AAFSA Affiliates,
I just sent out the following as an email to the 70 of you I have in my contacts list, as well as a few of you who haven't joined our Facebook group. If you didn't receive it, besides reading below, please email me and let me know that you want to be on our mailing list, and/or make sure you put my email addresses in your "safe list" to keep it from being spammed.
I just sent out the following as an email to the 70 of you I have in my contacts list, as well as a few of you who haven't joined our Facebook group. If you didn't receive it, besides reading below, please email me and let me know that you want to be on our mailing list, and/or make sure you put my email addresses in your "safe list" to keep it from being spammed.
First, we have a meeting coming up this Thursday in CLB 414 (details). I hope as many of you can attend as possible. I hope to find a suitable venue for our meetings other than the conference room in my building later on (possibly Library West...), and if you have any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to pass them along.
The new semester is upon us. I am working on getting together materials to use for presentation of our group at a table display (Turlington Plaza
Our Facebook count is now up to 70 (all of you I'm emailing...minus me, of course), yet due to the late start last spring semester, and subsequent summer hiatus, I have yet to meet many of you. I'm looking forward to changing that.
Our activities this semester are going to include hearing great talks at our meetings, having open discussions at other meetings, possible debates, possible (passive) demonstrations or advocacy [such as sign-holding and handing out fliers], special campus-wide event speakers, and participating in some much-needed dialogue with those I typically dub our "cultural competitors" (such as, but not limited to, Turlington preachers, religious campus groups, and political advocacy groups which threaten religious liberties). Your part is simple: get involved if you want anything to do with this.
Most of us are aware of the cultural stigma attached to our secular worldview, which I wrote a bit about on the blog a while back (see here , here and here). What is needed are more smiling, friendly faces willing to talk to people with whom we may disagree, and attempting to come to at least some semblance of understanding and tolerance [mutually]. It is still unbelievable to me that so much of the American public can be so ignorant of the vast number of, the spectrum of views held by, and the moral equality [at least insofar as the practice and rational basis of our ethics being equal to, or superior to, that of theists] of atheists, agnostics, and nonreligious persons.
We have to work towards changing this cultural ignorance and misinformation, and attempt to work against those who disseminate it. Groups like AAFSA are at least a start, if not the solution.
Our cultural problems as nonbelievers all along have been exacerbated by the serious lack of organization [we don't have churches], coupled to a hell of a lot of apathy [typically] and a strong individualistic outlook [we don't need support groups, the typically concomitant groupthink, and are quite reasonably wary and skeptical of both]. That is, in large part, how politics and religion have come to the place where so many people distrust us and disparage us publicly (I can name numerous remarks made by politicians and public figures, but need I?).
Most importantly, we have to define a sense of purpose, a mission for, and assign value to, this group. If you see it as "just" a response to religion, or a group centered on negatives − what we don't think and don't agree with, then I fear we will be rather limited in our affectivity. We need to coalesce around the core values of individualism, rationality, science, and religious freedom (for all), as well as the positive aspects of our outlook and ethics, as diverse as these may be. Even though we will almost surely disagree on many things, we will likely all agree on the necessity to carefully develop a coherent worldview, including our views on morality, politics, etc., via reason, and without a god-based referent.
The new semester is upon us. I am working on getting together materials to use for presentation of our group at a table display (
Our Facebook count is now up to 70 (all of you I'm emailing...minus me, of course), yet due to the late start last spring semester, and subsequent summer hiatus, I have yet to meet many of you. I'm looking forward to changing that.
Our activities this semester are going to include hearing great talks at our meetings, having open discussions at other meetings, possible debates, possible (passive) demonstrations or advocacy [such as sign-holding and handing out fliers], special campus-wide event speakers, and participating in some much-needed dialogue with those I typically dub our "cultural competitors" (such as, but not limited to, Turlington preachers, religious campus groups, and political advocacy groups which threaten religious liberties). Your part is simple: get involved if you want anything to do with this.
Most of us are aware of the cultural stigma attached to our secular worldview, which I wrote a bit about on the blog a while back (see here , here and here). What is needed are more smiling, friendly faces willing to talk to people with whom we may disagree, and attempting to come to at least some semblance of understanding and tolerance [mutually]. It is still unbelievable to me that so much of the American public can be so ignorant of the vast number of, the spectrum of views held by, and the moral equality [at least insofar as the practice and rational basis of our ethics being equal to, or superior to, that of theists] of atheists, agnostics, and nonreligious persons.
We have to work towards changing this cultural ignorance and misinformation, and attempt to work against those who disseminate it. Groups like AAFSA are at least a start, if not the solution.
Our cultural problems as nonbelievers all along have been exacerbated by the serious lack of organization [we don't have churches], coupled to a hell of a lot of apathy [typically] and a strong individualistic outlook [we don't need support groups, the typically concomitant groupthink, and are quite reasonably wary and skeptical of both]. That is, in large part, how politics and religion have come to the place where so many people distrust us and disparage us publicly (I can name numerous remarks made by politicians and public figures, but need I?).
Most importantly, we have to define a sense of purpose, a mission for, and assign value to, this group. If you see it as "just" a response to religion, or a group centered on negatives − what we don't think and don't agree with, then I fear we will be rather limited in our affectivity. We need to coalesce around the core values of individualism, rationality, science, and religious freedom (for all), as well as the positive aspects of our outlook and ethics, as diverse as these may be. Even though we will almost surely disagree on many things, we will likely all agree on the necessity to carefully develop a coherent worldview, including our views on morality, politics, etc., via reason, and without a god-based referent.
I am anticipating some great conversation, new friends, and generally broadening my horizons…as well as a few parties, although this is not a major component of our group, and you should go join a frat if you want more of that. I am looking forward to this semester, and what I hope we can accomplish and learn from each other.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you may have any questions, suggestions, or constructive criticisms. All of my information is available to be viewed by Facebook friends, including phone and address. Please feel free to join as a blog contributor, and you can read the guidelines for that here. If you haven’t received an invite to join the website, please email me. Please check in on our website, and comment often, as well as the discussion board on our group page at Facebook.
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