Hey folks, as you know the core leadership of RRS was rather inactive for the first half of 2009, this was due to various factors including several that are personal, however the recession took it's toll as early as the beginning of 2008.  A bunch of folks who were donors and subscribers wrote to us with apologies after they lost their job, or their wives lost their jobs, or something recessionary in nature happened to them presenting a situation in which they had to withdraw their funding of our efforts.  This story was echoed by the SSA who was on the verge of disappearing this year as a result of the hard times, and has raised over $90,000 in two months.  I've been working as many hours as possible in the real world for over a year now to reduce the fundraising burden in order to keep this site afloat.  While I seemed absent on an activist level my time away from the limelight was designed to preserve RRS.  

Since I've been able to alter my schedule to get back to the typical 50+ hour RRS workload, the donations are at an all time low.  This is to be expected of course, there is no current radio show, there was a hiatus, and we're still in a recession... but we're recovering on multiple levels.  I'm gonna manage to work in the 70 hour range on activist activities here, while holding down a job and caring for a son, this week. Signs of a recession ending are upon us.  However, due to the intense workload already on my plate, the show is far from my mind.  Doing the show takes preparation time, editing time, and more... while I currently have 60 hours of unedited material that still needs to be addressed.  Work that needed to be addressed for a very long time now, my sincerest apologies to those who were waiting for that content.

Since I've returned I've been bombarded with countless positive comments, many of which are encouraging me to get the show back up and running, here's your chance to get me one step closer to that.  Yeah... I'm begging for money.  Pick up that phone and call us now to keep the congregation going.  I hate feeling like this, hate having to ask for it, I thought maybe donations would just start coming back organically, but they're not.  So I'm asking.

Let me give you some insight as to some of the things I'm working on that require funds...

1. I'm going to Salt Lake City next month and will be a guest of an atheist group out there and will take some footage engaging Mormons.  On my dime.  About $500 for the trip, I'll be staying with a friend.

2. I finally managed to get ALL the footage from the documentary team that failed to produce the RRS movie, due to their own lack of funds.  This includes our in person interviews with Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, Dennett, Ellen Johnson, Margaret Downey, and at home conversations and interviews that have never been released.  Unfortunately the footage is not viewable on a pc (for now), there was some sort of error in encoding it for pc.  I've done a ton of things to make it work, but so far I only have audio and am missing the video.  I'm exploring a few more options, but one option is to purchase an Apple computer which it was encoded on, and I think that could solve it.  I'm looking to test that theory, and if you have an Apple you'd like to lend me or sell to me after I test the theory, I'm all ears.  I was told I could recode it from an apple and then use it.  I'm without a laptop and plan to travel to other atheist groups around the country in the next year, and think adding a new apple laptop (about $1200) would be a good multi-faceted solution.  A used apple would be about $600.  Other video editing software, and equipment, or expenses might be necessary to finally make something of this project.  I flinched at the apple store telling me I needed this $1,000 piece of software.  

3. You know those atheist billboards that have been popping up everywhere?  I want to put them all over the web via google ads.  This project is limited only by how much money we have, one could invest $10,000 per day easily in google ads.

4. I'd like to not have to ask for more hours at work every week, and instead ask for less, spending more time working RRS would get me back on track, I'm so backlogged, it feels like I'm 3 years behind.  

5. I'd like to plan trips to speak at both California and Florida atheist events in the next 9 months.  I have friends/family I can stay with at both to keep costs down.  Video projects will be made on both trips.   Darth Josh will be here at the end of January to record a show (and scheme), I'd like to help with his travel expenses.

There's obviously a ton of other activist reasons more money could be put to good use, but I think I've added enough transparency and at least a few thousands dollars worth of expenses to give you an idea of how your donation will be put to good use.

So here's your chance... all those folks that sent me words of support in the last three months, telling me how happy you are to see me back full time, help me keep it up!  Show me you really mean it.  I need to see your love in the form of dollars or I need to look into a second job and pull back the amount of time I spend on activism.  Keep in mind, the RRS network of sites will be here for at least as long as I'm alive, and likely well after.  While I might have lost some teammates along the way, I promise you're never losing me.  This has always been my baby.  I'm not going anywhere, don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years.

