Weeky Recap: We Are Atheism, Godless Quote of the Week, Sunday Subscription Suggestion, and the Thought Offender Registry?

I've decided to make these Weekly Recaps a regular feature on this blog.  If anything, it'll give you all something to read every Sunday if I happen to be out of material for a week.  It'll also motivate me to work past my writer's block in at least some way on a regular basis.

Each such post is going to feature the following:

• The Godless Quote of the Week: something profound and/or snarky uttered or written by a fellow atheist, with a link to the source for context.
• Sunday Subscription Suggestion: inspired by Twitter's Follow Friday meme, I will link to a blog or other site I've recently discovered and would recommend to my readers.  Not necessarily atheism-related.
• Weekly Absurdity: something absolutely ridiculous that I've discovered within the week.  It might be a facepalm, or it might be a LOL.
• Whatever the hell else I want to post.

That's it in a nutshell.  Buckle up.

We Are Atheism campaign launched!

The push for atheists to step out and assert their presence has yet another organized form of support.  With the tagline "Stand up.  Speak Out.  Be Counted.", We Are Atheism provides atheists with a platform to tell the world who they are and what they do believe in.

I plan on submitting a video myself in the near future.  Speaking of which, are there any readers in Central Ohio who own a decent video camera?

Godless Quote of the Week

(via Friendly Atheist)

"[T]hey said, 'So you think you’re the biggest, most important thing in the universe?'
On the contrary. I think I am among the smallest. Cosmically speaking, I barely exist."

This was said by author Marya Hornbacher, an atheist who writes about mental illness, addiction, and recovery without a higher power to call upon.

Sunday Subscription Suggestion

I'd like to spotlight the blog Fallen From Grace by Bruce Gerencser.  Bruce is a former evangelical pastor who spent half of his life as a church leader before coming to the conclusion that he's an atheist.

His blog tells the tale of his journey "from Eternity to Here" and offers a unique perspective on life, religion, and apostasy.  He'll often point out the hypocrisy of those who once considered him their brother in Christ.

Weekly Absurdity: Thought Offender Registry?

(via Pharyngula)

Pastor Mike of the Living Water Church in southern Florida has a suggestion for keeping tabs on us nasty atheists.  He proposes a national registry of all those who publicly deny his god's existence, modeled after the Sex Offender Registry.  After all, don't good Christians have a right to know if there are any godless monsters living in their communities?  Think of the children!

He highlights some of the benefits of such a registry:

. . . we could begin to witness to them and warn them of the dangers of atheism . Or perhaps they are radical atheists , whose hearts are as hard as Pharaoh's , in that case , if they are business owners , we would encourage all our Christian friends , as well as the various churches and their congregations NOT to patronize them as we would only be "feeding" Satan.

Were I a business owner, I'd have mixed feelings on this.  I'd be happy to have fewer bigoted fundamentalists hanging around in my shop, but I'd sure miss taking their money. I'd also be quite perturbed that this Satan character was embezzling my profits, as I'd have a strict policy against hiring mythological beings.

It's all too tempting to scoff and snicker at this sort of nonsense, but as PZ correctly points out it poses a real threat of harassment and intimidation against outspoken atheists by self-righteous Christians with nothing better to do with their time.

Well, the only defense against something like this is threat dilution. I say that atheists start contacting Pastor Mike and ask where we can sign up!