Obama Endorses Same-Sex Marriage

I think we could all use some good news right about now. Fortunately, we just got some.

I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.

That’s President Obama.

Happy right now. Not much more to say.

Obama Endorses Same-Sex Marriage
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Matt Dillahunty Weighs In on Edwina Rogers

Matt Dillahunty weighs in on the hiring of longtime Republican operative Edwina Rogers as Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America.

What the community needs is someone we can rally behind, someone who inspires people to participate in the process, someone who we have confidence in, and someone who is a passionate representative of the issues we value. It’s possible that Edwina could have been that person, with the right introduction, but it’s going to be virtually impossible for her to achieve that, after having been unceremoniously dumped in the laps of people who don’t know her and don’t trust her. Quite frankly, what I’ve seen and heard from her doesn’t fill me with confidence in either Edwina or the SCA.

Go read the entire piece.

You might also want to read the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with Edwina Rogers on Reddit.

Other worthwhile pieces on this topic:
Secular Coalition For… The Right Wing GOP?, Al Stefanelli
Attempting the Impossible?, Almost Diamonds
What I would like to hear from Edwina Rogers, Ashley F. Miller
Controversy comes with the new Secular Coalition for America Executive Director, BlagHag
So far so not good, Butterflies and Wheels
That interview, Butterflies and Wheels
A Republican to Head the Secular Coalition for America?, Camels With Hammers
Edwina Rogers vs. Michael J. Fox, Camels With Hammers
The Pros and Cons of Hiring A Republican to Represent Secularists, Camels With Hammers
Despicable Right-Wing Political Hack New Director of the Secular Coalition for America, Comradde PhysioProffe
Edwina Rogers: the unanswered questions, The Crommunist Manifesto
Can a Republican Lobbyist Represent Secular Americans?, Daylight Atheism
The SCA’s New Leader, Dispatches from the Culture Wars
The Atheist Lobby’s New Executive Director is a Female Republican Strategist Who Used to Work for George W. Bush, Friendly Atheist (interview with Hemant Mehta)
Cautiously Pessimistic: Greta Christina’s Interview with Edwina Rogers, Friendly Atheist (guest post by Amanda)
Who is going to be our spokesperson on Capitol Hill?, Pharyngula
Good questions, ____________ answers, Pharyngula
Introducing Edwina Rogers (updated slightly), The X Blog
Edwina Rogers and the Secular Coalition of America, The X Blog

Matt Dillahunty Weighs In on Edwina Rogers

Transcript of Interview with Roy Speckhardt, SCA Board, About Edwina Rogers

Here, as promised, is a transcript of my interview with Roy Speckhardt, SCA Board Member and Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, about the process behind the hiring of longtime Republican operative Edwina Rogers as Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America.

The recording of the interview can be found in its entirety here. Here is the URL:

The transcription was done by TooManyJens. (I am hugely grateful to her for doing this — this has been a ridiculously busy week, even without this particular dust-up.) In a few places there was enough noise or distortion that she couldn’t quite make out what was being said (due to time and scheduling considerations, I had to do the interview in a cafe), but otherwise, but otherwise, as far as I can tell, she has transcribed the interview verbatim. I haven’t had a chance to check the transcription over to make sure it’s 100% accurate, but the places I have checked look right to me. If anyone spots any transcription errors, please let me know, and I’ll correct them ASAP. Continue reading “Transcript of Interview with Roy Speckhardt, SCA Board, About Edwina Rogers”

Transcript of Interview with Roy Speckhardt, SCA Board, About Edwina Rogers

Interview with Roy Speckhardt, SCA Board, About Edwina Rogers

Some people have been asking about the process behind the hiring of longtime Republican operative Edwina Rogers as Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America. I’ve gotten some answers about the search and hiring process, from Eliza Kashinsky, Chief of Staff at the SCA. Here’s what she said:

The search committee was:

Ron Solomon (Treasurer, SCA)

Herb Silverman (President, SCA)

Woody Kaplan (Chair, SCA Advisory Board)

August Brunsman (SCA Secretary and Executive Director of Secular Student Alliance)

Roy Speckhardt (SCA Board Member and Executive Director of American Humanist Association)

Amanda Metskas (SCA Board Member and Executive Director of Camp Quest)

Myself (as a non-voting staff representative)

The search committee, after completing the interview, reference checking, and vetting processes, made a unanimous recommendation to the Board. The Board (which consists of representatives of our 11 member organizations) was given a chance to talk to Edwina as well, and then voted unanimously to hire Edwina.

