Congratulations To 2013's Atheist Of The Year, Sarah Morehead

Despite having a day of heavy people interacting while tabling for Apostacon, I picked the wrong night head out of the convention to have some introvert time.  I say this because after getting to my hotel room, I saw this posted.

My bias on this issue is all over this blog, in the form of my support for Recovering From Religion.  But even with that, and having not yet learned American Atheists' stated reasons for choosing Sarah Morehead for this award, I feel safe saying this award was well deserved.

Sarah Morehead has worked tirelessly to make Recovering From Religion grow into an international organization that provides real help to real people suffering real harm from religion.  I can think of no group that is more underrated than Recovering From Religion.

On top of that, they've got the Hotline Project coming soon, which will give people in the middle of a faith crisis a place to call, where they will receive support without proselytizing of any kind.

In addition to that, while Apostacon was/is mostly definitely a large team effort, Sarah was a driving force in the success of Apostacon last year, which has received high praise from several of our speakers.  Most of those speakers were people we were only able to get because of Sarah's involvement in Apostacon.  Without Sarah, Apostacon may have remained as good as it was before the name change form Midwest Freethought Conference, but it wouldn't have been become great.  And that's definitely where we're headed with Apostacon.

And then, as a side project, she stepped up to settle the Matt Dillahunty, Sye Ten Bruggencate back and forth debate challenges and got the damn thing scheduled.

So, if you want to be Atheist of the Year, that's what it takes.  Be a Getting Shit Done Machine.

Sarah with her award & Dan Fincke

I can only imagine how much more she'd be able to get done if she could keep her cell phone charged.

Edit:  Fixed the year

About A Different Debate (That Has Not Happened)

While tabling for Apostacon last year at ReasonFest, I learned of a plan that was being worked for Apostacon later that year.  Learning of this was on the condition that I didn't share the information because it was still in the works and it would have had its own announce done by Apostacon itself.

The goal was for a debate.  Matt Dillahunty vs Eric Hovind and Sye Ten Bruggencate.  If you're wondering who the hell Sye Ten Bruggencate is, you're wondering the same thing I was then and some friends were  the other day when I referenced him.

Here's the example of him I was shown.

The full show is here.

The gist is that he was entirely reliant on the tactic he has, Presuppositional Apologetics.  It involves an effective straw man of forcing the other person into a corner of solipsism by putting an intense focus on absolute knowledge, claiming only he can have knowledge (because God), and declaring anyone who doesn't claim absolute knowledge cannot know anything and thus cannot speak.

It's a childish word game.  When a member of the show called him out on it, instead dropping the game and having an adult conversation (the point of the show he was on), he immediately left in a tiff.

I wish I could say that was an isolated incident, but the more I learned about him, the more I learned that was his only debate tactic.  For instance, he pulled the same shit on Steve Shives and the other 2 who were on the Biblethumpingwingnut Show.

By the time my part in this story because, Matt had been dealing with Sye for a while, and he thought the potential for 2 vs 1 would get him to finally participate in a debate.  Multiple attempts were made by Apostacon to get in contact with them.  For a while, we received no response at all.  Eventually, a representative for Hovind declined citing schedule (a reasonable excuse).  We sent Sye enough e-mails that he cannot reasonably claim to have not seen them.  He never responded.

We eventually dropped the plan to attempt to make a debate happen out of logistical necessity.  We had a conference to plan and no time to play games.  Matt still came to Apostacon, where he did a magic show, that I hear was quite good^[1].

After that, I hadn't put any thought toward the failed attempt for a debate or Sye until Matt tagged Apostacon on Twitter in response to Sye tweeting this video.

In that video, Sye has a clip of Matt referencing the offer Sarah Morehead that I talked about above.  In his response to that, Sye lied about not being aware of the offer.  The only other option is that he's incredibly lazy about checking his e-mail.

Why is he lying?  Only he knows.

So, Matt responded.

In his response, Sye makes excuses about why he's still never called into the show anyone can call into and nitpicks trivial details.  In claiming he'd be hung up on, he's entirely ignoring the episodes Matt is referencing, where neither Matt Slick nor Ray Comfort were hung up on.  Sye has no good reason to think he would have been treated any differently.

I suspect that Sye decided to challenge Matt to a debate after seeing the Nye-Ham debate and decided to himself some attention.

