Atheists On Parade!
The 2005 Atheists Alliance conference is taking place in Los Angeles, March 25-27. Some highlights:
* Penn & Teller will accept the Richard Dawkins award for outstanding work in the cause of atheism during Sunday's brunch.* Richard Dawkins, author of eight books, Charles Simonyi Professor For The Understanding Of Science at Oxford University, and THE world's most renowned atheist.
* Julia Sweeney, writer-actress, on the reaction to her hit show Letting Go of God.
* Dr. Robert Price, member of the Jesus Seminar, author of The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man.
* Andrew Bradley, Author of "What Would Betty Do? A Spiritual Guide to Qualifying for the '10 Sins or Less' Express Line at Judgment Day", Creator of bettybowers.com - America's Best Christian, and senior writer for Landover Baptist Church.
* Dr. Bruce Flamm was quoted in Time Magazine, as the man whose persistent inquiry proved the Korean-Columbia fertility study to be fatally flawed.
* Ben Akerly, Author of "The X-Rated Bible".
* Joel Pelletier, artist/activist will be displaying and discussing his modern update of James Ensor's Christ's Entry into Brussels, an over 8x14 foot American Fundamentalists (Christ's Entry into Washington in 2008), which warns of the modern dangers to the Constitution and freedom of speech posed by modern American fundamentalists.
For information on attending, click on the link above. Posted by Amy Alkon, godless harlot. For more information on why you shouldn't believe in god, the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, or giant winged purple bunnies, there's the-brights.net.
The Majestic McArdle was saying just the other day:
"Anyone who's lived in a Blue State has probably encountered the problem of the Evangelical Atheist . . . the person who has discovered the Void and considers it their bounden duty to share their newfound joy with everyone around them, through force if necessary. Having lived in the born again Christian wing of my freshman dorm, I find that EA's, not fundamentalists, seem to be the undisputed champions of arrogant, intolerant, pig- headed religious boorishness. The fundamentalists who so earnestly tried to bring me into the fold were, after all, just trying to save me from an awful eternity in hell. The EA's are trying to save people from wasting two hours on Sunday morning. And no fundamentalist I've ever met has ever been so thoroughly oblivious to the possibility that they might be wrong... there is also the type of atheist who believes that he or she can be God, because the position is open."
Cridland at March 6, 2005 7:02 AM
"And no fundamentalist I've ever met has ever been so thoroughly oblivious to the possibility that they might be wrong"
This is typical of the latest way of attacking atheists. On the contrary, atheists tend to be people who favor the scientific method, where there's always the possibility that you're wrong, and the practice of checking one's thinking and admitting it. Again, it's PART OF THE PROCESS. Look how many horrible things are done in the name of belief in the unprovable. For example, look at the other blog items. The "just say no" ethic is brought to us by people who are in the habit of denying facts and approving fantasy. And the abortion lingo is straight from the preacher's pie hole.
Amy Alkon at March 6, 2005 7:05 AM
This atheist recently left a memorial session for a friend so she could get manhandled at the airport two hours early. Why? Because people around the world have imaginary friends (aka god), sans proof that they exist, and they're all convinced that their particular imaginary friends are better than everybody else's imaginary friends. No, the Christian Right isn't trying to blow people up. But they are trying to take away my freedoms. And as a small Jewish child growing up in a neighborhood where only two other Jewish families lived (my father thought we were Americans, just like everybody else -- a pity everybody else didn't agree with him), kids threw chairs at me, egged our house, and called me "dirty Jew" and told me I'd killed Jesus. Once again, preacher-speak, passed down. Charming. I'll take the secular ethics I live by anyday: Be kind, be ethical, live rationally, and "leave the campground better than you found it." Best of all, with my plan, there's no need to be so disrespectful of life as to waste two hours of it sitting on a cold bench on Sundays and contributing to the nefarious big business that is religion. (search recent remarks by the Pope on homosexuals for the most recent creepy crap from that particular businessman.)
Amy Alkon at March 6, 2005 7:10 AM
> ....share their newfound joy with everyone around them, through force if necessary.
Eh??? Seems to me it's religion that's perennially guilty of using grotesque violence to make its point. I can't offhand think of any examples of atheism being similarly guilty -- unless you merely mean 'force' in the legal sense of separating church and state, which I heartily endorse.
Stu "El Inglés" Harris at March 6, 2005 9:00 AM
Busybodies, allaya.
Cridland at March 6, 2005 10:19 AM
The Majestic McArdle was saying:
“through force if necessary.”
The Bullshit-o-meter started beeping when I read that. He’s obviously alluding to physical force, but his rhetoric is vague and non-committal enough to leave open the possibility that “force” means only feistiness or yelling. This strikes me as intellectually avoidant. Not interested!