And I just finished a telephone interview with Roy Speckhardt, SCA Board Member and Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, about the hiring process. The recording of the interview can be found in its entirety here. Here is the URL:

Again, my time is beyond impossible this week, and I just don’t have time to transcribe this interview. If anyone is up for the job, I would once again be hugely grateful. (It’s not quite as long as the Rogers interview, btw, and there’s less cross-talk, so it should be easier to transcribe.) And again, the first person to get me an accurate transcript of the interview will get a free copy of my new book, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, in either e-book format (right away) or in print (when the print edition is published in June). If nobody can do do it, I’ll transcribe it myself as soon as I possibly can.

And once again: I’ll comment on the interview, and more generally on the selection of Rogers to this position, as soon as I possibly can. Thanks for your patience.

Interview with Roy Speckhardt, SCA Board, About Edwina Rogers

Transcript of Interview with Edwina Rogers, New Executive Director for the Secular Coalition for America

Here, as promised, is a transcript of my interview with Edwina Rogers, the new Executive Director for the Secular Coalition for America.

The recording of the interview can be found in its entirety here. Here is the URL:

The transcription was done by Kate Donovan, who writes at Teen Skepchick and is the incoming president for the Northwestern SSA. (Many thanks to Donovan for doing this: I absolutely did not have time this week to do it myself.) She has eliminated filler words like “umm,” unless they were particularly long breaks — but as far as I can tell, she has otherwise transcribed the interview verbatim. I haven’t had a chance to check the transcription over to make sure it’s 100% accurate, but the places I have checked look right to me. If anyone spots any transcription errors, please let me know, and I’ll correct them ASAP. Continue reading “Transcript of Interview with Edwina Rogers, New Executive Director for the Secular Coalition for America”

Transcript of Interview with Edwina Rogers, New Executive Director for the Secular Coalition for America

Interview with Edwina Rogers, New Executive Director for the Secular Coalition for America

UPDATE: The transcript of this interview is now available.

I’ve just finished a telephone interview with Edwina Rogers, the new Executive Director for the Secular Coalition for America.

The recording of the interview can be found in its entirety here. Here is the URL:

I’m having a perfect storm of time issues right now. I have a deadline with AlterNet tomorrow morning, so I have to finish that today, and I’m scheduled to do recording on the audiobook of “Why Are You Atheists So Angry?” tomorrow. So I don’t have time to transcribe the interview in a timely manner. If anyone has time to transcribe the interview, I will be eternally grateful. In fact, the first person to get me an accurate transcript of the interview will get a free copy of my new book, Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless, in either e-book format (right away) or in print (when the print edition is published in June). If nobody can do do it, I’ll transcribe it myself as soon as I possibly can.

And I’ll comment on the interview, and more generally on the selection of Rogers to this position, as soon as I possibly can. Thanks for your patience.

Interview with Edwina Rogers, New Executive Director for the Secular Coalition for America

Edwina Rogers: Processing… processing…

Yes, I know about the Edwina Rogers thing.

For those of you who might have missed the news: A longtime political operative in the Republican party has been named as the new President of the Secular Coalition of America, the lobbying and umbrella organization for several secular, humanist, atheist, and skeptics organizations.

Many people have already commented on this. Just so y’all know: Yes, I’m planning to comment on it myself. Thew news came out when I was on the road, and I haven’t yet had time to do enough research to make an informed comment. The wheels are grinding. I’ll comment as soon as I can.

Edwina Rogers: Processing… processing…

Quitting the Day Job

I have some extremely exciting, if somewhat bittersweet, news.

I’ve given notice at my day job.

Between the book (which has been doing really well — huge thanks to everyone who’s bought a copy!), the blog, AlterNet, Free Inquiry, the public speaking gigs, donations, and assorted other bits and pieces of freelance income, I am now making enough money that I no longer have to have a day job. My last day there is June 15. After that date, I will be a full-time freelance writer and speaker.