If it was nearly anyone but Matt Dillahunty, I would advise not to waste your time with him Sye Ten Bruggencate, who I do not believe is capable of a civil, honest, or sincere debate.  But I think Matt is much more likely than most to effectively call him out on his bullshit.

Matt knows he won't convince Sye that he's wrong.  But he also knows that exposing Sye as being full of shit could make a difference with believers in the audience.  Matt knows that there will be potential future atheists in the audience.

My expectations for the debate are similar what Shives posted on Matt's first video.

I expect Sye's part of the debate to be thoroughly frustrating.  I expect him to be dishonest, mostly in the from quote mines and claims of exclusivity to absolute knowledge.

Sye claims he wants to expose "the atheist worldview" for what it is.  But all he has is word games.  So, to make the endeavor worthwhile, all Matt has to do is expose the dishonesty and terrible arguments for what they are.

If he does that, it will have the same result as the Nye-Ham debate, with even Christians saying the atheist won and comparing him to a conspiracy theorist.

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1.  I missed it due to Apostacon related obligations

Apostacon, In One Photo - Plus Some Others

David Silverman, Photobomber
Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[1]

Some Apostacon^[2] organizers were taking a picture during the "Meat" Ball and David Silverman joined in.  Nothing sums why Apostacon is Apostawesome better than this picture.

Although, there's a few others from the costume party well worth sharing here.  Starting with, Silverman's reaction to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[3]

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[4]

Photo Credit:  @Apostacon^[5]

Skepticon's^[6] Micah Weiss as a Tie Fighter
Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[7]

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[8]

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[9]

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[10]

And, yes, I've plugged Biblename Foto^[11] in two posts in a row^[12].  He's that fucking good.  See here^[13] for the entire album of photos most of these are taken from.

I'm not quite done talking about Apostacon.  I've got at least one more planned.  For now, it's just the fun pictures and some bragging about some praise we received this morning^[14].

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1.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384954464965172&set=pb.288486691278617.-2207520000.1379990124.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-frc3%2F981596_384954464965172_590448480_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ash3%2F1230015_384954464965172_590448480_n.jpg&size=960%2C1200
2.  http://apostacon.org/
3.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384953631631922&set=a.384952888298663.1073741853.288486691278617&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-prn2%2F1277673_384953631631922_212152041_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-prn2%2F1376431_384953631631922_212152041_n.jpg&size=800%2C1200
4.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384953268298625&set=a.384952888298663.1073741853.288486691278617&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash3%2F1273267_384953268298625_1193310202_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-prn1%2F32410_384953268298625_1193310202_n.jpg&size=800%2C1200
5.  https://twitter.com/Apostacon/status/381604101827866624
6.  http://skepticon.org/
7.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384953898298562&set=pb.288486691278617.-2207520000.1379990124.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash3%2F1272237_384953898298562_696829085_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ash3%2F558289_384953898298562_696829085_n.jpg&size=800%2C1200
8.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384953381631947&set=a.384952888298663.1073741853.288486691278617&type=3&permPage=1
9.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384954078298544&set=a.384952888298663.1073741853.288486691278617&type=3&permPage=1
10.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384954524965166&set=a.384952888298663.1073741853.288486691278617&type=3&permPage=1
11.  https://www.facebook.com/BiblenameFoto
12.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2013/09/apostacon-finally-done.html
13.  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.384952888298663.1073741853.288486691278617&type=1
14.  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wwjtd/2013/09/apostacon-has-set-the-standard-for-atheist-conferences/

Apostacon... Finally Done

I'm finally home from Apostacon^[1].  Walking into the house felt like getting home from a long road trip, even though it was a 20 minute drive from home.  I'm exhausted from a great weekend.  And I'm far from who put the most into this, so I can only imagine how exhausted the main organizers are.

At these conventions, I usually don't spend much time watching the talks^[2].  This time was even more so.  I only got to see 4 of the talks, and 2 were only because they were during lunch (Shelley Segal^[3] & Dan Barker^[4]).

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[5]

I was so exhausted, I nodded off during Amanda Knief's talk despite her being one of my favorite people on Earth.  I also got myself a signed copy of her book, The Citizen Lobbyist: A How-to Manual for Making Your Voice Heard in Government^[6], and am excited to read it.  If you're at a conference she's speaking at, she's a must see.

