americanatheists

OK so here’s what was published:

BLAINE, Minn. – Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told supporters Friday that “Democrat partisans” had pressured organizers of an anti-Iran rally in New York next week to withdraw an invitation for her to appear. “This should be an issue that unites all Americans. Iran should not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, period,” Palin said at a rally here. “Unfortunately, some Democrat partisans put politics first and now no elected official can appear. This should not be a matter of partisan politics.” Palin had been set to attend the rally protesting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad organized by major Jewish organizations and sponsored by the National Coalition to Stop Iran Now. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton also had been scheduled to appear at the rally, but canceled after learning Palin would be there, too.The former first lady, who suspended her own presidential bid in June, has sought to avoid any appearance with Palin, who has emerged as the new female star of the 2008 campaign.On Thursday, organizers announced that they had withdrawn their invitation for Palin to attend, saying they did not want the event to be overtly political. GOP hopeful John McCain criticized the move in a statement to reporters Thursday, suggesting Obama backers pressed for Palin to be disinvited.

But guess what –it wasn’t the dems at all — it was the Jews! Yes, we can really, truly blame the Jews on this one — in particular the Zionists. http://www.jstreet.org

We collected over 20,000 signatures in 24 hours asking Iran Unity rally organizer Malcolm Hoenlein to take Sarah Palin off the schedule for Monday’s rally, and he caved to our pressure on Thursday afternoon citing the fact that the rally had become too partisan.This is the right decision. A unity rally to express communal solidarity is no place for partisan politics. And to give such prominence to Sarah Palin alone would have spoken neither to, nor for, the American Jewish community.This is a victory not just for the 20,188 others who signed J Street’s petition. It’s a victory for the broader community. And we’re pleased the rally’s organizers came to their senses so quickly.Victories like these don’t come easily – or often. But when they do, we should savor them, at least briefly.We’ll be back at it tomorrow, because our next task is making sure that the messages at the rally reflect the view of a majority of Americans – Jewish and otherwise – that the best way to deal with Iran is through tough, smart diplomacy – not saber rattling and threats of force.

I guess it’s more politically correct to blame the blameless than it is to blame the Jews, even if they really DID do it!

It’s not too early — make plans now to join us for a seasonal tradition! The 2008 AMERICAN ATHEISTS Winter Solstice Gala & CESAALA Dedication Friday, December 12,Saturday, December 13, 2008http://www.atheists.org/wintersolstice.html Mark your calendar now for a weekend of exciting events hosted by American Atheists and the Charles E. Stevens American Atheist Library & Archives (CESAALA)Join us Friday afternoon, December 12, 2008 for an Open House and Dedication ceremony at the American Atheists Center in Cranford, NJ, and a tour of the largest private archive of Atheist, Freethough and related materials in the United States. This welcoming event runs from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM, with a special ribbon-cutting at 1:30 to dedicate the remodeled Center and CESAALA facility, along with the new Eddie Tabash Conference Room. Special guided tours will be conducted. Included in the CESAALA facility are over 25,000 bound volumes, plus over 500,000 related items ? pamphlets, signed letters, historical ephemera and other items that tell the story and preserve the legacy of Atheism and Freethought in America!On Saturday, December 13, 2008, join us (11:30 AM ? 4:00 PM) at the luxurious Crown Plaza Hotel n nearby Clark, NJ for the American Atheists 2008 Winter Solstice Gala featuring entertainment, speakers, great food and company and much, much more! Following the Solstice bash, make the short drive to the American Atheist Center for a live taping of the The Atheist Viewpoint television show in our new Conference Center, and more tours of our facility including CESAALA. AND MAKE A FULL WEEKEND OF IT! We?ve arranged for a special rate at the Crowne Plaza Hotel that includes ?shoulder dates? to allow you to visit the area, including nearby New York City! Rail transportation to Manhattan and other points is available at Cranford and Iselin-Metro Park. To qualify for the special rate of $109.00 (plus tax) per night ? effective Thursday 12/11 through Wednesday 12/17) ? you must make your arrangements directly with the Crown Plaza Hotel. Call them at 732-574-0100, or visit their web site.Registration for the American Atheists 2008 Winter Solstice Gala is $34.00 per person ($17 for children ten and under) and includes all taxes and gratuities. There will be a cash bar. Register on-line using our secure transaction server below. Hurray, and reserve your seat now!Helpful LinksRegister Online at http://www.atheists.org/wintersolstice.html

