~ John Lennon ~

A group of SEA members are heading over to Kamloops this weekend to attend the 3rd annual conference hosted by the Kamloops Center for Rational Thought.  Speakers include Daniel Dennett, Richard Carrier, Internet sensation Mr. Deity, and many others.

Past conferences have seen sessions on critical thinking, the existence of Jesus, as well as morality without god(s) and the sciences behind why people believe in gods. This years line up sets the stage for a great weekend of learning, discussion and debate.

If you are interested in joining us there are a few tickets left, simply go to their site to register.  The car pool leaves Friday morning and arrives back in Edmonton on Monday night.  Please contact us if you would like to inquire about a space.

”Geologic”, as it’s known, touched down in Edmonton on May 1st,  hosted by the Society of Edmonton Atheists.   Plenty of laughter resounded while George entertained us with songs like ‘‘When I was Your Age”  and ‘‘Everything Will Die Someday”, and skits about alien visits and crop circles.   The event, which was held at Expressionz Cafe, was an wonderfully intimate affair, allowing attendees the chance to mingle with George Hrab and have their cd’s signed.    A small house after party allowed even more discussion and antics.         What fun!

If you missed the show, you can still get a cd or upload directly to your Itunes via the CDbaby site.   And don’t forget to check out George’s podcast which happens every Thursday.

Thanks so much for making the night entertaining George, it was an amazing show, we hope to enjoy your company in the near future!

*photo credit to Rodrigo

]]> http://www.edmontonatheists.ca/2013/05/george-hrab-found-edmonton/feed/ 0 http://www.edmontonatheists.ca/2013/05/people-of-the-book/ http://www.edmontonatheists.ca/2013/05/people-of-the-book/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 20:11:08 +0000 Karen http://www.edmontonatheists.ca/?p=81164 [...]]]>

The Society of Edmonton Atheists (SEA) Book Club is entering its fourth month. To date we have dispatched: Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, Carl Sagan’s The Demon-haunted World and Christopher Hitchens’ God is not Great. We are currently raking over Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the Spell.

As we hit upon a strategy of covering the classics of New Atheism’s four horsemen – Sam Harris’s The End of Faith is next up.

(An awareness of the New Atheist literary phenom as a socio-historic product is emerging. Exactly where this trail leads no one knows.)

Harris’s opus will be followed by: Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and A Universe from Nothing by the fifth horsemen, Lawrence Krauss.

(Books are chosen by an ad hoc consensus process.)

The format to date has been to divide the books into halves. The SEA Book Club then meets every second Sunday to discuss each half of the text. Deploying this method we conquer one tome per month.

Working through a book collectively and publically is far superior to skimming a book in private. SEA Book Club members benefit from each other’s perspectives and knowledge. The discussion involves a chapter by chapter review which is a valuable aid to memory. Differences of opinion emerge during the discussions and the friction generates as much light as heat.

A longer term perspective is useful. If the SEA Book Club holds to its present course then within a year of so we will have imbibed all the “must reads” of contemporary atheism.

The goal is not to become au courant atheist snobs (although this is a likely by-product). The goal is to keep abreast the latest, most effective atheist thinking. The goal is to complete the mandatory reading list which constitutes the price of admission into the arenas where atheists grapple for leadership. An unavoidable and well-grounded rule in such venues has always been: “those who do not study, neither shall they speak.”

A person’s joining of the Society of Edmonton Atheists is a physical declaration that they are no longer willing to be an isolate. Becoming a public atheist implies a commitment to an activist cause. While this activism may take many forms, discussion with, and persuasion of, members and non-members will be an omnipresent component. Joining the SEA Book Club manifests a further commitment to “fill one’s boots” so that when engaging in the debates of the modern atheist melee one occupies the vantage point of the well-informed.

The next two SEA Book Club meetings are Sunday May 12 and Sunday May 26 (7:00 to 9:00 PM) at the Second Cup 9236, Oliver Square 11640 – 104^th Ave. The topic will be Dennett’s Breaking the Spell.

The mother-ship is leaving. Don’t be left behind.

–written by S.E.A. book club member–

This year the River Valley Clean up project was on May 5th from Louise McKinney Park.  Four S.E.A. volunteers were out sporting fancy gloves and litter grabbers, spending two hours ”putting litter in it’s place” while enjoying a bit of sun at the same time.   The Edmonton River Valley area, and all of us that enjoy that part of the city, thank you!

If you are interested in donating your hair check out their website here, or find a local hairdresser that can help you out.

Between both ladies, nearly 2 feet of  hair was donated!  Well done!                                  

Check out all the pictures on our facebook page.

This is the start of the Society of Edmonton Atheists’ sixth year, and I’m looking forward to it. We’ve come a long way in six years, and are at the point where media outlets and religious organizations are contacting us to gain a non-religious perspective on topics of interest to them.

If you have any questions, ideas for activities, or would like to volunteer, contact us, and we’ll get you involved.