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[7]

Another must see is Fred Edwords^[8].  He's a genius.  He knows many things about organizing groups, and he has a way of telling us these things in a way that makes you motivated to go do it.  If you ever want to start a group and need help getting it going, the help of Fred Edwords is invaluable.  And he's dedicated to providing that help.  Atheism simply wouldn't be the same without him.

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[9]

I'm sad that I missed Matt Dillahunty's mentalism show.  Especially considering how impressed I saw people were with it.  It was so involved that we had to clear the room for him to set up.  Sadly, it was the only thing we didn't record (at Matt's request because he's got some special plans related to it).

Luckily, Matt wasn't the only thing people were impressed with.  It's a huge relief to have had Apostacon go so well.  Attendees really seemed to like it.  I've seen several positive reviews on the Facebook.

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[10]

JT Eberhard has had nothing but high praise for us^[11].  That's a lot of pressure for next year.  Although, we've already got some ideas for next year, and have already had our first meeting for next year.

I think my favorite part of the weekend was seeing Jamila Bey wearing a shirt familiar to me.

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[12]

She bought a shirt for REASON^[13], Omaha's skeptics group and our oldest existing non-theist group.  Seeing someone of prominence, who I respect. give some love to a group I love makes me happy.

Photo Credit:  Biblename Foto^[14]

Another highlight was a conversation I had with Greg Lammers, American Atheists' National Affiliate Director^[15].  It's always good to see him, since he's the kind of guy you're always glad to see, but this time was especially good.  I learned about American Atheists' plans for upgrading their support of local groups, including polling groups for what kind of support they'd want and potentially customizing it for each individual group.

I'm sure I'm missing a lot, but I'm sleep deprived so that's inevitable.  Plus, I'm saving certain bits to put into their own posts.

Some great pictures of the event are up on Biblename Foto^[16], with more promised to come.

Next stop is Skepticon 6[17].  Based on what Skepticon organizer, Micah Weiss, has said, Skepticon is sure to even better than it has been in the past.  I won't go into it any more than that because I don't want to ruin their surprises.  But it's going to be good times.

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1.  http://www.apostacon.org/
2.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2013/04/why-i-come-to-atheist-conventions.html
3.  http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=shelley%20segal&linkCode=ur2&sprefix=shelley%20se%2Caps%2C226&tag=omahathe-20&url=search-alias%3Dpopular
4.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569756775/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1569756775&linkCode=as2&tag=omahathe-20
5.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384469755013643&set=pb.288486691278617.-2207520000.1379910182.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-prn2%2F1264653_384469755013643_1918970101_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-frc1%2F580285_384469755013643_1918970101_n.jpg&size=1200%2C960
6.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1939578019/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1939578019&linkCode=as2&tag=omahathe-20
7.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384468758347076&set=pb.288486691278617.-2207520000.1379910229.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-prn1%2F1075398_384468758347076_586575868_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-prn2%2F1375727_384468758347076_586575868_n.jpg&size=1200%2C960
8.  http://unitedcor.org/national/page/fred-edwords
9.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384469281680357&set=pb.288486691278617.-2207520000.1379910182.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-prn2%2F1294429_384469281680357_741267513_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-prn1%2F14513_384469281680357_741267513_n.jpg&size=800%2C1200
10.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384110405049578&set=pb.288486691278617.-2207520000.1379910230.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-prn2%2F1094527_384110405049578_1320002432_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-prn2%2F1186164_384110405049578_1320002432_n.jpg&size=1200%2C800
11.  https://twitter.com/jteberhard/status/381202089143046144
12.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384469915013627&set=pb.288486691278617.-2207520000.1379908327.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash3%2F857805_384469915013627_1086066699_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-prn2%2F1240016_384469915013627_1086066699_n.jpg&size=1200%2C800
13.  http://www.reason.ws/
14.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384469175013701&set=pb.288486691278617.-2207520000.1379910182.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash3%2F856770_384469175013701_375635843_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ash3%2F1374175_384469175013701_375635843_n.jpg&size=800%2C1200
15.  http://news.atheists.org/2013/05/07/american-atheists-names-greg-lammers-as-national-affiliate-director/
16.  https://www.facebook.com/BiblenameFoto
17.  http://skepticon.org/

Such Christian Responses To The Atheist Monument

The first ever atheist monument to be on government property went up this weekend in Florida^[1].

