Annual General Meeting Re-Cap

 Events, News, SEA Events  1 Response »
Apr 082014
 

Hello everyone! 

Our Annual General Meeting was Monday night and we appreciate all of those members that managed to make it out. We realize that general meetings aren’t always the most exciting of meetings, but they are important as a way to keep members informed and a requirement for us to be a registered non-profit.

Our financial statements were reviewed and finalized and a few things voted on for use of our money in the upcoming year. We voted to make arrangements to book a guest speaker (who will incur a speakers fee), and voted to donate the cost of our snacks and lunch for the day we volunteer at Habitat for Humanity from our current funds. The group also approved moving forward with bus ads this year, which will mean fundraising and proposals for donations.

Other items discussed were ideas for upcoming roundtables (topics and guest speakers), more frequent pub nights and movie nights, and some other details concerning upcoming events like Pride Parade and Imagine No Religion conference in Kamloops. Congratulations to member, Niles, who won the door prize of a free ticket to INR4!

If you haven’t made it out to an event yet, we have plenty to choose from. You can find them listed on the right side of our website or on the event page and on our facebook group.

It was a productive evening with some solid plans for the 2014-2015 year. I think we are on the cusp of some growth and movement this year, with exciting events and maybe even a little (hopefully positive!) media attention. Let’s make sure any atheist, freethinker, secular humanist, agnostic, skeptic and seeker out there knows who we are and that we are here!

BOARD ELECTIONS

Marion Kilgour, the President of the Society for 2013-2014, chose to become the returning officer this upcoming year. I can’t thank her enough for her work with the SEA, Marion has been an extremely important part of keeping the group running and does a lot behind the scenes to keep the cogs turning. I also want to thank everyone that has been on the board in years past for setting up the wheels, so that we are ready this year to keep the momentum driving forward.

Here is your newly elected board for the 2014-2015 year:

President Karen Lumley Kerr
Vice-President Allan Bassil
Secretary Richard Robinson
Recording Secretary Maryna Goncharenko
Treasurer Jeffrey Van Alstine
Past President Marion Kilgour
Director Luke Fevin
Director Robert Chamberlain
Director Harriet Huestis
Director Kerri Hildebrandt


I hope to see plenty of new faces this year and am looking forward to the exciting things we have planned!

 

Karen Lumley Kerr
President, Society of Edmonton Atheists

 

Answers In Genesis? – a review of Ken Ham in Edmonton

 Christianity, Religions  1 Response »
Apr 072014
 

Last night myself and another member attended the presentation at Meadowlark Baptist Church featuring Ken Ham and Dr. David Menton (Ken’s brother Steve was also there) to listen to them discuss two topics. Ken presented ‘’Evolution, scoffers and the Last Days’’, while David Menton gave us a detailed view of skin and hair and their ‘’design’’ in his talk ‘’Beauty is skin deep’’.

I’ve often wondered why young earth vs old earth was such a big deal from a theistic viewpoint, surely the key point is salvation through accepting Jesus as your saviour, so chose to play the theistic evolutionist for the night to see if I could find my answer to that. I wasn’t there to be confrontational and was worried being labelled an atheist would shut down conversation. I regret misrepresenting myself now, honesty is important to me so I should have just been upfront, but anyway, let’s move on…..

Ken Ham t-shirt

Continue reading »

 Posted by at 1:25 PM

Enter to win!!

 News, Other events, People  No Responses »
Mar 172014
 

We’ve had a very generous donation of a full ticket (not including banquet, sessions only) to the IMAGINE NO RELIGION conference in Kamloops this May, to be given away as a door prize at our annual general meeting!

To be entered you simply have to show up and enter the door prize draw at the meeting on Monday April 7th.   Hope to see you there!

To find out more information about the conference check out the website and speakers list at imaginenoreligion.ca.
INR4

 Posted by at 8:53 AM

Think you might want to be on the Board of Directors?

 People, SEA Events  No Responses »
Mar 152014
 

Our 2014/2015 Board of Directors will be elected on Monday, April 7, at this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). There will be positions with no incumbent Board members this year, as a few of our current members have decided not to run for elected positions. The elected Board consists of these positions: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer (or one Secretary/Treasurer position), Recording Secretary, and four Directors. The Past President is also usually part of the Board.

What’s involved in being on the Board?

For more detail on each of the positions, we’ve put together descriptions of the positions. In most cases, the time commitment is only 1-2 hours a week, plus attendance at a monthly 2 hour Board meeting, and some events every month. If you’re already coming to events, then it’s not much more effort to be a Board member. We have tasks that need doing no matter what your interests are, whether you love getting out to network with people, or would rather make sure that everything in the background is organized.

Why would I join the Board?

