Once upon a time we enjoyed regular writing from members of our community. That has dropped off, but we'd like to keep their work available for future readers. Enjoy.
- Details
I have two speaking gigs coming up soon in Minnesota! I’m going to be speaking to the Minnesota Atheists in Minneapolis on Sunday Sept. 18, and to the Secular Student Alliance at St. Cloud State University on Monday Sept. 19. I’ll be speaking on the topics “Why Are You Atheists So Angry?” and “Atheism and Sexuality.” I’ll be doing Q&A at both talks… and after the Minneapolis talk, we’ll be going out to dinner. So if you have something you’ve always wanted to ask me — or if you just want to say howdy — be sure to come by!
EVENT/ HOSTS: Talk at Secular Student Alliance at St. Cloud State University
DATE: Monday, Sept. 19
TIME: 6:00-8:00 pm
LOCATION: Glacier room in the Atwood Memorial Center, 720 4th Avenue South, St. Cloud, Minnesota 56301-4498
TOPIC: Atheism and Sexuality
SUMMARY: The sexual morality of traditional religion tends to be based, not on solid ethical principles, but on a set of taboos about what kinds of sex God does and doesn’t want people to have. And while the sex-positive community offers a more thoughtful view of sexual morality, it still often frames sexuality as positive by seeing it as a spiritual experience. What are some atheist alternatives to these views? How can atheists view sexual ethics without a belief in God? And how can atheists view sexual transcendence without a belief in the supernatural?
COST: Free
- Details
Greetings from the Red River Freethinkers,
We’re doing it again! The Red River Freethinkers are excited to announce that the 2011 Project 42 Freethought Convention will be on Saturday, September 24, 2011, at the Ramada Suites and Convention Center in Fargo, ND.
The event will include five world-class speakers:
• Michael Shermer
The Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine (www.skeptic.com), the Executive Director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture Series at Caltech, and Adjunct Professor of Economics at Claremont Graduate University.
• PZ Myers
A public critic of intelligent design (ID) and of the creationist movement in general and is an activist in the American creation–evolution controversy. Author of Pharyngula, one of the most acclaimed science blogs of all time, a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
- Details
Available for pre-order on Amazon (please order through our store at the bottom of this page). Here's a longer video of him being interviewed about the book.
- Details
More than three decades after it aired, Carl Sagan’s groundbreaking, brilliant 13-part TV series Cosmos:A Personal Voyage will finally get a sequel.
Cosmos, which originally ran in 1980 and was rerun many times over the following decade, is widely regarded as one of the first, and best, TV shows to make science accessible to everyone. You can watch the show now on Hulu, but despite its brilliance it is still a show from more than 30 years ago, and you can tell — the special effects are primitive by today’s standards, but more importantly some of the content has been superseded by discoveries in the intervening years.
So, it’s high time someone made a sequel to it, and now someone is! In partnership with Sagan’s colleagues Ann Druyan (who is also his widow) and Steven Soter, Seth MacFarlane — yes, that Seth MacFarlane — is going to produce a new 13-part series to serve as a sequel and modern update to Sagan’s masterpiece.