[2]

Hemant covered the events quite well^[3].  And of course, there were protesters^[4].  I've been at plenty of atheist events that had protesters, but never one with such blatantly racist protesters.

I think I'll just leave the response to Amanda Knief's tweets^[5] on the matter since she said what I was thinking.

"Don't like Christian culture, go home!" What! Wait--I was born here; I am home. Where the hell should I go? #standmyground #StarkeContrast
— Amanda Knief (@mzdameanor) June 29, 2013

"The South is a Christian nation." Um, update: you lost that war a while ago & the South is NOT a nation. #realitycheck #StarkeContrast
— Amanda Knief (@mzdameanor) June 29, 2013

Only racists who don't know who won the Civil War could be the most ridiculous thing at a place Eric Hovind^[6] was.

[7]

I love this picture for a number of reasons.  It illustrates how disrespectful Eric Hovind is.  It would be rude stand up there if it was a random bench and it wasn't David Silverman sitting there.  No matter who was sitting there, it would be incredibly rude to stand right next to their head.

It being a monument that was making history and the person sitting there being the head of the organization who made it happen makes it that much more rude.  The fact that it's an extremely rare thing for any religious view that isn't Christianity to get any positive attention makes it even worse for him to be so brazenly arrogant.

And still, he has the right to do it.

I'm glad that @SyeTenB and @erichovind exercised their free speech. Might I suggest that you go ahead and wear that toilet seat as necklace?
— Matt Dillahunty (@Matt_Dillahunty) June 30, 2013

If only Christians were better able to show such respect^[8].

It's incredibly disturbing how often I see Christians portray the Bible commandment against murder as the only thing keeping people from killing.

I guess that's better.  He's only threatening to beat us up instead of kill us.  But one more had something to say about killing.

Instead of threatening us, he's pretending we did the threatening.  But, ...

Exactly.  So, I'll leave it at that and move on the more fun comments.

Chris is right.  Plus, regarding tolerance see the tweet of Matt Dillahunty's that I shared above^[9].

I wish I could expect that response to make the guy understand that being atheist doesn't make you a nihilist.

I also wish I could write off the hate as trolls.  But it's all consistent with what I see happen every time.  It happens online and in person.  Christian privilege in America leaves no room for anything else.  So they freak the fuck out^[10] anytime anyone else exercises their rights.

This last one is one I really hope is a Poe, but sadly, that kind of crazy shit is sometimes real too.

Just a hunch, but I suspect this guy might be a tad racist.  Either way, I'm sticking with the idea that the crazier they get, the more it means we're winning^[11].

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1.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/atheists-unveil-monument-next-to-ten-commandments-at-florida-courthouse/2013/06/29/f226a614-e10c-11e2-86b4-4efb8c53d62b_story.html
2.  https://twitter.com/AmericanAtheist/status/351024379854983168
3.  https://twitter.com/hemantmehta/status/351021011761762305
4.  https://twitter.com/jteberhard/status/351071613707485186
5.  https://twitter.com/mzdameanor
6.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2012/11/eric-hovind-i-have-question-for-you.html
7.  I lost track of who gets credit for the picture.
8.  https://twitter.com/Matt_Dillahunty/status/351327995878846465
9.  https://twitter.com/Matt_Dillahunty/status/351184669334716416
10.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2012/07/uncontroversial-billboard-is.html
11.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2013/06/bryan-fischer-being-unhappy-makes-me.html

He Almost Became A Priest, Became Atheist Instead

Recent changes to /r/atheism^[1] have resulted in a group of people upset to monitor the new posts^[2] and downvote all posts that aren't complaining about the new changes.  A recent victim of the protests was a man who posted his story of almost becoming a priest and ending up atheist^[3].  He gave me permission to share his story, but has since deleted his account for unknown reasons.

I thought I'd give a short introduction since I'm fairly new here.

My relationship with religion has been a very stormy one. I enjoy some of the cultural aspects (I'm probably unique in that regard on this forum.) But that's because I'm a professional musician and performed pretty much the entire English Cathedral repertoire at some point in my life. (Random fact: most choristers are atheist anyway.)

