As a lover of science and reason, Ericka M. Johnson has an affinity for evolutionary biology and is the president of Seattle Atheists. She revels in any opportunity for a thoughtful debate on the meaning of life, the universe, and everything (especially over a pint.) Follow her on twitter @ErickaMJohnson
The other day, Hemant posted about the difficulties Camp Quest organizers ran into when they tried to put on a fund raiser at Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ. The fundraiser had been cancelled abruptly because the owner’s “Christian philosophy” didn’t mesh with Camp Quest’s secular beliefs. On the very same day, crew members of Ask An Atheist received an email regarding an event they had been organizing to host Australian atheist folk-singer/song-writer Shelley Segal. The email was from Anthem Beverage & Bistro, the venue where Shelley’s performance was scheduled to take place this Sunday. Originally, plans for the event were going great, with Anthem staff saying they’d even be willing to stay open late as long as there were enough people ordering food to keep the kitchen open. Of course, throughout their email correspondence, the Ask An Atheist folks made it clear that they were the ones who would be hosting this event. They never hid who they were and what kind of event they wanted to host. But Monday’s email made it clear that things had changed: [Click headline for more…] Read more
There’s a new godless online community and it’s focused on serving the needs of LGBTQ atheists. As Gay Without God founder Blake Gallagher puts it, it’s “a place generally for gay atheists to rally together and bond over a shared vision of the world: namely one comprised of a society that is secular, rational, and rooted in a science-based view of the world.” The site offers discussion forums as well as blog posts dealing with life issues, science, religion, and politics. Here’s a sampling of recent posts: Read more
Two different scholarships offer college students the opportunity to see our very own Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, at the Northwest Free-thought Alliance Conference in Portland, OR the weekend of April 5-7th. The conference also features Darrel Ray (author of The God Virus: How Religion Affects Our Lives and Sex and God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality), Valerie Tarico (author of Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light), and Australian folk singer-songwriter Shelley Segal. Read more
Darwin Day is coming up soon and you can find an event celebrating Darwin’s birthday in your area through DarwinDay.org. I was curious to see what other events were happening in my state and I was horrified to discover that the Discovery Institute (the think tank devoted to spreading “Intelligent Design”) was also hosting a Darwin Day event. Some time in the last few days, the post was pulled from DarwinDay.org but the event is still listed on the group’s own website: Read more
