"What's it like being an atheist?"

A question I got last night. I pondered for a bit, then responded "It's a lot like being the only sober person in a car full of drunk people, and they refuse to pull over and let you drive."

“Education is the silver bullet...

“Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don’t need little changes. We need gigantic revolutionary changes. Schools should be palaces. Competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be getting six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge for its citizens, just like national defense. That is my position. I just haven’t figured out how to do it yet.”

- Sam Seaborn - The West Wing

“The suicide bombing community...

“The suicide bombing community is entirely religious. The genital mutilation community is entirely religious. I wouldn't say that the child abuse community is entirely religious, but it’s bidding to be entirely religious. How dare anyone who speaks for religion say that we, the secular and non-believers, are the immoral ones? It is itself a wicked thing to say! It is itself an indefensible thing to say. No. A decapitation on a bus is going to be done by someone who thinks God is telling him to do it.”

- Christopher Hitchens

“To be a Muslim and a feminist...

“To be a Muslim and a feminist is to stand in the crossfire and yell, “Shut the fuck up!” to everyone around you because you know that anything you say can and will be used against you by everyone.”

- Mona Eltahaway

“Homosexuality is illegal...

“Homosexuality is illegal in eighty countries and punishable by death in five. Four hundred years after Shakespeare penned Romeo and Juliet, the real tragedy is that human beings are still not free to love each other as they choose.”

- Reclaiming the F Word, Catherine Redfern and Kristin Aune

““Society’s attitude plays...

“Society’s attitude plays a pivotal role in discouraging people from considering adoption. The idea that gay parents are second best must be challenged. To suggest that a same sex couple is not as able to raise a child as a heterosexual couple is at once absurd and unsubstantiated. To continue to discourage potential adopters simply because of their sexual orientation is severely diminishing the chances of securing loving, stable homes for the children who are waiting. This debate needs to be urgently raised and myths surrounding how sexuality, race, marital status and gender can affect your parenting dispelled.”

Anne Marie Carrie [Barnados Executive Chirf]

““We have deluded ourselves...

““We have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifices. Capitalism was built on the exploitation of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad.””

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“When one side breaks...

“When one side breaks the social contract, and the other side makes a virtue of never calling them out on it, the liar always wins. When it becomes “uncivil” to call out liars, lying becomes free.”

- Rick Perlstein