The Southern Baptists are continuing their centuries long silliness–see http://www.ajc.com/living/content/living/stories/2008/09/18/gospel_magazine_pulled.htmlHere’s my take: The current fight among the Southern Baptists–who are bickering, bizarrely enough, over where or whether to display a Christian publication featuring five women pastors on the cover–demonstrates just how absurd religion gets. The angry female pastors involved are of course right to be offended at anyone objecting. But the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention are right that anyone who takes the Bible seriously should not allow women to be teaching men in churches–that’s actually what Paul commands in the New Testament. This is not a church/state issue, and the Southern Baptists will have to resolve this dilemma without any help from Atheists. But this is yet another piece of evidence that we’d all be better off without religion.Ed Buckner

OK we did a thread on secular churches. Now, let’s talk Humanists. Of course, American Atheists shares lots of members — and goals — with Humanist groups. Thanks for your support.

CALLING ALL NON-BELIEVERS: Express yourself in a HumanLight Design ContestHumanLight is a holiday celebrated around December 23rd specifically to acknowledge reason, family, friendship, and other shared, secular values of humankind. To learn more, visit the website: http://www.humanlight.orgThe HumanLight Committee is hosting a HumanLight Holiday card and ornament design contest for secularists of all ages. Contestants should design an artistic expression to positively address these questions or some aspect of the HumanLight holiday.What do we have to celebrate during the winter holiday season? What do you hope for in the future? What’s the Humanist view/perspective? ELIGIBILITY: All are welcome to enter! Category 1: Ages 11 and under. Category 2: Ages 12-17. Category 3: Ages 18 and up. One entry per artist. All media, (painting, printmaking, collage, digital art, photography, or perhaps something even more creative?) is accepted.TO APPLY: Email the image as a high resolution (at least 300 dpi) JPEGto humanlightcontest@gmail.com. In the body of the email, include the artist’s name, age, what country and state (if it applies) he or she is from, and what method he or she used to create the image. DEADLINE for entries is November 1, 2008.Judge: Martha Knox is a fine artist, Humanist celebrant, art teacher, and Director of the Humanist Association of Greater Philadelphia.Prizes: Three images will be selected, 1 from each age category. Cards and ornaments displaying all three winners will be available for purchase at the HumanLight merchandise webpage. Each prize winner will receive an ornament and set of cards with their image, as well as some HumanLight candy! The winners and their designs will also be featured on the main HumanLight website www.humanlight.org.All images in this contest are owned by the artist. By submitting images to this contest, the artist agrees to grant the HumanLight Committee the right to print or otherwise re-publish the submitted images in marketing or web materials for the purpose of promoting HumanLight so long as credit is given to the artist as the original creator of the image(s). All proceeds from HumanLight merchandise sales will go toward further promotion of HumanLight.Spread the word!

There aren’t many issues for which I sit on the fence, but this is one great big fat one. Do we call ourselves a religion in an effort to gain equality and membership in the movement? If you take the absolute broadest definition of the term “religion” and squint really hard, you can force Atheism to fit (the same goes for baseball fans). Theists love to do that, and from a debating perspective I’d love to take that card away from them. This is certainly not the correct usage of the term, but we’re arguing semantics, and isn’t that irrelevant anyway (semantics change over time)?Is that copping out? Is copping out a bad thing? One side of me says “don’t you DARE group me in with the sheep following invisible men in the sky”, and the other side says “call me anything you like if it gets me equality and fair treatment (easy tax deductions, faith-based money, etc)”.There is no easy answer, in my opinion. At American Atheists we are a “big umbrella” organization, so we gladly welcome Atheists who support the idea of a freethought church, as well as those who are utterly repulsed by the idea. I’m not repulsed, but I find it difficult to decide on which side of the fence to fall.

