What makes an event "religious"?

Theists do genuinely seem to have difficulty coming to terms with the fact that religion can only have any meaning if they make it have meaning. In and of itself religion is nothing. This is demonstrated quite nicely in a recent blog post on the Religious News Service. A line towards the end of Cathy Grossman's "Better than church? Religions’ social events have higher purpose" is great at indicating just how willfully ignorant and/or self-deluded she and so many other theists tend to be.

"There’s also a twist to the popularity of religious events: People with no religious ties like them, too."

Grossman fails to notice that not one of the types of events discussed prior to this statement requires any religious elements whatsoever. In other words, the "events" that are so popular are secular in nature. Every type of event noted already is enjoyed by the non-religious without any religious trappings. That non-religious don't care about those details nearly as much our theistic fellows is not news. This is the same type of mentality that leads theists to be surprised when they discover their friendly neighbor atheist actually likes Christmas carols. It is silly. Unfortunately, it tends to indicate a greater level of misunderstanding.

What if we could ban ignorance and misinformation?

Rebecca Klein at HuffPo seems to be surprised that a conservative religious group is making outrageously ridiculous claims. Rebecca would be rather ignorant when it comes to issues of church and state, as well as the mind-set of the religious right. "Kentucky School Prayer Petition Links Prayer Ban With AIDS Epidemic" is, unfortunately, rather standard fare for the religious right. The bogus claim cited in the title of her piece isn't nearly as disturbing as her own ignorance and constant repetition of an equally bogus claim. Klein refers to a "ban" on school prayer throughout her short piece. There is no such ban!

Children are free to pray in school so long as it is not disruptive. As I have repeatedly pointed out on previous posts, what is not allowed is coercive prayer. The school itself (including all its employees and representatives) can not conduct or enforce prayers. So, yes, it is annoying to hear nutbags going on about a connection between a lack of coercion leading to AIDS and various other social problems. That is not as bad as otherwise rational people falling for and then continuing to disseminate misinformation. This type of crap only serves to weaken one of nation's greatest principles, Separation of Church and State.