There are two big ways to help financially: 

1. Donate monthly: 

http://www.rationalresponders.com/monthly_subscriptions

2. Donate any amount, any size, consider $15-25. http://www.rationalresponders.com/donate

3. If you have to do any holiday shopping, start doing it now, and do it through this link.  Amazon.com sells just about everything in the world, you can get your groceries and clothing there as well.  Purchase items you'd normally buy at the store through our amazon link and we'll make a small commission.  Thanks to the few folks who do this year round. 

Please consider as large of a one time donation as you can make, this is a crucial time, now is the time to donate. If I'm to buy an apple laptop, something I could really benefit from, large one time donations help more than monthly.  Do all you can, please.  

/begging 

We're your friendly neighborhood atheist activists! If this is your first visit here, you should create an account and join us on our forums. (Make sure you read the rules first!) You can find the most active topics by using the Recent Posts link on the left. Your name and password will give you access to any of the RRS Network sites listed to the right.  We welcome theists to create an account on our website and post to our forums.  Our Atheist Vs. Theist forum is here, but we also have a Kill em with Kindness forum in which the discussion between opposeing sides is more tame.  If you're in a scientific field we could always use your wisdom in our Science forum as well as the Evolution of Life forum.

Curious about who we are? Check out the Our Team page. Wondering what our purpose is? Click here to see our list of Irrational Precepts--ideas and things so ludicrous that they should be eradicated from the face of the earth...peacefully, of course.

If you enjoy your stay here, please consider subscribing or donating to support our work and the maintenance of the community. Subscribers receive a slew of extra benefits, including our exclusive Extra Special Gooey Feeling that can only be gotten here.  We could always use help responding to our e-mail, we allow the atheist community to weigh in, you don't even have to be a registered user to post a response.  Want to help maintain the largest list of celebrity atheists online?  If you use twitter, make sure to follow Rational Response Squad on Twitter. 

For the multimedia addict, check out our videos site--the best collection of videos from rationalists and freethinkers in the known universe. Tired of flipping through channels and having to see countless religious stations? We have some free shows here.

For the bibliophiles, peruse the Rational Content and RRS Authors pages.

We're always adding new features and content, so have a look around and stay rational!

Hi folksies!!!
 

I'm not an atheist because I'm still an altar boy in an Anglican church but I believe in church attendance only as a cultural thing.  I don't accept the hocus pocus abacadabra nonsense of the supernatural stuff of religion.

Recently, in a yahoo group, an American Baptist pastor called Tipton Killingsworth who has been constantly insulting me, challenged me to blaspheme the Holy Spirit on this forum.  It was he who introduced me to this forum.  He challenged me to post a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit here and that's precisely what I'm doing.

So here goes my blasphemy (dedicated to Tip):

The Holy Spirit is a base, filthy, turdy, shitty piece of excrement that I spit upon.

Cheers,

Ernest the beamishboy who slays the Jabberwock and all untruths.

Religion creates another atrocity, god is great, eh?  Listen Muslims and Christians... stop the fighting.  You're both wrong, it's time to act like rational grown-ups and throw off your archaic belief system, you are destroying civilization, and will continue to do so until we're gone.  Abandon your superstitous nonsense, and evolve already!  Ask yourself, what solid proof do you have to believe in your God.  If what you have is a holy book, remind yourself that hundreds of holy books exist for hundreds of gods, and you don't believe in any of them, so obviously a holy book is not sufficient proof.  Throw off your superstitious nonsense, and embrace things you know exist like humans for example.  Make no mistake, today millions of folks around the world who have no belief in a god are sad for the people who were affected by this needless loss of life, just as we've been sad about all the other atrocities committed in the name of religion throughout the ages.  Our thoughts are with the billions who have been negatively affected by religion since the dawn of time, and always are.  In fact my life is dedicated to ensuring these sorts of things don't continue to happen, you can start by breaking the cycle... throw religion off today!  

I must've heard the words "an atheist can do no good" hundreds of times in the last few years.  It must be so hard to imagine how atheists can do good without the upstanding moral code imparted to us in the Bible or the Quran.  Sure I wouldn't sell my daughter into slavery, or kill a man simply for being gay, but I can do other good things instead. 