The storminess comes from the imprint that the fear of hell had on my heart from a very young age. My parents were very strict fundamentalists and had no difficulty telling me that people who did not hear about Jesus were going to burn for all eternity. When you're 8 years old, that's a rather traumatizing thought. It bothered me the first time my parents told me this, and it never stopped bothering me since. Even after liberalizing and dropping the doctrine of hell from my belief system at age 16, the fear persisted. What if I'm wrong? Then there were the question of the OT genocides, which bothered me from a young age as well.

My parents told me to read the Bible and it would strengthen my faith. Well, It's more likely that advice is what has led me here today. In college, because of my active participation in the church (Anglo-Catholic by choice), I made the decision to enter the priesthood. This was the first of three times I would made this decision, but I aborted every time, THANKFULLY! So I began reading the Homilies on the Book of Romans by St John Crysostom. If you ever want to deconvert someone, Crysostom is really the way to go. The man is a vile, misogynistic, homophobic, antisemite, and lots of other not nice thing. And yet he's one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, one of the three most important theologians in all history. I had to stop reading after about the 7th homily because it was so disgusting. (I don't want to make excessive comparisons, but in this case, I'm not sure excessive comparisons can be made.)

At this point I had been approved for sponsorship by my third parish. It's a very presitigious parish (eg. the rector has a knighthood) and I felt honored that they had selected me. But I had to put my studies down or else I was going to lose my faith. A year later I came out as gay. This was not a problem to my parish, but it was a problem to my more Evanglical fundamnetalist family. No matter how much liberal theology I had imbibed, I could not escape the fear of hell.

And then one day my mind went into a loop. "I'm going to go to hell. I deserve to go to hell. How could I not go to hell. What a terrible human being I am. I deserve every bad thing that has ever happened and more. Hell is clearly where I'm going. I'm going to go to hell." This loop lasted for almost four weeks. I could not get my brain to stop repeating these and similar words over and over again. (I was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder which may explain the loop.) I dropped into the deepest depression imaginable, and I'm already used to depression. It became nearly impossible for me to go to work and stay anywhere near concentrated. I had been gripped by fear, and the fear seemed totally reasonable. I had failed. I had fallen short. I could have done a hundred times better and I would still deserve horrible things. Worst of all I was gay. And while I had theologically reasoned myself out of believing that being gay was a sin, that's not what I was taught and what I was taught was taking over.

At the end of four weeks I said the wone thing that got me out of the loop. I said it so meekly, and I was so scared. But I already knew that I believed it. My entirely theological understand of god and of the world had been eroded down. And so I said it, "I am an atheist."

"I am an atheist."

"I am an atheist."

I was still terrified. But the loop in my mind stopped. And I realized I hadn't believed in god in years. Everything I had been doing was trying to create an image of myself that my parents could be proud of. Also, there were those cultural aspects of Anglo-Catholicism that I could have fun doing, even if it was pointless motions and dressing up. I mean, I have a campy side. But all of that fell apart quickly when I finally accepted reality for the first time.

I had never read any Dawkins, or Harris, or Hitchens. I'm not even sure I knew there names at the time. But the entire super-structure of my theological beliefs came tumbling down. There was nothing I could do to hold them up. I didn't want to anymore. I am an atheist. :)

PS Even my screenname here is a referece to that past as Sarum Blue was my favorite liturgical color. The papists will say it's not liturgical color but I really dgaf.

If you're familiar with the stories of Teresa MacBain & Jerry DeWitt^[4], or any other graduates of The Clergy Project^[5], parts of his story probably sound familiar too.  It also reminded me a little of Matt Dillahunty's story .

I hope this guy wasn't scared off Reddit by the protest downvotes.  His story is quite common, our society is rough on people in his situation.  I hope he ended up using the link I gave him for Recovering From Religion^[7], as I think it would a great resource for him.

Studying religion has a way of turning people atheist, but disbelief is the expected outcome of people honestly investigating invalid claims.