(thanks Zac)http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=1877The Atheon Temple of Science is an art project conceived by Jonathan Keats. Using a grant from UC Berkeley’s Chancellor’s Community Partnership fund, he created the Atheon in downtown Berkeley office building. Four millennia after Abraham fathered Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and 150,000 years after hominids introduced burial rituals to the Mediterranean, religion has finally been rendered wholly compatible with science. Beginning on September 27, 2008, a two-story downtown Berkeley building dubbed “the Atheon” will provide a spiritual home for rational people in California, and guidance to acolytes worldwide. Establishment of an Atheon has been a high priority in the scientific community for the past several years, rivaling even enthusiasm for the new Large Hadron Collider. “When you listen to people like Nobel-laureate cosmologist Steven Weinberg, or Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins, you hear a lot of talk about how god-based religion is out-of-date,” says conceptual artist Jonathon Keats. “The leading minds believe that science can and should provide a spiritually satisfying replacement. But until recently no one bothered to consider what form that alternative might take.” The temporary facility features stained glass windows showing the cosmic microwave background radiation using NASA’s new WMAP satellite data.

Here’s another version — The Church of Reality, headed up by my friend Marc.http://www.churchofreality.org/wisdom/welcome_home/

The Church of Reality is not just a religion of science, it is a religion of people. We explore reality from the human perspective. In order to explore reality, we need a strong, healthy society where people can live freely and peacefully, and the human race can evolve toward a better future. The pursuit of reality is something that is a shared process. It’s something we do together as a church, as a community, and as the human race.We are about Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Reality!The Church of Reality provides a religious identity for people who have made a personal commitment to pursue reality the way it really is. When we are asked, “What religion are you?,” we answer that we are Realists; we practice Reality because we believe in Reality. We also provide a sense of community, a social structure, and a moral compass to define right and wrong. We provide a sense of purpose about who we are, why we exist, and how we live our lives, in the context of science and logic.

The Church of England owes Charles Darwin an apology for misunderstanding his theory of evolution and making errors over its reaction to it, a senior clergyman said today.In a bid to recognize its faults in the run up to next year’s 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth, the church has launched a series of articles on its website.An essay by the Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, the church’s head of public affairs, called Good Religion Needs Good Science directly addresses Darwin. It concludes: “We try to practice the old virtues of ‘faith seeking understanding’ and hope that makes some amends. But the struggle for your reputation is not over yet, and the problem is not just your religious opponents but those who falsely claim you in support of their own interests.”Good religion needs to work constructively with good science ? and I dare to suggest that the opposite may be true as well.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/15/anglicanism.evolutionHe had me until that last part — good science needs to ignore religion completely.

Just to let y’all know the blog and the web site will be changing in the next couple of months. Even if you only browse by every now and then, you will shortly see vast improvements in the NGB, the Atheists.org and magazine web sites. More functionality, better user interface, more information. It’s all coming. Please stand by…

In April I was named the South Florida Regional Director for AA and I am President of a rather new, but rapidly growing local group called FLorida Atheists and Secular Humanists (FLASH) with 4 locations around South Fla.We are trying a fund raising raffle to fund our public science education events (Darwin Day and Carl Sagan Day). It would be a great help if it could be mentioned on the “what’s new” section of AA’s website and even in the magazine. We are only selling 250 tickets at $50 each. The trip include RT air to Ecuador, hotel, transfers, Galapagos park fees and 5 days on a large yacht. details and tickets are available at http://www.freethoughtflorida.com/cruise.htmlThank you for your time,Ken Loukinen, South Florida Regional Director, American AtheistsPresident, FLorida Atheists and Secular Humanists

URBANA, Ill. (AP) ? A Catholic priest on the University of Illinois campus has been charged with selling cocaine from his church office and rectory.The Reverend Christopher Layden pleaded not guilty Thursday to two counts of delivery of less than 1 gram of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church and one count of possession with intent to deliver 1 to 15 grams of cocaine near a church.The 33-year-old was arrested Wednesday at St. John’s Catholic Newman Center after investigators found 3 grams of cocaine and drug paraphernalia while searching his home and office. His bond was set at $50,000.The Catholic Diocese of Peoria says it has suspended Layden.His attorney, Mark D. Lipton, did not immediately respond to an after hours message seeking comment.

What happens when you bend over to toot your coke from your priest? It’s just too easy.Those silly Catholics, with their rape and drugs and deviant sexual behavior. If only they had a moral compass like us Atheists. If only they knew that saying “I’m sorry” to an invisible man in the sky was NOT the same as actually refraining from doing it again. And again. And again.BUT those crimes (selling in/near a church) are bogus to begin with. Why is selling near a church considered worse than selling in an office building — like selling near a school? A crime is a crime, church or no church.But now, Father snorts-a-lot will pay for the crime anyway. At least his god forgives him.

