Review: Atheism is a Religion
Last month I gave an Ignoramus Award (The Shy Anti-Atheist Author) to a tweeter, Joe Cienkowski, who was promoting his new book, Atheism is a Religion. Since that time the discussions he has been having with many atheist tweeters have been popping up on my blog fodder radar, so I’ve been clued in on even more of his rants and raves over evolution and creationism. Good times!
MovingToMontana, who blogs over at How Good is That?, recently purchased the actual pamphlet book from Joe Cienkowski and has filmed a series of YouTube reviews which are worth watching.
Atheism is a religion by Joe Cienkowski: A review. Part 1
Atheism is a religion by Joe Cienkowski: A review. Part 2
Atheism is a religion by Joe Cienkowski: A Video Review. Part 3
The Center for Inquiry needs our help
Many of you may have heard that CFI is having a little budget issue due to a disheartening turn of events. Below is the full press release from Ronald Lindsay, Barry Karr, and Tom Flynn
For many years, an anonymous donor has provided very generous support to the Council for Secular Humanism, an affiliate of the Center for Inquiry (CFI). In recent years, this donor has given $800,000 annually. This sum is equivalent to about 25% of the annual combined public support for CFI and its two operating affiliates, Council and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).
It appears this donor will not be providing any gift this year. No information has been forthcoming from the donor concerning the donor’s intent, and repeated efforts to contact the donor have elicited no response.
In recent years, this major donation has been received within the first few months of the year. Through the first four months of this year, the deficit for our combined operations has been over $300,000, so the absence of the donation is already being felt. Moreover, without the donation, we are on pace to have a deficit in excess of $900,000. We cannot possibly maintain operations with a deficit of this magnitude.
Given the significance of this donation, and the silence of the donor, CFI and its affiliates have had no choice but to undertake immediate drastic reductions in expenditures. It has been extremely difficult to do so because last year we made a concerted, successful effort to streamline our operations and make them more efficient. In fact, we reduced costs by over $600,000, without materially affecting our work, with the exception of the suspension of The Jesus Project.
Now we are forced to cut down to the bone. We are making very painful decisions — we are laying off several employees, and, although programs will continue, we are moving out of our offices in Tampa and Washington, D.C. We are reluctant to take these measures, but as indicated, we have no choice.
We are trying to take as conservative an approach to this crisis as possible. Our cost-saving measures will save us only about $120,000 in 2010 and about $330,000 in 2011. We are reluctant to slash more because of the adverse impact further reductions would have both on our programs and our staff.
But this means that if we are to sustain our operations and avoid further reductions, we need our supporters to rally behind us. Given the extraordinary situation, we need an extraordinary outpouring of support.
Religious dogma and pseudoscience are not going away. Today, more than ever, there is a need to defend science, secularism, and humanist values. Together, CFI, CSI, and the Council do more to advance humanism and science than any other organization.
And together, the supporters of CFI, CSI, and the Council can ensure that this important work continues.
Please click here to make a donation to the Center for Inquiry. You can also click here to specifically donate to the Washington, D.C. CFI (my “local”).
Come and see Christopher Hitchens Live
If you live in the Washington, D.C. area (or like me, live two and a half hours away) you should seriously consider coming out to listen to Christopher Hitchens talk about his soon to be released memoir Hitch-22: A Memoir on Sunday, June 13, 2010. This event is sponsored by the Center for Inquiry:
English-born and American by adoption, bohemian, all atheist and partly Jewish, Christopher Hitchens has held to a consistent thread of principle whether opposing war in Vietnam or supporting intervention in Iraq. As a foreign correspondent in some of the world’s nastiest places, a lecturer and teacher and an esteemed literary critic, Hitchens manifests a style that is ironic, witty, and tough-minded while his contradictions contain multitudes.
Christopher Hitchens was born in Portsmouth, England and worked in Britain as book reviewer for the Times and chief foreign correspondent for the Daily Express. After emigrating to the United States in 1981, he wrote the “Minority Report” column for The Nation. Since 1992, he has been columnist and contributing editor at Vanity Fair and, at different times, Washington editor and columnist for Harper’s magazine and American columnist and correspondent for the Spectator, the New Statesman, the Times Literary Supplement, Sunday Today, and the Sunday Correspondent. Hitchens writes regularly for the Atlantic Monthly and Slate, and is the author of God is Not Great, Letters to a Young Contrarian and Why Orwell Matters.
Christopher Hitchens will be interviewed by Austin Dacey, author of the The Secular Conscience and former United Nations representative for the Center for Inquiry.
The event runs from 6pm to 8pm at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I Street, NW, Washington, D.C. Get your tickets here and while you’re at it, consider becoming a Friend of the Center. After all, I’m one!
BC & AD vs BCE & CE
A friend of mine on Twitter, Mr. Yojinbo, has begun a petition on change.org to change the language used to describe the calendar. The following is the text from the petition. If you’re interested in signing, the widget is located at the bottom.
Abolish the inherently exclusivist Western B.C. & A.D. calendar designation
For far too long Western society has imposed its inherently exclusivist calendar system (A.D. anno Domini (“In the year of our lord”) & B.C. (“Before Christ”)) on the rest of the world, forcing people from a myriad of cultures, religions and societies to implicitly accept a Christian-based view of history. A view, it should be pointed out, that has been shown to be historically inaccurate.
