Author: Jason Sylvester
Video Summaries of Religious History
Jason Sylvester, host of the AAI Podcast, has a YouTube channel dedicated to the history of religion. Based on writings for a book, in progress, on how the world became secular, each video tackles a separate topic on the road to the modern world and some of the obstacles on the journey. There are currently 5 different topical series: 1) Vatican Lies (examining the myths & forgeries created by ...
AAI Responds to Freethought Prophet Podcast Allegations
Let me introduce myself: I am Jason Sylvester, aka Diogenes of Mayberry on social media. For the past year I have functioned as both the blog manager for AAI and as an unofficial advisor to the board. It is in my capacity as blog manager that I write this response and not as an official statement from AAI, which I am not authorized to issue, but which the executive members who do have authority ha...
Ultra-Conservative Buddhists Support Myanmar Coup
All religions contain a spectrum of zealotry among their members, from the very liberal to the fiercely orthodox. The Buddhist monks in Myanmar are no different in this regard. Among the protestors, BBC reports that ‘monks were seen heading out onto the streets of Yangon’ in support of democracy. On the other side, are ultra-conservative senior monks who not only have the ear of the military leade...
#NoVaticanStatehood
This week, a story emerged that the Archbishop of Cologne, had, with breath-taking cluelessness and audacity, asked reporters for their ‘absolute silence’ regarding a report of sexual abuse within his diocese. As stories of Vatican cover-ups of sexual abuse show no sign of subsiding and continue to emerge around the world, it is time for governments around the world to rescind their country’s dipl...
The Erosion of Secular Democratic Values
There is a worrying trend: the erosion of democratic values in a number of supposedly secular countries around the world. In the United States, Christian Nationalists are in the throes of ecstatic rapture at the recent nomination of a Catholic zealot, Amy Coney Barrett, for the Supreme Court. Evangelical Christians are salivating at the prospect of dragging America back to its fictional Christian ...
2,000 Years of Sexual Misconduct Within the Catholic Church
Cardinal Pell On April 7, 2020, the High Court of Australia overturned the conviction of Cardinal Pell for abusing two boys in the 1990s. Cardinal Pell goes free and we, as secularists, champion an impartial judiciary with independence from political or other types of influence and respect their findings. The decision does not mean he is innocent, only that the court found the jury relied too heav...
Secularism vs Covidiots
“I truly believe that #Secularism is the only safeguard against religious oppression and barbarism.” Michael Sherlock, April 2, 2020 The words of the newly appointed Executive Director of Atheist Alliance International are particularly relevant during the global pandemic, as many stories from around the world demonstrate that some religious people and their leaders put their fragile faith ahead ...
Christianity: Fundamentally Illogical
AAI blog manager/podcast host, Jason Sylvester’s, speech from the January 14th, 2022 World Logic Day event hosted by the Atheist Support Network. I am here to talk about the fundamentally illogical nature of Christianity. Christianity has always been considered a bit wacky. In the second century, the philosopher, Celsus, wrote: But we must examine this question whether anyone who really die...