Author Archive: Zach Lorentz
Zach is the current Director of Public Affairs of the Secular Student Alliance at Missouri S&T. His interests include sexual freedom, reproductive rights, LGBT equality, and advocating for proper scientific education and understanding.
Skepticon and Renewed Challenges
I had the awesome opportunity to spend last weekend in lovely Springfield, Missouri. Springfield is about twenty times larger than my current city of Rolla, but still only has a population of about 440,000. Despite its puny size, about 1500 skeptics and atheists descended upon the town like a plague of secular locusts to celebrate [...]
Politically Coerced By Faith
Two weeks ago, at the vice presidential debate, the important issue of abortion was explicitly addressed for the only time out of the nationally televised two-party debates. One candidate gave an acceptable answer, but the other provided a deeply incorrect, callous, and authoritarian response. The latter view particularly highlights a dire intersection of religion and [...]
Getting At the Heart of the Matter
With whatever latest drama and disagreements within the secular community going on, occasionally the root of our common problems gets glossed over as a given. This core of our common dilemmas is a broken thinking process, marked by convoluted and contradictory definitions, accepting fallacies as tenets of belief, and a general refusal to examine beliefs [...]
An Atheist’s Letter to the Democratic Party & Barack Obama
To the Democratic Party and President Barack Obama, I would like to facetiously thank you for making me feel invisible, if not unwanted, at your recent convention. In the three areas of platform, proselytizing, and language, you impressed upon me a distinct air of disdain. Your actions made me, a lifelong Democrat and liberal, feel [...]
Speaking Out Against Inflammatory Rhetoric
In case the pattern is not obvious, the most radical and threatening elements of the current regressive trends in America linger at the more local level. In particular, these theocratic and authoritarian amateurs thrive the closer to “home” one gets. They persist so long as they don’t state their far out and dangerous views in [...]
Dangerous Ignorance
Content Warning: It’s an Akin story, so mentions of rape abound. Todd Akin represents much of the outer St. Louis suburbs in my home metropolitan area. On a local Sunday morning news program, he was pressed about his opposition to a woman’s choice even in cases of rape. His response and his follow-ups immediately went [...]
The Missouri Constitution’s Miserable New Amendment
On August 7th, my home state of Missouri will entertain another in a long line of constitutional changes. Amendments banning same-sex marriage, banning embryonic stem cell research, and establishing American English as the official language of the state have all been ratified in just the last 10 years. The newest proposed amendment regarding “religious freedom” follows [...]
Secular Students On the Rise
After a Pew survey illustrated rapid growth in religious skepticism among Millenials, CNN invited Jesse Galef, the communications director for the Secular Student Alliance, to speak about his employer and the demographic trend. What followed could have been a disastrous mud-slinging contest, but Jesse stayed positive and kept the discussion on point, despite some obviously [...]
Standing Against the “Stand Up Rally”
Today, we welcome a new contributor, Zach Lorentz! The following is his first post: … Today in cities across the country, pro-life advocates were demonstrating in an event they referred to as the #StandUpRally. In a quote from the organizing website, the goal of the rally nationwide was to “…(push) back against the new mandate [...]
