The 36th National Convention of
AMERICAN ATHEISTS
APRIL 2-4, 2010 NEWARK/NEW YORK CITY
REGISTER NOW
AMERICAN ATHEISTS will hold its 36th National Convention April 2-4, 2010 in Newark, NJ — right across the river from The Big Apple, New York! We gather at one of the premier meeting sites on the East Coast — the Newark Liberty Renaissance Hotel at Newark International Airport. Fly in, grab your bags and take the shuttle to one of the most luxurious convention site in the area — easily convenient to New York City!
* SPEAKERS: We’ll have a blockbuster line-up! Confirmed so far are, in alphabetical order:
CECIL BOTHWELL – Atheist assemblyman from NC whose position is being challenged by religious bigots
JEFF SHARLET, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
DAN BARKER, Freedom From, Religion Foundation
PAUL KURTZ, Philosopher, author, founder of the Council for Secular Humanism
MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI, Author, philosopher, noted advocate for science
KA
No not making a veiled reference to David.A while back i readup on some of what mrs.o’hair underwent in sixties/seventies.She had alot of courage and many atheists didn’t agree with her approach.Bottom line AA has a rich history and my gut feeling is the leaders have a rich personal history.Dual citizenship is not sinister nor is retaining membership in a religious group,being a zionist,freemason etc. My feeling is folks would enjoy hearing that history.As for FBI there is so much of our cold war history underwraps.What is the best way forward confrontation or creating our own society within society? What can we learn from others past and present? It just seems like religion has such an iron grip on the human race.
You have my condolences on the death of your hero james von braun.
Who is James Von Braun?
I’m still awaiting a reply on this. Who is this guy, & why should I care? Maybe you’ve mistaken me for sheeple or something?
I repeat: I don’t go to websites that validate my feelings, nor do I lean heavily on particular people’s interpretations. I measure the facts as objectively as I can.
Because freethinker (for me) translates to thinking for myself.
Sanity in New Jersey I see…
Late this afternoon the New Jersey Senate rejected an amendment to legalize gay marriage in the state.
I’ll make a prediction…within the next 3 days, Dave will post Pat Robertson’s predictions…
Attendance will suffer unless people know what they are getting into.A good start would be a breakdown on what political parties AA leaders belong to. What if any religious groups they retain membership in,membership in zionist groups and dual citizenship status.In the history of AA was it ever infiltrated by the FBI has it ever had a relationship with a US or FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE agency.
Is this a veiled reference to David’s ethnicity and/or race? Zionism is a secular movement, & dual citizenship for Israel is automatic when you’re jewish.
If we actually knew the extent of FBI infiltrations, it would probably be staggering.
Like who? The IRS?
Zionism is a secular movement? Please explain that. Sure they do some secular things, and apparently some “secular Jews” support it, but God promised that land to them. Not any single person I’m aware of.
I’ve picketed Zionists, and let me tell you, they were not secular people. They made sure we knew it too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism
Two millennia after the Jewish diaspora, the modern Zionist movement, beginning in the late 19th century, was mainly founded by secular Jews, largely as a response by Ashkenazi Jews to antisemitism across Europe, especially in Russia.
It’s not an exclusive club – the central core is a safe haven for jews.
It occurs to me that the word ‘secular’ gets bandied about on atheist blogs, but most people think it means anti-religion.
Secular:
1. Worldly rather than spiritual.
2. Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body: secular music.
I was specifically using #1, but #2 is usable, however, a lot of people think (incorrectly) that being jewish is strictly religious.
FYI, by way of full disclosure:
Registered Democrat, member: ACLU, Democracy for America, MoveOn, Progressive Democrats of America, ActBlue, NC Coalition for a Moratorium on the Death Penalty, Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville.
Long time writer/editor/publisher, founding editor Warren Wilson College environmental journal Heartstone, past managing editor Asheville’s weekly Mountain Xpress, sat for several years on national editorial board of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, Board Chair Proyecto las Escuelas Guatemaltecas (education nonprofit active in Guatemala), Board secretary Biblioworks.org (education nonprofit active in Bolivia). Seven books currently in print. Winner of multiple regional and national awards for criticism, humorous commentary, investigative journalism. I participate in the only non-bible ministry at our local jail and tutor in the public schools.
