By August Berkshire
The following letter to the editor was published in the [Minneapolis] Star Tribune, Sept.15, 2012, p. A8 under the title "Parent Should Embrace Daughter's Choice.
As president of Minnesota Atheists, I appreciated Carolyn Hax's advice to the mother who is concerned about her 16-year-old daughter, “Emily” (Daughter ‘comes out’ as an atheist, Sept. 10). Surveys show that about 25 percent of younger Americans now hold this world view.
At this point, Emily can no more pretend she is a Christian than her mother can pretend that she herself is an atheist. The mother should honor the courage, honesty, and trust Emily had in confiding in her.
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Read more: President's Column: Teen Atheist
By Geroge Kane
The Romney campaign insists that the 2012 presidential election will be a referendum on Obama’s handling of the economy, but the religious right is not sitting it out. In the first post-Citizen’s United presidential campaign, its political organizations are planning campaign spending that will dwarf their efforts in every previous election.
The Faith and Freedom Coalition, led by Ralph Reed, the first Executive Director of the Christian Coalition, has budgeted $10 million for a major 2012 election push to turn out the religious right. This coalition boasts 500,000 members, and chapters in 30 states. In August it mailed out four million voter registration cards to new evangelical and Catholic voters.
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Read more: News and Notes
It takes many people to pull off two successful back-to-back events like we did. Minnesota Atheists would like to thank the following people for their help with our Mr. Paul Aints baseball game and Regional Atheist Conference. So, thank you to:
Eric Jayne for being the main organizer of the Aints game, the Aints tailgate party, the Aints jerseys, and the post-conference pub crawl. Also for help with the conference, especially choosing the hotel and meals.
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Read more: Mr. Paul Aints and Regional Atheist Conference Thank You's
Minnesota Atheists’ monthly meetings will begin again starting on Sunday, September 16. The much anticipated book, Atheist Voices of Minnesota (published by Freethought House), was just officially released late last month! To celebrate this very special occasion, 16 of the 36 contributors will briefly present their own personal stories by reading excerpts of their writings from the book.
Here is a list of the 16 presenting authors in alphabetical order: Norman Barrett Wiik, Beth Becker, Ryan Benson, August Berkshire, Jill Carlson, Justin Chase, Kori Hennessy, Michelle Huber, Eric Jayne, PZ Myers, Robin Raianiemi, Elizabeth Stiras, Todd Torkelson, James Zimmerman, and Stephanie Zvan.
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Read more: September 16: A Date with the Authors
By Eric Jayne
After months and months of planning, the Minnesota Atheists successfully pulled out big win for atheist outreach by sponsoring a professional baseball game in St. Paul.
The St. Paul Saints—one of 13 teams in the league of American Association of Independent Baseball—became the Mr. Paul Aints on Friday, August 10. Every player on the team wore specially designed jerseys that closely resembled their usual jerseys except for the slight adjustment in the logo. Instead of “St. Paul” the jerseys read “Mr. Paul” and instead of “Saints” the special jerseys read “Aints” spelled with the atheist scarlet “A” but in team color blue.
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Read more: Minnesota Atheists Hit a Home Run!
