The weekly report on the SPI Coalition
by Julie Esris

Secular activist, author, and SPI Fellow Taslima Nasrin has just received death threats from Islamic radicals linked to al-Qaida. Due to the death threats, Nasrin has left India and is currently in the United States for an indefinite period of time. SPI Coalition Member Center for Inquiry is trying to help Nasrin, as she has no job and no home in the United States. Find out how you, too, can donate and help Nasrin secure a place to live.

Taslima Nasrin

Taslima Nasrin

Speaking of ex-Muslim women, are you also an ex-Muslim woman? Are you interested in participating in creating a film about ex-Muslim women? If so, SPI Coalition member Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain would like to hear from you. Learn about the film and how you can participate.

Are you an American atheist currently enrolled in college or graduate school? If so, you could win a scholarship from SPI Coalition member, Atheist Alliance of America. Find out how you can win. But hurry! The application is due on July 15th.

SPI Coalition member Australian Skeptics is doing a lot to encourage schoolchildren who are passionate about science. Learn about the wonderful science programs for children that they are supporting financially.young scientist

It is taboo to draw Mohammed, and this taboo needs to be challenged, argues ex-Muslim A. R. Mirza of SPI Coalition member Ex-Muslims of North America. But are there more constructive ways to challenge this taboo than with drawings that are usually inflammatory? 

Remember last week when┬áSPI Coalition member Atheist Community of San Jose┬áposted Part 1┬áof their panel discussion, “Did Jesus Exist?”┬áPart 2 (Q&A) is now available on YouTube!

David Silverman, president of SPI Coalition member American Atheists recently appeared on Fox News, where he debated with one of the hosts and two Christian pastors about religious freedom and what it means. Watch the segment and listen to the single voice of reason as you wonder if Fox is a news station or a Christian ministry.

By now, just about everybody knows about the victory for marriage equality in Ireland. But it did not happen overnight, and there are a lot of lessons to be learned about social progress, argues Michael Nugent of SPI Coalition Member┬áAtheist Ireland.┬áCheck out Nugent’s┬ágreat speech about this topic.

SPI Coalition member United Church of Bacon recently got out the message of skepticism and secularism in a segment on Fox News. Good show and praise Bacon!bacon

SPI Coalition member British Humanist Association (BHA) helped support an assisted suicide bill in Scotland. Unfortunately, the bill did not become law. However, BHA is not done helping fight for this human right!