While our members and volunteers have a big influence over how and what happens, the Board has a large amount of influence over the direction of the SEA. Do you want to see us heading in a specific direction, such as more activism, or more interaction with the city’s religious groups? Then the Board might be a good place for you to do that. It’s also a great way to learn new skills or, if your’re comfortable mentioning the SEA on the resume, show employers that you’ve volunteered in a leadership position.

How do I get elected?

Don’t worry, there isn’t a hard-fought election campaign involved. At the AGM, nominations are suggested by members for each position and voted on, starting with President, and ending with the Directors. Nominations can also be submitted ahead of time, you can nominate yourself, and you can be nominated for more than one position. This year, there is time set aside to mingle, talk to people about their nomination or vote, and ask candidates questions before the vote takes place.

What If I can’t attend the AGM but want to be on the Board?

You can still let us know ahead of time what position(s) you would like to run for, and one of the Board members will put your name forward at the AGM. If you would like to write up an explanation of why you should be elected to that position, we can have it read out as well.

What if I have no experience?

Don’t worry! There aren’t any tasks on the Board that are very complicated. If you’re willing to learn, we’re willing to teach you.

Ken Ham coming to Edmonton…

 Christianity, Other events, Religions  7 Responses »
Mar 132014
 

Didn’t think there were young earth creationists here in Northern Alberta?  Well think again!

Looks like Ken Ham, along with his younger brother Steve, are doing a whistle stop tour to the Capital City in April, giving presentations at two Edmonton Churches.    Ken will be presenting at West Meadows Baptist Church on April 4-6th, and then Meadowlands Baptist Church on the 6th in the evening.   The topics he’ll be discussing are : Is Genesis Relevant in 2014? ; Genetics and the Origin of the ”Races”;  Six Days and the Authority of Scripture ; How to communicate the gospel in our secular community; and Evolution, Scoffers and the Last Days.   Hopefully he puts some of his newfound knowledge from the debate with Bill Nye into these presentations……but I suspect not.

I know that Creation Ministries were here in Spruce Grove last year and it was interesting that the two day event saw a decrease in attendance on the second day, almost as if the church congregation weren’t buying it.   What do you think will happen when Ken Ham visits though?  Is he a big enough name to fill the seats regardless?
Ken Ham in Edmonton

 Posted by at 9:57 PM

March Board meeting update

 News  No Responses »
Mar 122014
 

Header board members

The main topic of our discussion this week at the board meeting was the Annual General Meeting, which happens next month in place of the Roundtable Event.  All current members have the ability to run and vote for the board.  We’ll also be having a meet and greet session, and are hoping to have time after the elections to look to the next year and discuss some things you’d like S.E.A to accomplish.

If you are interested in running for a board position you will either have to ask someone to nominate you or you can self nominate.   There are four executive positions:   President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer;  and then four director positions.  If you are interested in finding out a bit more about the positions and what they entail check out our board duties and expectations page.

Other items discussed were:

Pride Parade – we’ve had our approval for both the parade and a booth.  The board have been working to put together some brochures and material that we can give out and we are in the final stages of approving those.  If anyone is interested in helping organize for Pride please let us know, or make sure you sign up at the AGM

PrideTheme_LogoOnly_2014_rgb

Outreach – The St. Albert United church has been in touch with us about creating a more inclusive environment in their church.  We have suggested some outreach such as ”Ask An Atheist” after a sermon.  We are in the discussing phase right now, but will keep everyone posted on progress.   Ideally we’d like to create a small outreach team for events like this, if you are interested in leading or being involved let us know.

Website – We’re still looking for people to help with content for the website, so if you like to blog or pass on information about atheism in the news you are welcome to contribute.

Upcoming Events -  April is the AGM, and in May we have a guest speaker from Dying With Dignity.  We have a few ideas and leads for speakers/topics, but are interested in what you would find interesting….What topics would you like to see discussed?
DWD Logo (1)

Is the Concept of Martyrdom Justified in Religion?

 Events, Other events, Religions  8 Responses »
Mar 112014
 

The  Ahmadiyya Muslim Students Association (AMSA) at the U of A are holding a debate/discussion about the topic: “Is the concept of martyrdom justified in religion?”    This event will be taking place on March 20 in The Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex U of A, room 1-007 at 6 o’clock. There will be speakers representing the Atheist (a member of the UAAA), Christian, Sikh, and Muslim points of view.  This is a free event, but they are taking donations for the Edmonton food bank.

Uof A discussion

**This event is not affiliated or run by the Society of Edmonton Atheists but we did think it would be of interest for our members.

 Posted by at 10:08 AM

2014 Annual General Meeting

 SEA Events  No Responses »
Feb 222014
 

Monday, April 7, 2014 will be this year’s SEA Annual General Meeting (AGM), formally starting at 7:00 pm, Stanley A. Milner Library, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square, 6th Floor, Room 7. We will have greeters, but you may need to ask a security guard to let you up to the 6th floor.

Please take a look at the AGM information page for details and the agenda.

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