Blog - Page 3 of 17 - The Faithless Feminist

Five Fierce Humanists

last year
/ Women and Religion

By Sikivu Hutchinson For the first time ever, a group of openly identified Black women atheists has been featured on the cover of an American publication. The Humanist Magazine’s July/August issue, “Five Fierce Humanists: Unapologetically Black Women Beyond Belief” spotlights the cultural and political views of Black women non-believers in a Trumpian, Christian fundamentalist political […]

Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas, and the Role of Religion in the Rise of Fascism

last year
/ Blog Posts Religion

Karen Bridges Part I: An Educated Man’s Daughter Three Guineas was the last major work that Virginia Woolf would publish before her death. Part scrapbook, part hypothetical epistolary, part polemic essay, it defies any rigid categorization and is remarkable in its premise. It begins simply enough: the anonymous narrator, the “daughter of an educated man,” […]

The Virtue of Doubt

The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth. Pierre Abelard (1079-1142) By Karen Loethen I want to give this idea some thought, the idea that doubt is a virtue. Let’s unpack it a little. I would […]

YOU’RE DAMN STRAIGHT I’M A ONE-ISSUE VOTER!

By Ann Wilcox One evening I was at dinner with my philosophy discussion group. The talk turned to politics and current events, and the man next to me began to complain that his wife was a “one-issue voter.” “She just votes for the candidate that’s pro-choice, without thinking about their position on anything […]

We Are Screwed!

last year
/ Blog Posts Feminism

On June 30, 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. They ruled that the craft store (Hobby Lobby) could have religious views and therefore could refuse to provide certain forms of birth control to its female employees under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). It was this event […]

Yahweh Takes over Fertility… and Women’s Rights

by Karen Garst Clay figurines from 50,000 years ago may be our earliest example of the human understanding of the importance of childbearing. If the clan or tribe didn’t reproduce itself, it would not survive. Most of these clay figurines are of women. The ones with large bellies or breasts might have been made to […]

It Has Seven Genders and Can Mate with the Other Six!

last year
/ Biology Blog Posts

By Karen Garst Had I been a more adventurous young woman or born at a later time, I am sure that I would have pursued biology as my field of study. I remember learning about evolution in my ninth grade science class in the 60s. I was hooked. I wrote a paper about early man […]

Is God a Man?

last year
/ Blog Posts Women and Religion

by Teresa Roberts When I was growing up in a religious cult, I never thought for one moment to question whether god was a man. After all, in our house, my father reigned supreme as his god had intended all males to do. My mom, however, was a rather stubborn woman according to him. It […]

How Children Are Indoctrinated into Religion

By Karen Garst People always ask why there are not more women in the “atheist movement.” One of the main reasons is because more of them are sitting in the pews each Sunday morning. A 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that women are more likely than men to say religion is “very important” in […]

The Problem with Purity

By Lauren J. Barnhart We all struggle with complicated issues around the human body. Much of our culture is informed by patriarchal religious views, which teach people to transcend the body rather than be fully within it. This has resulted in systems of control and repression. By examining fears of the physical in all of […]