Ladies and gentlemen,As the National Spokesperson for American Atheists, I am proud to introduce our new President, Dr. Ed Buckner.Many of you who are active in the movement will know of Dr. Buckner’s accomplishments, originating in the Atlanta Chapter of the Society of Separationists (then an American Atheists affiliated corporation), helping to grow the Atlanta Freethought Society through its formative years, and then most recently serving as the Executive Director of the Counsel for Secular Humanism.A hardcore Atheist, Dr. Buckner has written, spoken, debated, and appeared often in the media, both locally and nationally. He has been on MSNBC, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, Fox News, the Michael Medved Show, CNN, the national CBS Radio News, NPR, and on nearly every local media outlet (radio or television) in the Atlanta and Buffalo areas, most repeatedly. He’s been quoted, sometimes at length, in newspapers all over the nation and, occasionally, elsewhere in the world, been a featured guest on many Internet broadcast shows, and given the keynote address for Atheists Alliance International. Dr Buckner has debated or spoken in Alabama, California, Connecticut, DC, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and a few times outside the U.S. He earned a doctorate (1983) and M.Ed. (1975) from Georgia State University; B.A., English, Rice University, 1967.We had a FANTASTIC response from world-class atheist leaders for this position, and on behalf of the Board of Directors I thank every applicant.Please help me welcome Dr. Ed Buckner, President of American Atheists!Ed’s first official statement follows:

Dear American Atheists Members, Volunteers, and Supporters,I?m deeply honored to have been named as President of American Atheists by the Board. I?m determined to show all of you, in due course, that the Board, which had an important but difficult decision, was wise to choose me. I don?t know all the details of who else applied, but I know enough to know that the list of applicants included many Atheists of the first order, men and women of great promise, intelligence, creativity, and accomplishment, including leaders from within American Atheists and from beyond. While this makes me even prouder of being chosen, it also puts great pressure on me to work hard.I promise?1. I will put American Atheists and her members first.2. The many other leaders and supporters of the group who make themselves available to help, with advice or work or financial contributions, will be welcomed and encouraged.3. Communication will be a top priority, especially with Atheists wise and strong enough to be card-carrying members. The excellent blog that David Silverman edits will be a major part of that?I will read and take seriously what all of you choose to say there. I will at least occasionally contribute to the comments, always openly and under my own name. The American Atheist web-site will, with the help of many, be kept up to date.4. American Atheists will remain true to its proud heritage as the vanguard of American atheism and religious liberty; we have always been the most forthright, unabashed, unapologetic, confident people in this nation who have no religion, and that will continue.5. American Atheists will openly cooperate with and support other groups, local, national, or international, to the extent that doing so will serve the interests of our philosophy and our members. The only exceptions to this promise will come where there are conflicts with # 4, above. 6. If a local group of American Atheists anywhere in this nation wants me or some other official representative of the organization to visit, to speak or to debate against some bombastic preacher or condescending media personality, we will do everything we can to fulfill that want.7. If a newspaper, radio program, TV program, or Internet show anywhere in this nation invites me or some other official representative of the organization to speak or to debate against some religious leader, we will do everything we can to fulfill that invitation.8. The Center in Cranford New Jersey, including our fine library, will be protected and enhanced to improve its usefulness to members and to future Atheists.I?m not Frank Zindler or Ellen Johnson or Jon Murray or Madalyn Murray O?Hair, and I won?t pretend to be?but I hope to demonstrate that the best days of American Atheists are ahead, not historical. I?m grateful, and I think all of us should be profoundly grateful, to our previous leaders, who have stood strongly and proudly for us, helping us protect our rights, our reputations, and our freedom. All of them have demonstrated wonderful creativity, wit and humor, extraordinary intelligence, and profound courage on our behalf.Anyone who wants to know more about me can send me an e-mail message and I?ll send you a copy of what I submitted to the board when I applied.I invite you to hold me accountable.Sincerely,Ed BucknerPresident,American Atheists, Inc.ebuckner@atheists.org

Ed on the tube last fall: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/water-battle-of-biblical-proportions/808360178