Palmer as an open and proud atheist humanist panels at the huge 1st Baptist in downtown Tallahassee

Palmer joins the "God Squad," some christian ministers and a rabbi, to discuss the intersection of faith and morality. It's not often that an atheist gets to advance the secular humanist cause in a big church to a crowd of believers. Thanks to Liz Joyner of the Village Square (tothevillagesquare.org) for inviting me on to the panel. Thanks also to the clergy for being gracious and honest hosts. Follow me on Twitter: @Atheist_Esq

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So, big weekend just passed. I participated in the "Un-Anointing" of a Polk County (Florida) road. The media got wind, and this thing has exploded! The Huffington Post probably had the best coverage.  This is my immediate post-media-frenzy retrospective. And again:

This was a lovely experience in how far the media can miss the story. The Humanists of Florida Association, Tallahassee Atheists, Atheists of Florida, and the Freethinkers FSU went down to Polk County for two reasons:

1. To welcome all regardless of religious beliefs into Polk County because the Polk Under Prayer religious group’s oil ritual was to intended to bring those in Polk County to a “full knowledge of Jesus Christ” and to ask “God to have angels inspect every vehicle that travels into or out of this county” and “if they will not submit to God's way of living, then the prayer is to have them incarcerated or removed from the county.”

2. To help the rest of Florida understand that the Polk Under Prayer Group praying for the incarceration of all who do “not submit to God’s way” is publicly endorsed by Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, and Polk County Superintendent Sherrie Nickell in their official government capacities. Thus government and one specific flavor of religion become entwined setting up separate classes of citizens.

We’ve known for some time that Polk County government is behaving theocratically. But many of us only became aware of its explicit association with Polk Under Prayer earlier this month.

See the full story here, including the making good of that incarceration threat in the arrest of HFA President EllenBeth Wachs.

http://free2think.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1458

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Just as I finished uploading the latest episode of the podcast, I received a call from Asheville GreenWorks informing me that our WNC Atheists sign for Adopt-a-Street had been vandalized. To be honest, I'm more surprised that it lasted three months unscathed.

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Halloween fun: James attends a Judgement House while Palmer participates in a Pagan ritual.

We discuss elevated experiences and Meaning with a capital M.

TMI: Mark dresses as a pretty princess.

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Anyone who signed the petition to remove the phrase "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance probably received the official White House response in their inbox yesterday. The response was written by Joshua DuBois, Executive Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

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Corrections

I posted this originally on 28 October 2011 and then received some feedback from John Shook.  I've tried to make some corrections (5 Nov 2011).

CFI Institute in Tallahassee was Awesome

Midway through the month I had the pleasure of dining with EllenBeth Wachs, Rebecca Watson, John Shook, and Richard Carrier after the CFI institute in Tallahassee. EllenBeth is not as well known on the national stage as the others, but her recent arrests by atheist-hating fundi-Christian sherriff Grady Judd did make the New York Times. It's all thanks to EllenBeth, president of the Humanists of Florida Association, that I was invited to share in dinner. And it's all thanks to Rebecca Watson that we persuaded the waiter to turn four free-glass-of-wine coupons into one free bottle of wine. It was something dark red, and delicious. But now, on to the Institute.

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Atheism, Humanism, and Skepticism are my three big topic headings for Human Tales, and generally for my life-philosophy. "Atheism" is by far the easiest concept to define quickly to one who does not share the viewpoint.  "Humanism" and "Skepticism" are not nearly so simple or nearly so culturally understood.  Sometimes we have trouble giving an elevator speech about those two.

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September 30th is Blasphemy Day. Thank you CFI for getting this out. I already wrote about "blasphemy" generally. Read that. But I do want to add a couple points here.

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To Like, To Love, To Lust

We social apes often engage in liking, loving, and lusting after our fellow humans. These are some of our favorite pastimes judging by the themes of media we consume daily. Sex sells. Relationships sell. Products and schemes sell if they promise to make you more attractive, thinner, or sexier (all in order to get relationships and sex). I’m going to throw out some relationship advice here for the single people; for the people who’ve had a string of bad relationships; for the people about to bail on a bad relationship. This is NOT advice on “love” or “lust.” This is advice on “like.”

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