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1.  http://mashable.com/2013/06/14/reddit-atheism-mods/
2.  http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/new/
3.  http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/1gb4w6/almost_became_a_priest_now_definitely_an_atheist/
4.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2012/12/twelve-apostates-former-clergy.html
5.  http://www.clergyproject.org/
6.  http://youtu.be/uzlZVHPJ5n4
7.  http://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Why I Come To Atheist Conventions

This was my second American Atheists Convention^[1][2].  My first was last year right after the Reason Rally^[3], which was also my first atheist convention in general).  I've been to two more since, last year's Midwest Freethought Conference^[4] (now called Apostacon^[5][6][7]) and Skepticon 5^[8][9].  I've enjoyed the conference so far, but I don't come to these things for the speakers.  Even with my social anxiety and lack of people skills, my reason for coming to these things is to meet other atheists.

It's not that I have a problem with having speakers at these things.  I enjoyed seeing some of them.  David Silverman^[10][11][12], Greta Christina^[13][14], JT Eberhard^[15][16], Matt Dillahunty^[17][18], and Katherine Stewart^[19][20] all gave good talks that I'm glad I didn't miss.  Jay Jay French^[21][22] , Pete Stark^[23], and Keith Lowell Jensen^[24][25][26] were highlights as well.  But, at these things, I'm usually not interested in more than half the speakers.  Even with some of the people who I really like (Christina Rad^[27][28][29], Hector Avalos^[30], Hemant Mehta^[31][32]), I'm not that interested in their talks.  Then there's the ones I wanted to see but missed due to a mix of time and exhaustion (Edwina Rogers^[33], Richard Carrier^[34], Dale McGowan^[35][36], Jerry DeWitt^[37][38], Cara Santa Maria,^[39][40] Seth Andrews^[41][42], Ophelia Benson^[43][44], Edwin Kagin^[45], Teresa MacBain^[46][47], and the Panels on Women in Atheism and Atheism vs Humanism).

Despite that impressive list of speakers, I do have some issues with the focus on them.  I've noticed, what seems to me at least, too much focus on the stage.  I'm guilty of it myself.  At the Reason Rally, I was so focused on the stage that I forgot to go see the protesters, something I had really looked forward to doing that day.  By focusing on the stage so much, I completely missed out on meeting some of the more than 20,000 other atheists there.  It was caused by a mix of excitement about the event and the weather, but it still happened.

Coming to these things is definitely worth it.  I just need to not forget that the real magic of it isn't on the schedule or on the stage.  It's in the hotel lobbies and at the bars.  It's when organizers for local groups meet and share ideas.

The speakers can sometimes have some interesting things to say or get people motivated to action, but they can also often be merely preaching to the choir and unnecessary.  I would love to see speaker lists that are less packed, with more room for actually socializing with the other atheists.  But without that, I'll keep on ignoring half the lineup on stage and mingling as best as this awkward geek with social anxiety is capable.

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1.  http://atheists.org/convention2013
2.  #AACon13
3.  http://reasonrally.org/
4.  http://youtu.be/8NCaRpkcGKk
5.  http://www.apostacon.org/
6.  @Apostacon
7.  http://www.facebook.com/Apostacon
8.  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDyZC8lflYBvkxmJGFeAihtz-OoDqVMy7
9.  @RealSkepticon
10.  http://www.atheists.org/
11.  http://youtu.be/2BCipg71LbI
12.  @MrAtheistPants
13.  http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/
14.  @GretaChristina
15.  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wwjtd/
16.  @jteberhard
17.  http://www.atheist-experience.com/people/matt_dillahunty/
18.  @Matt_Dillahunty
19.  http://www.thegoodnewsclub.com/about
20.  @kathsstewart
21.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Jay_French
22.  @jayjayfrench
23.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Stark
24.  http://www.youtube.com/user/klfly/videos?view=0&flow=grid
25.  @keithlowell
26.  http://www.facebook.com/kljfans
27.  http://www.youtube.com/user/ZOMGitsCriss
28.  http://freethoughtblogs.com/cristinarad/
29.  @ZOMGitsCriss
30.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Avalos
31.  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/
32.  @hemantmehta
33.  http://secular.org/node/637
34.  http://freethoughtblogs.com/carrier
35.  http://www.parentingbeyondbelief.com/
36.  @MemingOfLife
37.  http://youtu.be/BqaN0gZtQ-A
38.  @jerry_dewitt
39.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/cara-santa-maria
40.  @CaraSantaMaria
41.  http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/
42.  @ThinkingAtheist
43.  http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels
44.  @OpheliaBenson
45.  http://freethoughtblogs.com/kagin
46.  http://www.npr.org/2012/04/30/151681248/from-minister-to-atheist-a-story-of-losing-faith
47.  @Teresamacbain

Dishonesty About Honesty, Again

The subject of my last post^[1], read it and responded on the Twitters, where we were already conversing.