We have some major events coming up. If you’re new to the SEA, or have never managed to make it to an event, I’d encourage you to make the effort to attend one.
Wednesday, May 1 @ 7pm – George Hrab: Where the heck is Edmonton?

Musician, podcaster, and skeptic, George Hrab will be performing in Edmonton. See the event announcement for more details and ticket information. Two tickets are available for the road trip to pick George up in Calgary.

Tuesday, May 7 @ 7pm – KikiPlanet: Turning Your Orbit Around

At May’s regular Round Table event, we will hear from Kathleen George Smith aka Kikki Planet, an Edmonton author/blogger/tweeter/columnist/mother of four. We are very happy to be able to introduce her to our growing circle and gain, and maybe share, some insights.

Saturday, June 8 @ 11am – Edmonton Pride Parade & Festival

The SEA will be participating in the Pride parade again this year, and have a booth in Churchill Square afterward. Keep your eye open for details on our theme for the parade, and opportunities to help out with the booth.

Saturday, June 22 @ 4pm – Annual Summer Solstice Picnic & Potluck

Bring your favourite potluck food, some games and the kids, and enjoy our annual family picnic. Rain or shine, it’s always a blast.

We are also working on arranging a public Q&A with Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk. Once we have the details, there will be an announcement.

Our regular events (brunch, book club, and round table discussions) are also continuing this year, and we have an assortment of other events planned already. Take a look at the right side of our website, or Facebook for the details.

I’d also like to welcome the Board of Directors for 2013, with some new and some old faces:

Thanks for your time, and I look forward to meeting everyone new!

Marion Kilgour
President, Society of Edmonton Atheists

Buy your tickets here.

Tickets are $15 for SEA members, $17 for non-members, or $20 at the door.

There are also two tickets available at $75 each for the road trip to Calgary and back to pick George up. We’ll be leaving the morning of the show. Tickets include admission to the show.

Expressionz Cafe – 9938 70 Ave NW
Doors open @ 7 pm
Showtime @ 7:30 pm

Who is George Hrab, you ask?

www.GeorgeHrab.com
www.GeologicPodcast.com

Multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer, composer, and heliocentrist George Hrab has written and produced six independent CDs; published one book; recorded hundreds of episodes of an award winning podcast; and even performed for President Clinton— all in a personal quest to improve his audience’s cognitive skills by reaching them through their funny bones and dance shoes.

George has gained international notoriety by producing an award-winning weekly show called The Geologic Podcast which features humor, sketches, and skeptical/free-thinking commentary through various segments.

Exposure through his show has led George to travel around the world, performing his songs in a solo acoustic setting. Along with his superlative musicianship and clever songwriting, these intimate shows are known to showcase his quick wit and incendiary social commentary. He’s been a featured performer as well as Master of Ceremonies for James Randi’s The Amaz!ng Meeting—including TAMs in Las Vegas, London, and Australia—and as a special guest/performer in the Galapagos on the JREF’s Amaz!ng Adventure.

George toured both Australia and New Zealand as part of a fan-organized “Styrofoam Tour,” where he played to standing room crowds in Brisbane, Melbourne, Christchurch, Auckland, Adelaide and Canberra; and also performed in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Ireland as part of his “Golden Ticket Tour.”

He was asked to write the theme song to the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast and premiered the song FAR at the 213th American Astronomical Society Meeting in Long Beach, California. His Occasional Songs for the Periodic Table, a 118-part song cycle featuring a song for each element of the periodic table, has been described as the first “true geek symphony.”

George’s range of skills include being the drummer and music director for the nationally recognized 70s soul tribute band, The Philadelphia Funk Authority; publishing a collection of essays called Non-Coloring Book; and even lecturing on diverse topics from jazz history to science—including a science track discussion about the non-radiometric evidence for the earth’s age at Atlanta’s Dragon*Con convention.

George is considered one of the preeminent skeptic/science/atheist/geek-culture music icons currently living in his apartment.

Admission is free, but please register on their page. There are refreshments afterward, and they use the registrations to determine how much to bring.

Registration: http://www.islamevents.ca/register?e=20130210221957539

21 March 2013 @ 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Telus Centre, University of Alberta (Map)

   Interfaith 2013 Final Program

http://video.citytv.com/video/detail/2187647437001.000000/athiests-and-the-office-of-religious-freedom/

If you want to know all of what Luke wanted to talk about, read on!

RE: Opening of The Office for Religious Freedom

I think that before we go off around the World telling everybody else what to do, I think we have to take a look at ourselves first and ask ourselves “are we walking the walk?”

Given that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that ALL religions have equal rights that seems at odds with the preferential treatment accord the Catholic religion both in Ontario & here in Alberta with our fully funded Catholic schools. In fact the United Nations Committee on Human Rights has censured Canada TWICE for these discriminatory & unfair systems. Yet we seem quite happy to ignore this.

