. The correct solution, of course, is to not […]
Is America a Christian Nation?
This essay was previously published on AlterNet. In a campaign speech in September, Rick Perry hit upon some familiar Republican themes: Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, in an appeal to […]
Did the American Cancer Society Refuse Atheist Money?
Charities that depend on donations and fund-raising to survive have it hard enough in the best of times. But in this depressed economy, it must be more difficult than ever. […]
It’s the End of the World As We Know It (Again)
My friends, I have to confess an unpardonable lapse of judgment. I have some very bad news to deliver, and what’s worse, I forgot to tell you until now, when […]
Worshipping the Holy Hair Dryer
My previous post, “The Blinding Fog of Religious Moderation“, drew some criticism from people who felt that I was unjustly lumping moderate believers together with fundamentalists. So, in this post, […]