…….and       When Fantasy Meets Virtual Reality   The secular community should be concerned that Facebook’s multi-billion dollar, all-in investment in metaverse development includes millions of dollars to upstart Virtual Reality churches. The metaverse is the immersive, virtual reality digital world that includes video games such as Grand Theft Auto, World of Warcraft, others, and a host of non-gaming platforms that allow the user to create an avatar and interact with others active  on the platform in digitally…

    ..and SECULAR SKETCHES                                                                                                                                                        …

Here’s an idea for a new Christmas Twilight Zone episode were the program to be revived, if you will indulge me: imagine, during this season of giving, what might be the best gift the non-theist secular community could receive from the conservative Christian community. To be sure, spending much time ranking a wishlist like that would  be time wasted, since offering an olive branch of peace,  much less anything like a gift from the latter is an adventure into the…

The route back through the historical turns that eventually led to the corruption of the Chrisian message of charity would surely be staked with signposts marked Exit Here>Hubris, Greed, and Folly. I’m not going there, but promise to honk when I pass.   Old-time Faith, sans  Hope, Charity First, then, The Great Depression, when millions in the United States and elsewhere were out of work in an economic system that was supposed to award hard-working citizens a stable and comfortable…

  What happened in Chautauqua, New York on the 12th of August was disturbing yet predictable. Salman Rushdie, who wrote the controversial book The Satanic Verses, became a primary target of the former Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa that would legitimize the execution of Rushdie. To no one’s surprise, such fatwas were regularly issued by the Iranian totalitarian theocratic regime that has been actively causing socio-political turmoil in the Middle East. …

What’s Awesome about an Atheist Conference A report on AACon 2022 by Beth Deitch   “What’s the point of a conference for nonbelievers? Do you just sit around and talk about how there’s no god for an entire weekend?” I’ve heard that bit of confused criticism expressed more than once, when I’ve mentioned attending a secular conference.  And the answer is, “Of course not—that would be a rather brief convention: Is there a god? Nope! Let’s all go home now.”…

Recently NOSHA members had the rare opportunity to screen a documentary (seen for the first time outside of Texas) and show support for a young man who appears to have been wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit: Texas Justice: Brandon Woodruff. This film takes a hard-hitting look at the case of a 19-year-old college kid who was accused of, tried, and convicted of the execution style murder of both of his parents. The Innocence Project of Texas is…

The Roe decision Friday should not have come as much of a surprise to those following the case and the sneak peek leak of the final decision in early May. But the reality of the court’s official ruling was as shocking as the news of a missing family member’s body is discovered to the distraught family. “Say it ain’t so!” –you just cannot prepare, even with the grimmest of warnings.   The fact is, the warning signs have been coming…