A senior Canadian Court (Zylberberg v Sudbury Board of Education, 1988) also ruled that segregating children in our Public Schools into ‘Christians’ and “Everybody else” for the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer denied minority religion and non-religious children their Charter Rights – it denied them the “Fundamental Freedom” of “Freedom FROM religion” – yet not only do we continue this practice every day in Albertan Public Schools, it’s actually part of the latest Education Act.

So here we are knowingly discriminating against minority religions with tax payer money and denying our children their Charter Rights in our Public Schools. Yet we don’t seem that worried about either.

That hypocrisy doesn’t seem like the best basis for us to go and tell other people what to do.

As far as the actual Office of Religious Freedoms is concerned there are a number of worrying signs.
Firstly, John Baird (Foreign Affairs Minister) closed last year the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development after quarter of a century. A vehicle that seemed a far more appropriate way to go about tackling this issue.

Instead he has opened the Office of Religious Freedoms and while he consulted with a number of religious groups, not one secular group was invited to participate. This is not perhaps surprising given his 2012 statement, “We know that freedom of religion does not mean freedom from religion.”. Our Minister for Foreign Affairs may be surprised to learn that the Supreme Court of Canada disagrees with him. (R. V Big M Drug Mart,1985)

Further, another statement from him last year, “We don’t see agnosticism or atheism as being in need of defense in the same way persecuted religious minorities are.” would suggest that he is either unfamiliar or unconcerned with the reality for a large number of the two billion non-religious human beings in this World (more than a third of the World’s population and growing).

If he was to familiarize himself with the report produced last year; ‘Freedom of Thought 2012: A Global Report on Discrimination Against Humanists, Atheists and the Nonreligious’ he would be aware that discrimination and persecution against the non-religious goes on in at least 60 countries around the World.

I can be executed by the state in 7 countries for simply not believing in a god.
It is illegal for me to be an atheist in dozens of others, including some where I can lose my citizenship from the country of my birth for being an atheist.

The non-religious are routinely jailed in many countries, sometimes for blasphemy – such as the case with Alexander Aan in Indonesia who made the mistake of posting “There is no god” on Facebook. He was attacked by an angry mob. Sentenced to two and a half years for blasphemy. And then severely beaten by the other inmates in prison for the same crime.

Just last week in Bangladesh tens of thousands of angry protesters rioted (resulting in 4 dead), demanding the death sentence for 4 atheist bloggers.

In a number of countries I can be denied health care, education, the right to drive, the right to adopt children, the right to marry.

The right to freedom of expression, equality and security of the person should and do supersede the right to religion-based practices . The Human rights & wellbeing of women, of gays and of children must come before ‘Religious Freedoms’. “Religious Freedoms” are recognized as being superseded by fundamental Human Rights by both International Law & The Supreme Court of Canada. Yet these laws and rights are rountinely ignored and violated for religious privilege.

But it isn’t just happening in the countries you might consider the most likely suspects. We see Religious Privilege put ahead of fundamental human rights in Western Countries too. Even here in Canada we have laws against ‘the promotion of hatred’, yet there are special exemptions in that legislation which permit the expression of opinions on religious subjects and opinions based on religious texts which would otherwise be prohibited.

Last year in the UK a man was threatened with arrest under the Public Order Act if he did not take a sign down from his window saying “religions are fairy stories for adults”. Now balance that against the thousands of churches, billboards, advertisements & literature that make often all manner of positive assertions regarding religion.

In Poland a musician was fined $1,450 for ‘offending religious feelings’ when she said in a 2012 interview that the Bible is full of “unbelievable tales.”

In the US 7 states ban atheists from public office and one even prevents atheists from giving evidence in court.

Persecution & discrimination against the non-religious is rampant in the World, yet this office and the minister responsible for it seems to either not know or not care.

The sad irony of the whole situation is that this Office should really be called “The Office of protecting religious people from the religious oppression of religious people that think they are exercising their religious rights.”

I’m interested to see how the “Office of religious Freedoms” handles the issue of ‘blasphemy’. Will it clearly side with Canadian & International Law saying that criminalizing & punishing people (or threatening to do so) is totally unnacceptable – or will it be wishy-washy on the subject to try and placate the religious?

The same with ‘apostasy’ – death for leaving the religion of your family. Will it tackle the problem of millions & millions of humans being bullied into a denial of there most basic Rights, “Freedom of expression”,”Equality” & “Personal Security of the person”?

And what about basic ‘judgement’ & ostracization. It’s a real problem & not just ‘over there’. It happens here, the US, Europe. Wives shut up. Sons kotow. And children that disagree are cast out.

So given our government has an office to protect the religious, who’s looking out for the non-religious in all this?

Don’t think it’s real? I walked in to the studios this morning and the security guard said, “Thank You. I’m an atheist. Thank you for speaking up about this.” I’m in the Green Room and the ‘helper’ tells me the story of her Islamic friend here in Edmonton. She renounced Islam and was kicked onto the streets by her family at 13.

It was a sincere privilege to be able to represent SEA this morning and I thank you for that opportunity.

The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan, Chapters 13-25