News

by Dale McGowan

Executive Director, FBB

My my my, but it’s a busy time.  Things are going really well, thanks to so many willing and gifted hands. Time for some shout outs! Deepest thanks to

DUNCAN CRARY of Duncan Crary Communications for working hard (and successfully!) on grant funding;

Our membership coordinator JAIME SABEL for getting the word out about this thing of ours;

Beginning Jan 1, the Foundation will highlight ten charitable organizations per quarter. Between now and then, we’ll gradually introduce you to our first slate.

Today we are proud to introduce HealthRight International as our first beneficiary in the category of HEALTH.

by Dale McGowan

Executive Director, Foundation Beyond Belief

I come before you today to thank Dinesh D’Souza. Please don’t blink — it isn’t likely to happen again.

After the tragedy at Virginia Tech in April 2007, D’Souza took the opportunity to accuse atheists of being absent in times of human suffering. “Notice something interesting about the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings?” he said. “Atheists are nowhere to be found.” The piece was the most shameless bit of opportunism since Jerry Falwell held us (along with feminists, gays, and civil libertarians) responsible for 9/11.

Most of all, it was breathtaking in its careless ignorance.

Fortunately the reaction against ignorance — even ignorance on that scale — can lead to good things.  An atheist professor at Virginia Tech posted a response at The Daily Kos (under the handle Mapantsula) of elegant indignation, honesty and pain:

It is hardly surprising that Dinesh D’Souza is once again not only profoundly mistaken but also deeply offensive. But I thought it worthwhile to say something in response, not because most people would put the point in the same morally reptilian manner as D’Souza, but because there is at least some vague sense amongst people that we atheists don’t quite grasp the enormity of Monday’s events, that we tend towards a cold-hearted manner of thinking, that we condescend to expressions of community, meaning, or bereavement.

Read More