Recently, bigots at the Itawamba County Agricultural High School in Mississippi were faced with a big problem: a gay was planning to show up to prom and convert all the poor innocent hetero kids to gayism with their gay germs!

The school board canceled the prom due to “distractions” after Constance McMillen requested permission to wear a tux and bring her girlfriend as her date. The horror! First the board tried banning her from the event, and when the ACLU stood up for her and demanded she be allowed to attend, the board took their ball and ran home.

According to CBS News, “District officials say they hope private citizens will host a prom.”

Well, private citizens have stepped up. In particular, godless heathen citizens! Well done to Todd and Diana Stiefel for donating $20,000 through the American Humanist Association to host a secular, inclusive event.

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The San Francisco Atheists protested against the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling in favor of inclusion of the religious phrase: “in God we Trust” in the pledge of allegiance. It was a beautiful sunny morning and afternoon and about 30 people turned up to protest this obscene court ruling.

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From Brother Richard at Atheist Nexus

Last week, I brought to your attention the rumor circulating about atheist Michael Middlebrooks and his alleged confrontation with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. In a special report of Atheist News, Joe and I had the opportunity to interview Middlebrooks to get his side of the story. We attempted to contact Governor Crist several times, but were unable to obtain a comment.

You can stream the episode here. Or listen to the two part YouTube version below:

Click here to register. Also, if you’ve already registered for the convention but have not signed up for the Sunday Trip, this is almost sold out, so hurry!

One Spring day when I was about 10, I decided I liked Spring more than Winter. In fact, I decided I really didn’t like Winter very much at all.

There was still a little snow on the ground, a remnant of the winter I was deciding I didn’t like, so I kicked it. I decided it was a good thing to kick the snow, as a kind of “death to Winter” statement.

Being a child, I made up a superstition that if I “kicked the last snow” I would have a good summer. Of course I knew it was something I made up that had no real value or consequence, but I did it anyway, just because. It became a tradition for me. If it snowed after I kicked the last snow, then I had obviously not kicked the last snow (merely the second-to-the-last snow, which didn’t count), so I had to go out and kick it again.

I taught my daughter the superstition when she was very young (maybe 3), and she seemed to enjoy it. Once she got a little older (maybe 6 or 7), I told her that I had made it up, just like every other superstition had been made up, and I swear, I SAW something click in her mind. I saw a light come on. Suddenly she knew about stepping on cracks, throwing salt, breaking mirrors, etc. It was a wonderful moment to witness and share with her.

Here’s the fun part: She told her friends it was lucky to kick the last snow, and then told them I’d made it up after they’d done it. She spread the meme, and the realization that followed!

So go out there and kick the last snow before it melts, or make up your own superstition and tell your kids. Enjoy — all that can happen is that it will spark a bit of skepticism in those who follow, and are then informed that you (or I) just made the stuff up.