Speaking of Masala Skeptic, Maria made a mention of this article regarding The Amaz!ng Meeting 5.

She comments:

A most excellent article and it mentions:

“Women are outnumbered by about 4 to 1 at the meeting, so they make a point to get together and bond in their pajamas.”

…For the record, the Skepchick pajama party is a blast. Weirdly enough, it’s where I first met Hemant… in retrospect, I don’t think he was supposed to be there!

Yep. That’s right. I got into the Skepchick pajama party. Without a monetary bribe. Or chocolate.

Go me.

And affirmative action.


[tags]Masala Skeptic, The Amaz!ng Meeting 5, atheist, atheism, Skepchick, affirmative action[/tags]

During The Amaz!ng Meeting 5, I met Maria. She is also brown.

And she came to a realization:

… one of the first things I noticed was that of the 800+ attendees, there were maybe 15 people who were minorities – Asian, African-American, Latinos and Indians are not at all represented. It got me wondering why that is and although I can’t really speak to the other minorities, I think that the Indian community in this country tends to be pretty closed off, socially at least. But there’s a huge population of young “ABCDs” (American-Born Confused Desis) who have lived their lives in the United States and who probably are skeptics, maybe without really realizing it.

Very true. So Maria started a blog called Masala Skeptic, targeted to the minority skeptic audience. Maybe next year, there will be more of us attending these meetings.

Go there now, sign up for the mailing list, and comment!

I hope to be blogging there every now and then myself.


[tags]The Amaz!ng Meeting 5, Maria D’Souza Walters, Asian, African-American, Latinos, Indians, ABCD, American-Born Confused Desi, skeptic, atheist, atheism, Masala Skeptic[/tags]

I just spoke to Brian Sapient of the Rational Response Squad (RRS) and he informed me that members of the RRS were interviewed for an episode of Nightline that is tentatively scheduled to air Tuesday night!

The segment is focusing on the work of RRS, not simply the publicity of the Blasphemy Challenge. Of course, this is TV and who knows how this will be spun. But let’s hope for an objective analysis of the group.

There will also be an opportunity for a live chat with members of RRS that evening on their website.

More details will be forthcoming.


[tags]atheist, atheism, Brian Sapient, Rational Response Squad, Nightline, Blasphemy Challenge, religion, Christian, Christianity[/tags]

A documentary by Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra, is set to debut at 9pm/8c tonight on HBO.

Friends of God: A Road Trip With Alexandra Pelosi features the filmmaker talking with prominent evangelical leaders including Joel Osteen. Pelosi also talks to “visitors at religion-themed parks, a Christian comic, creationist educators, Liberty University students and activists in Washington, D.C.”

(Did you know there was a Christian Wrestling Federation? According to the New York Times, Pelosi talks to the founder of the CWF.)

There are even some less prominent evangelical leaders.

Ted Haggard gets quite a bit of screen time as the “tour guide” through the Christian world. And as the footage was shot before his downfall, you can be sure there will be some unintentional, hilarious foreshadowing.

Newsweek interviewed Pelosi and brought up one of these moments:

Early on in the film, Haggard tells you, “Surveys say that evangelicals have the best sex life of any other group.” He then asks a pair of married, young male parishioners standing nearby how often they have sex with their wives. One of them responds, “Every day. Twice a day.” Then Haggard asks the man how frequently she climaxes. “Every time,” the man says. Leaving all the subtext aside for a moment, I’m wondering if this exchange was in the very first cut of the film, even before the revelations about Haggard came to light?

Yes, it was just a pure, weird coincidence.

Incidentally, a few years back, Pelosi had followed George W. Bush as he ran against Al Gore in the 2000 elections in her film Journeys With George. That film won an Emmy (albeit a meaningless editing one). Her other film, Diary of a Political Tourist, followed seven Democrats running in the 2004 presidential elections.


[tags]Nancy Pelosi, Alexandra Pelosi, HBO, Friends of God: A Road Trip With Alexandra Pelosi, Joel Osteen, Christian, Christianity, atheist, atheism, creationist, Liberty University, Washington D.C., Ted Haggard, Newsweek, sex, George W. Bush, Al Gore, Journeys With George, Emmy, Diary of a Political Tourist, Democrat[/tags]

***Update: I’ve corrected a few mistakes in the intro, and I’ve attached August’s PDF of the arguments (great for printing out) and added some of his own thoughts. The arguments themselves are unchanged. Sorry for any inconvenience!***

August Berkshire, the public relations representative for Minnesota Atheists and Vice-President of Atheist Alliance International, has put together a simple, concise list of “18 Unconvincing Arguments for God” (PDF).

August has said the list was written in order to give Christians (and those of other faiths) “insight as to what arguments are not likely to work with us, as we have already considered them and found them insufficient… It was meant to be a time-saving device for believers.”

And if you understand August’s points, you’ll certainly get more reception from the atheists you’re talking to. We’ve heard these arguments before and new arguments would better stimulate our curiosity and require new rebuttals.