Lena at March 6, 2005 10:27 AM
As a non-believing guy, I'll stand right next to you on keeping religious based nonsense out of guv-mint business. However, you knew that was coming next, here's my short list of scoundrels who have been instrumental in taking away many more freedoms of mine than any fundies. Including the freedom of keeping what I earn, let's start with OSHA, EPA, FCC, CCC, ACLU, IRS, FTB, FTC, ABC, FDA, BLM, ATF, blah,blah,blah. They do it with regulatory abuse, not laws. No elected officials that we can oust at the polls. All in the public's best interest, of course. Just as the fundies would have you believe. I may be just one frog in this big kettle, but I can feel the water getting hotter year after year. And besides, I have the feeling that the fundies day in the catbird seat has only 3 years to go, but the bureaucrats will never go away or give back what they take away.
allan at March 6, 2005 10:45 AM
Is today "National Destroy-All-Important-Distinctions Day" or what? Allan, please tell us how the ACLU engages in "regulatory abuse," and how it ended up next to the IRS in your firing squad line up. Also, does the "the freedom of keeping what I earn" include the freedom to earn money in a work environment that doesn't carry great risks of losing life or limb? There goes that pesky OSHA, limiting your freedom again!
Lena at March 6, 2005 11:28 AM
Okay, okay. Throw out the aclu from the regulatory bunch. But I have worked construction for a long time and will just say that OSHA regulations, actually Cal-OSHA,
allan at March 6, 2005 3:10 PM
Damn, I just fell off my chair. I knew I should have buckled up my OSHA approved safety belt.
allan at March 6, 2005 3:14 PM
You work in construction, Allen? My dad was a roofer. His company worked on the construction of the WTC back in the 70s.
Lena-doodle-doo at March 6, 2005 6:13 PM
Lena writes:
"through force if necessary.”
The Bullshit-o-meter started beeping when I read that. He’s obviously alluding to physical force, but his rhetoric is vague and non-committal enough to leave open the possibility that “force” means only feistiness or yelling. This strikes me as intellectually avoidant. Not interested!
To date, no atheist has ever accosted me on the street, asking about my beliefs, then seeking to change them. Fundamentalist Christians, on the hand...
Just my experience with atheists is that they're content to allow me my beliefs. Christians aren't.
Patrick, fan of the Advice Goddess at March 7, 2005 6:16 AM
Nor are atheists telling people they MUST get abortions, or they MUST see certain things on TV. Fundamentalists want to reshape the world so their beliefs rule. Atheists may encourage people to reconsider why they believe what they believe, but they don't seek to force anybody to do it their way. Also, there's a mistaken idea that atheists believe in nothing. This atheist, for example, believes in secular ethics: "Do unto others..." is a big part of it, as is the notion that living an ethical life is its own reward, and leaving the world a better place than when you got to it is a pretty great end goal. What happens after we die? I dunno. As far as I know, we decompose. As far as anything I have no evidence for, I would be an idiot to believe in it.
Amy Alkon at March 7, 2005 7:08 AM
Hey, Amy (and the rest of you), do you know of any book on talking to one's child about God if one happens to be an agnostic or atheist? I've always been straight with my son about my no-faith stance, but the guy asks some pretty penetrating questions.
THE Curtis at March 7, 2005 11:34 AM
I don't, but I'd check out Krishnamurti's work. I like Freedom From The Known. Can't remember if there's god stuff in there, but it's highly rational.
Amy Alkon at March 7, 2005 12:36 PM
"Hey, Amy (and the rest of you), do you know of any book on talking to one's child about God if one happens to be an agnostic or atheist?" - THE Curtis
You should find this page useful. It has a directory of books and other resources for atheist parents:
http://www.infidels.org/families/parents/index.shtml
All the Best,
Charles
GodlessRose at March 8, 2005 12:14 AM
Thanks, Charles. What a bunch of smarties. And Amy, Krishnamurti? You never cease to amaze me. "Freedom From The Known" just happens to be available in its entirety on the web.
THE Curtis at March 8, 2005 8:42 PM
Hello. Ask yourself, when someone uses the term, "fundamentalist", why they do. I don't see anyone posing as a religious zealot actually knowing what they are talking about; the personal computer makes it really easy to research any claim about Bible content, but such people do not do so.
They don't recognize that a belief is not the whole story about anything - because the observer cannot study the situation, whatever it is, long enough to "grok".
Those of you who enjoy Landover might like this one:
http://objective.jesussave.us/propaganda.html .
Radwaste at March 18, 2005 7:08 PM
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