The bittersweet part is that I’m actually quite fond of Last Gasp. I love working with my co-workers — a bunch of hippies, anarchists, punks, freaks, and just really smart, interesting people, all of whom really love books. And the company has a seriously excellent pedigree and history. Last Gasp started in 1970 as one of the earliest publishers of underground comix: they were one of the first publishers of Robert Crumb, they’re the publishers of the legendary Zap and Weirdo comix, and they continue today in the fine tradition of disseminating weird, underground, non-traditional books and comix and art (especially in the lowbrow art world). I’m proud to have been part of the company, and I’m going to miss them.

The awesome part is that, after June 15, I GET TO BE A FULL-TIME FREELANCE WRITER AND SPEAKER.

I will no longer have to stop in the middle of a productive writing day and go do the day job. I’ll be free to schedule my speaking gigs based on whatever works for me and Ingrid. I’ll have more time for reading, for networking, for keeping up with news, for promotion and publicity, for returning emails, for hustling up more writing gigs.

And very importantly, more importantly than anything, I will have more time for writing. And writing, and writing, and writing.

I have been working towards this for decades. For most of my adult life, really. I have been working hard at this, and making it close to my top priority, for a decade. I almost can’t believe that it’s really here.

The next few weeks will probably be a bit challenging. Paradoxically, I may have to put in a bit more time at the day job, tying up loose ends and training my replacement. But after that, I’m on my own.

I am so happy, I can barely speak. Just wanted to let y’all know, and to thank you. The fact that people want to read my writing, and have been following it and sharing it and otherwise supporting it, is the reason I can keep doing it. Writing ideas that other people want to read… this is my life’s work, the meaning of my life. I feel incredibly lucky that I can now do it full-time. Thanks to everyone who helped make that happen.

Quitting the Day Job

From the Mailbag: A Reply to "Why Does Religion Always Get a Free Ride?"

I got an email from dscribner, responding to my recent AlterNet piece, “Why Does Religion Always Get a Free Ride?” With his permission, I’m posting his email here, along with my responses to it.

Thanks for your piece “Why Does Religion Always Get a Free Ride?” that I saw on AlterNet.org.

You seem to sincerely want a response (you asked the question several times) so I’ll do my best to offer a few thoughts on the matter.

You’re welcome. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Before I continue let me preface my comments by saying that I’m not attacking you, and I hope you don’t feel as if my response is any way hostile. That’s a problem with the written word – we sometimes hear a tone that the writer didn’t intend. And I’m hoping to convey warmth, respect, and thoughtfulness.

Okay. I also think that writers sometimes convey ideas and attitudes they didn’t consciously intend, but that are nevertheless real. But I’ll certainly take this into consideration.

So in answer to your question, let me say first that you named a lot of good reasons in your piece. As you said, “People build communities, personal identities, support systems, coping mechanisms, entire life philosophies, around their religious beliefs.” And the truth is, they don’t like having to argue and defend those beliefs. They don’t like feeling mocked or ridiculed.

Yes, I understand that people don’t like this. People rarely like having their ideas criticized. They like to hang onto the ideas they’re comfortable with, and they don’t like being asked to argue and defend those ideas — i.e., being asked to think about them, and consider whether they’re really true. That’s especially true when they’ve built identities and communities around these ideas. Does that mean we shouldn’t do it? We certainly do it with other kinds of ideas. And if we think it’s okay to criticize other kinds of ideas that we think are mistaken and/or harmful, even if people don’t like hearing it… why should religion be the exception?

I’m going to be saying this a few times throughout, so I’ll start by saying it here: Move to strike as non-responsive. This has nothing whatsoever to do with my thesis — namely, that many people expect religion to get a special degree of protection from criticism, a degree of protection that they don’t expect for other kinds of ideas, and that this is not reasonable or fair. Continue reading “From the Mailbag: A Reply to "Why Does Religion Always Get a Free Ride?"”

From the Mailbag: A Reply to "Why Does Religion Always Get a Free Ride?"