@tycapitalism @aparticulara Robert Fuller believes that atheism begins and ends with Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
— Damon Linker (@DamonLinker) March 10, 2013

I, of course, said no such thing.  It's difficult to tell if he really doesn't get it or if he's intentionally lying.  He went on to say:

@tycapitalism @aparticulara BTW, I love that passage from Pale Blue Dot. But I don't share Sagan's cheeriness about the message.
— Damon Linker (@DamonLinker) March 10, 2013

I already knew he didn't, by what he wrote in the article in question^[2].

If atheism is true, it is far from being good news. Learning that we're alone in the universe, that no one hears or answers our prayers, that humanity is entirely the product of random events, that we have no more intrinsic dignity than non-human and even non-animate clumps of matter, that we face certain annihilation in death, that our sufferings are ultimately pointless, that our lives and loves do not at all matter in a larger sense, that those who commit horrific evils and elude human punishment get away with their crimes scot free — all of this (and much more) is utterly tragic.

But, as anyone who read his article probably knows, he's twisting the views entirely backward.

Learning there's no god doesn't take away the answers of prayers that we already know don't get answered.  It takes away the threat of Hell.  It takes away a tyrant who makes mundane so-called "sin" punishable by death.  It takes away the idea that we're all inherently deserving of eternal torture.

Learning there's no afterlife does not mean our lives are meaningless.  It does the exact opposite.  The promise of an afterlife is what would make this life ultimately meaningless.  An eternal afterlife would make this short life, as Matt Dillahunty has put it, nothing more than a place to wipe your feet.

The knowledge that there's no afterlife means knowing this life is all we have.  It means having to get all we can out of this life, as there's nothing after this life is over.  That's far from meaningless.

And the idea that the absence of a god means "those who commit horrific evils and elude human punishment get away with their crimes scot free" is utter nonsense when said by a Christian, who believes believers in Jesus will get eternal bliss no matter what crimes they committed in their lives.  His religion not only states the evil will not be punished, it states evil will be rewarded.

So it's not the absence of his tyrant of a god that is "utterly tragic".  It's that god, and all the evils that come with it that is tragic.  It's the complete disregard for honesty many of that god's followers have that is tragic.

It's their unwillingness to have an honest discussion with anyone who doesn't agree with them that is tragic.

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1.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2013/03/dishonesty-about-honesty.html
2.  http://theweek.com/article/index/241108/where-are-the-honest-atheists

Twelve Apostates - Matt Dillahunty

I enjoy the media produced by the Atheist Community of Austin^[1].  I'm behind on the 2 podcasts, but I've been able to keep up on the Atheist Experience via the episodes various people have put on YouTube.

I've also been using YouTube to catch up on past episodes.  Roughly 150 so far.  All the hosts are good at what they do.  They achieve their stated goal of promoting positive atheism.  

They effectively counter the theist arguments presented to them by callers.  They all do so better than I'm able, and they do it better than most atheists I know.  But, as I suspect the rest of the hosts would agree, none do so as effectively as Matt Dillahunty.

When the show started in 1997 Dillahunty was still a Christian.

But when he eventually deconverted and joined the Austin folks, he took an already good show and made it better, just by knowing his stuff better than most.  He knows the Bible and the Christian arguments better than most Christians and even most atheists. 

He challenges stupid ideas, calls them stupid, and accurately details why they're stupid. He also makes it clear that he's attacking the ideas, not the people.  And he doesn't just attack the ideas randomly.  He's got a knack for attacking the foundation of wrong ideas.

^[2]

If there's anyone capable of filling the void left behind by the death of Christopher Hitchens, it's Matt Dillahunty.

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1.  The Atheist Experience, The Non Prophets, and Godless Bitches

2.  I picked that particular clip for 2 reasons.  One, it shows what I'm talking about regarding how Dillahunty doesn't call Christians in general stupid (a pet peeve of mine I'll be writing about soon), and two, it features another atheist I'm quite fond of, Dr Darrel Ray, founder of my favorite non-profit and all around good guy.