August has been invited to give this talk the past few years at local Christian colleges and has been featured in the Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota) as a result.

Here is August explaining why he wrote the list:

I have been giving this talk for the past two years specifically to Christian colleges where I am invited to speak. The impetus happened three years ago, speaking to a “Creative Evangelism” class taught by Sherry Bunge Mortenson at Bethel University in St. Paul. A student asked what would convince me that God exists? I named a few miracles that would at least convince me that something supernatural exists. But the question stuck in my mind and I naturally began to think of what wouldn’t convince me. Thus, if the goal of these students was to evangelize an atheist, it seemed perfectly appropriate that I give them a list of what wouldn’t work, so they could creatively come up with some new arguments, as their class title suggests. I meant this to be educational and in no way condescending, and that is how I hope the students perceive my presentation.

His revised and updated list is presented for you here:

[Read more...]

On July 26, 2006, 8-year-old DreShawna Davis was shot dead in the city of Jacksonville, Florida.

The city, in response, wanted “more aggressive measures to reduce the homicide rate.”

So mayor John Peyton took action. He held a rally in the local Veterans Memorial Arena, drawing 6,000 people. The rally was called “Day of Faith: Arming our Prayer Warriors.”

Because as we all know, violence can only be stopped by prayer.

Cops be damned.

The rally in itself is disturbing. But what’s worse is that the city used $101,000 of taxpayer money for the festivities.

Edwin Kagin, attorney for American Atheists, sued the city. Of course, he was in the right. The city should not be using tax money to promote religion. (Not to mention the money could have been better spent paying for police protection.)

To counter the claims made by Kagin, the city stated that “In addition to the Christian ministers and choirs that participated… one Jewish and one Muslim leader spoke.”

Thank you for clearing that up.

A settlement was finally reached last Friday. The city had to write a (symbolic) letter of apology to American Atheists, pay them approximately $5,000 in legal costs, and “avoid holding non-secular events in the future.”

In return, Kagin dropped the demands for the repayment of the $101,000.

Here is the letter sent to American Atheists, signed by Susan Pelter, Jacksonville’s director of public information:

To American Atheists Inc.:

On behalf of the City of Jacksonville, Florida, this letter confirms that there was no intention to violate the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States in the Day of Faith Program. The City of Jacksonville has issued the following directive regarding future City of Jacksonville, Florida programs:

1. Each program must have a secular purpose;

2. Each program must be one which neither advances nor inhibits religion; and

3. Each program must not foster excessive entanglement with religion.

We trust this letter addresses your concerns. Should you have any questions now or in the future, please do not hesitate to call me.

Mayor Peyton has said in response to all this that, in the future, he should get more advice from the General Counsel’s Office.

Perhaps he might think about doing something to actually reduce the crime while he’s at it.


[tags]Dreshawna Davis, Jacksonville, Florida, homicide, John Peyton, Veterans Memorial Arena, Day of Faith: Arming our Prayer Warriors, Edwin Kagin, American Atheists, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Susan Pelter, Constitution, religion, atheism[/tags]

Pictures from The Amaz!ng Meeting 5. Solely designed to invoke jealousy. If you don’t know who is in the picture, just click on it to see the caption.

Then again, I’m in the same pose in just about every pic. I need to change that up. From now on, I will only scowl.

Two pictures deserve their own special mention.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of South Park, signed my friend Margaret Downey’s Gideon Bible.

Click on the images to see what they wrote:

I don’t care if you’re an atheist or a Christian, you *know* you want a copy of that Bible…


[tags]Pictures, The Amazing Meeting 5, Flickr, Matt Stone, Trey Parker, South Park, Margaret Downey, Gideon Bible, atheist, atheism, Christian[/tags]

I spent the weekend at The Amaz!ng Meeting 5 in Las Vegas. While there is a lot to discuss, today you get the random minutia: Quotations.

For actual descriptions of what happened, visit Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy blog (Parts 1 and 2 are currently up).

So, here you go. Things I heard that enlightened or amused me. Don’t quote me on the quotations. There’s only so much you can do with a pen, a notecard, and my memory when people talk fast….

[Read more...]

Dina Haines Appleby of DelawareOnline wrote an article on how atheists share values with everyone else. It’s a good, quick read.

Her numbers stating that atheists are 1-3% of the population are rather low, but otherwise, she makes good points.

Appleby’s conclusion needs to be restated. It’s wonderful.

All of which brings me back to the question of whether you know any atheists. It’s much easier to hate or distrust an abstract group of “others” than to hate or distrust the friendly woman in the next cubicle or the guy on your softball team who might not believe in God.

That is why I want people to know I’m an atheist. I encourage other atheists and agnostics to make their views known. This won’t change our reputations overnight. But every time someone says, “Well, I have a friend who’s an atheist …” it’s a step in the direction of tolerance, and that’s a value I hold dear.

Send her your gratitude. I’m sure she’d appreciate the feedback.


[tags]Dina Haines Appleby, DelawareOnline, atheist, atheism, God, agnostic[/tags]