I have an annual relationship with the IRS; the nonprofits I work with are trying to increase foreign intelligence among grade school children; and I met a couple of FBI agents while I was investigating a former sheriff here. (My reporting is widely credited with helping land him in federal prison for 15 years.) Oh, born in the U.S.A. and so far that’s the only country that would have me.
The first principle listed on the UU “Our Principles” page is:
as a UUer, may I ask, to what do you attribute this “inherent worth” and “dignity” of every person? How do you quantify these attributes? Does “inherent” imply that these are objective qualities to you?—if so, to what objective standard do you measure them by and who or what is responsible for that standard?
JCC…great question. Don’t hold your breath…no one will be able to answer it…
Attendance will be improved if publicity includes mass-transit directions, so the carless in the tri-state area will know how to get there. A Newark Airport hotel’s easy convenience to the rest of the country is, inversely, hard for NYC/NJ/LI/Westchester nondrivers who don’t already have contact with people in the several local freethought groups. Local unaffiliated atheists without wheels may not even consider going.
Mass transit to Newark Airport, where the Marriott Renaissance Newark Airport Hotel has a shuttle, is described here: http://www.nysubway.com/airport/newark.html
Local directions to the hotel: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/maps/travel/ewrnr-renaissance-newark-airport-hotel/
KA,
Zionism is not a strictly secular movement. For a definition put forth by a Jewish organization, consult: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/zionism.html
Zionism is a belief in the right of possession of their ancient homeland. And any permanent right to the land ignores the fact that it was seized by the edge of a sword by Joshua and his band of raiders. The fact is that they never really ever completely possessed the land, because of ongoing invasions by tribes like the Amorites and the Philistines. So the only ancient claim on the land must necessarily come from a god endorsed title.
But, I ignore all that, because possession of the territory was finally wrestled away by the Ottoman Turks and Persians as the European crusades finally failed. They had no more right to that land than the Israelites did when they committed genocide accross that land to take it in the first place. But, neither ethnicity has any more, or any less right to the property than the US has on the land of the American Indian. But, I guess, might makes right.
What I pay attention to is the fact that after WWII, and after Hitler murdered six million Jews, that a sensible division of world was reached by victors, and America planted an allied territory in the middle east, while simultaneously making reparations to Jews. It was agreed upon by the entire world, and in my view, that is a lot more legal than a genocidal seizure of land. But, more than that, I know that Israel did not seize on square inch of private land as they took authority in what is now Israel. Those who filed their family claims on land are now Israelli citizens in good standing. Those who bet their future on the failure of the state of Israel, and moved into refugee camps in the West Bank are now supremely pissed, but they were given a choice.
While I admire Benjamin Netayahu, and his “take no bullshit from anyone” attitude, his policy on Israelli settlements on land awarded to the Palestinians in the one and the same United Nation accord is making what is a difficult situation, into an impossible situation. If peace is ever going to be achieved, that land is going to have to be paid for at a fair price, or abandoned. And I have seen the fundamentalist Jews evicted from abandoned settlements and their pathetic bearded pleading about god given rights, and I kinda felt for them, but they had no right to be there. But, what really pissed me off was after the Israellis forceably evicted the settlement, they brought in enormous crawler trackers and leveled every home. That was STUPID!!! Criminally wasteful. Vendictive. Childish. A stubborn tantrum.
The Palestinians are not wealthy people, and those homes could have housed a lot of desperate families. Okay, now I shut up.
NeoWolfe
Neo, I didn’t say it is a strictly secular movement, there are now multiple varieties. But, it is concerned w/the treatment & protection of jews in this world, & doesn’t wait around for some divine intervention, or try to sell the idea that all will be adjusted in an afterlife, then it is secular via definition #1. From your link:
Jews of all persuasions, left and right, religious and secular, joined to form the Zionist movement and worked together toward these goals.
I’m much in agreement w/the rest of what you’ve said.
Off Topic:
Portugal Legalises Marriage Equality:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100108/ap_on_re_eu/eu_portugal_gay_marriage
Mexico City, the worlds larget city, legalised marriage equality recently as well:
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2009/12/21/Mexico_City_Approves_Gay_Marriage/
Here in the USA we have the Constitution and demographics on our side regarding younger voters attitudes toward gay rights. Equality will come, its just a waiting game now.