I'm proud to donate clothes to Goodwill and give money to charity.  But I take a bigger sense of pride in atheist volunteers which was created to unite and showcase acts of goodness by the men in black who apparently can do no good.  Well the door to that argument is being shut more and more everyday as atheists aren't as scared as they once were to show their face (we have religion to thank for our original fear).  We used to do acts of kindness simply because we liked doing acts of kindness.  But after being accused so often of being no-do-gooders some of us decided to show off what we've been doing all our lives while letting others know we don't believe in a god.  We believe good deeds are the work of men.  If good deeds are the works of god, well certainly bad deeds are as well.

I'm particularly excited about the recent developments in Austin with Texas American Atheist President Joe Zamecki at the helm.  He and his crew have been hitting the streets to hand out supply packages to the homeless.  Some interesting video has been shot along the way.  It's interesting to hear how often the homeless use the name Jesus or God in a positive manner while receiving free goods from a non-believer.  You'll have to check it out for yourself.  Details of the Austin Atheists Helping the Homeless are here.  (you can digg and stumble that page)

Thanks Joe, you're a blessing from your mom and dad!

I feel the need to highlight the recent trials and tribulations of Sunsara Taylor with the Ethical Society of Chicago as she is a friend of mine, and this issue is of obvious importance to her.  Sunsara has given me the fuel to give brief mention to a past issue I feel that the Ethical Society of Philadelphia helped hinder the advancement of non-believer unity in Philadelphia.  If you can believe it Sunsara is even more of a rabble rouser than I am, while she staged a scene, I quietly backed away and just pretended it never happened.  Today I speak up, because of Sunsara.

About two years ago a group was formed called PhillyCor, I'm close with quite a few people involved in the forming of the group.  The group was formed to connect local freethought and humanist groups, and RRS is based out of Philadelphia. Being that we had the largest global presence of any of the groups in Philadelphia it made sense for us to be involved, and we would've embraced the role.  We would've adapted to fit within the groups model, we would've helped raise money, and most importantly spread the word on a much larger scale than the group was capable of.  In fact this is the first time I ever link to the group, because when the opportunity arose for RRS to be in the group, the Ethical Society essentially stated it's us or them.  

Today is the day, on the Don Imus show Bill Maher referred to himself as an atheist very explicitly for the first time that I am aware of.  

Here is his page on Celebrity Atheists with the update: http://www.celebatheists.com/wiki/Bill_Maher

NOVEMBER 2009 ON IMUS - MAHER REFERS TO HIMSELF AS AN ATHEIST

November 1, 2009 on Imus, Bill Maher finally accepts that the term atheism describes him best when relating to Richard Dawkins and his atheism lacking absolute certainty:

"Neither me nor my girl believe in God or marriage, so there's not gonna be a big church wedding... I always say I don't know. Even Richard Dawkins a man whose name has become synonymous with atheism says he puts a scale of 1 to 7, 1 being absolute certain there is a god and 7 being absolutely certain there isn't, and he says even he's a 6.9. Because no one knows for sure what's out there. He says yes there could be a god and there could be a spaghetti monster out there, but it doesn't look like it. To me it was always great fodder for comedy. There isn't a week that goes by that there isn't something hysterically funny if it's not tragic, having to do with religion. My recent favorite example was at the Michael Jackson Memorial Stevie Wonder said 'we needed Michael but God needed him more.' And I thought really God needs people, God needs singers, God is up there saying 'Jesus, nothing on, get that Michael Jackson up here.'

Imus then asks if Hitchens is a 7. Bill Maher responds "he may be, I think we're just talking semantics at some point, we are all atheists (referring to Dawkins, Hitchens, and himself), which means we don't believe in a deity, we don't believe in a magic spaceman, and we think people that do, have a neurological disorder and they need help."

And on religion in general he said "When I hear from people that religion doesn't hurt anything, I say really? Well besides wars, the crusades, the inquisitions, 9-11, ethnic cleansing, the suppression of women, the suppression of homosexuals, fatwas, honor killings, suicide bombings, arranged marriages to minors, human sacrifice, burning witches, and systematic sex with children, I have a few little quibbles. And I forgot blowing up girl schools in Afghanistan."