The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus and adopted by the early Church, where it was combined with the Julian calendar, spread to the rest of the world by sword or sermon until it became the de facto method for dating historical events, this despite the existence of numerous, often more logical, native calendars.
In the place of B.C. and A.D., I propose the adoption of the more inclusive and less ethnocentric B.C.E. (“before the common era”) and C.E. (“common era”). This system, while still relying on the modified Julian/Gregorian calendar for dating historical events relative to one another, has already gained some traction within scientific and academic circles, and would simplify the logistics of such a widespread change.
For many people, particularly nonChristians, being forced to implicitly accept either the divinity or the historicity of the Christian messiah is as distasteful as it is unavoidable. It is time for Western culture in general and this nation in particular to accept that it is not alone in this world, but rather a part of something greater and more inclusive.
Skeptically Speaking turns one
This is just a quick note to let everyone know that Grassroots Skeptics has put together The First Radioversary Fan Page honoring Skeptically Speaking and their upcoming one year anniversary. Skeptically Speaking is a weekly radio show/podcast that brings together skeptics, scientists and other interesting and respected individuals for our listening pleasure. If you don’t already tune in, I suggest you download some of the podcasts immediately, sit back and have a listen. The show is hosted by Desiree Schell, an exceptional interviewer and an inspiring voice in the skeptical community.
If you’re already a fan of the show drop Grassroots Skeptics a line and let them know how much you love Skeptically Speaking. Wish them a joyeux anniversaire like some of the others on the page did (including yours truly).
Darwin in Scotland
A Twitter friend of mine, @JFDerry, has written a book called Darwin in Scotland: Edinburgh, Evolution and Enlightenment. J.F. Derry is a visiting scientist at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology at Edinburgh University and has a PhD in African evolutionary biology. Here is a little introduction of the book courtesy of Amazon:
With exclusive contributions from Richard Dawkins, Noam Chomsky, Martin Rees, Aubrey Manning, Richard Holloway, Daniel C. Dennett, Randal Keynes, Brian Charlesworth, Ken Ham and others, this is the first book on Darwin and Darwinism that wholly concentrates on his time spent in Scotland and the key contributions to his future insights made by the Scottish Enlightenment and the University of Edinburgh.
It is also the first book to explore the subsequent impact of his work on modern day biologists at the University of Edinburgh. How far have we moved on since Darwin made his discoveries? Are his theories still relevant to modern-day science? Can we say if they will be relevant in the future? And, what should we be teaching future generations? The relevance of Darwin in debate is as important and volatile now as when “The Origin of Species” was first published a century and a half ago.
You can pre-order the book now at Amazon.co.uk for £18.04, and in the meantime while you’re waiting for the book to be published and shipped you can read a nice piece about the book and author in an article published in the Dundee Courier (click the download button for the PDF file).
A good time was had by all
This past weekend I had the opportunity to meet some amazing fellow skeptics and nonbelievers in Washington, D.C. while attending two exciting events at the Center for Inquiry (D.C.). To those of you who do not know, CFI is a fantastic nonpartisan, nonprofit organization attempting to “foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values.”
D.C. is not that close to me, but close enough to make a special day of it, despite the torrential downpour I drove through to get there on time. Not only was I excited about the two events planned, but I was also really eager to finally meet @briandgregory, @skeptonya and @brucefp who were also expected to be there.
The first event was a three hour workshop on Scientific Paranormal Investigations hosted by Ben Radford.
Benjamin Radford is a Research Fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, columnist for LiveScience.com, and author of five books and hundreds of articles on skepticism, investigation, and the paranormal. He will share his experience and insights gained over a decade of first-hand field investigations of mysterious phenomena. Drawing from dozens of case studies involving monsters, psychics, and ghosts, Ben will explain the step-by-step process in investigations, including critical thinking, evaluating unusual claims, interviewing eyewitnesses, and conducting field experiments.
The three hours went by quickly as we learned several techniques used to scientifically investigate paranormal incidents, such as exposing logical fallacies and unwarranted claims. Radford went into detail on two recent investigations he was involved in, one of which was the examination of the “best” photographic evidence for the Lake Champlain legend of Champ the lake monster. After careful rational inspection, Radford and fellow investigator Joe Nickell, were able to proclaim the photo of Champ was probably and logically nothing more than a floating log.
The second event was a kick off for a local Independent Investigations Group. Jim Underdown, the CFI Los Angeles Executive Director, and Brian Hart, senior Independent Investigations Group Steering Committee member, discussed how exactly their group works, and how we can begin to form a chapter of our own.
After both events most of us that had gathered trotted off in search of food and alcohol, and eventually found a restaurant willing and able to accommodate such a large group of us on such short notice. We ate and drank at the Fusion Grill, and then later a smaller group of us had drinks at Mr. Henry’s down the street from the CFI office.
It was a fantastic day, aside from the rain. But most of all I found it incredibly refreshing to be in the company of like-minded people. Aside from Twitter, I’ve never really been surrounded by such down-to-earth, intelligent, friendly people like I was on Saturday (well except when it’s just my husband and I in a room alone together 
). It gives you a little hope that there are more of us out there.
Speaking of which…anyone interested in working on a Skepticamp in the Baltimore/Washington area soon?
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Don’t feed the trolls
