Minnesota Atheists

6 O’Clock BS: Dave Silverman Throws the First Pitch!

Brianne Bilyeu, , , 774 Comments

This evening I’m hanging out with over 170 of my fellow atheists, secularists and freethinkers at the Midway Stadium in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Tonight Minnesota Atheists and American Atheists are hosting “An Night of Unbelievable Fun” with the Saint Paul Saints. Or rather…the Mr. Paul Aints!

Here’s a really crappy, zoomed in photo of Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, leaving the mound after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch of the game:

image

I’ll have more (and better) photos of the event up later this weekend!

6 O’Clock BS: Dave Silverman Throws the First Pitch!
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Minnesota Atheists at the Stand Up For Religious Freedom Rally

Brianne Bilyeu, , , 365 Comments

On Friday a group of Minnesota Atheists gathered at the Federal Courthouse to counter-protest the ineptly named Stand Up For Religious Freedom Rally. Don’t let the name fool you; it’s run by pro-life groups who want get the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) repealed. Simple as that. No fancy wording needed. They’re calling it the “Stand Up For Religious Freedom Rally”, but what they should really call it is the “We Demand That You Let Us Impose Our Religious Views on You” Rally.

Here’s part of why the MN Atheists were there. From our meetup.com announcement for the event:

This rally is to support the First Amendment and the restrictions placed on our government from using religious dogma as a basis for any U.S. law, including religious exemptions to the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

The First Amendment is currently under attack by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and other conservative religious groups that are seeking to redefine the concept of religious liberty to guarantee them religious privilege and freedom from accountability.

Religious freedom does not include the right to interfere with the rights of others.  Religious institutions have the right to participate in our society on the same basis as all other institutions. They do not have the right to dictate the rules in which they get to participate.

To reinterpret the First Amendment to grant privileges and exemptions to large religious institutions would mean the depriving of the exercise of personal religious conscience by individuals who do not share the religious dogmas of those institutions but who nonetheless are employed by or use the services provided by those institutions.

I was able to chat about the event with Chris Pederson via Facebook today. She gave me permission to use some of her photos here on the blog.

Chris said that most protesters were wearing buttons for the MN Catholic anti-gay marriage group and that they were also using the opportunity to passing out stickers in support of the voter ID laws.

She reported that the mood was very confrontational and that her interactions – mostly with men – were hostile. One older woman tried to rip Chris’s sign out of her hand as she tried to join the MN Atheists group. There was a lot of talk about sex being sinful and a moral issue. To this Chris said “What an awful way to think about your body and sex.”

I wasn’t able to be at the counter-protest. Thank you to everyone who was able to be there.

This is post 44 of 49 in the SSAweek Biodork Blogathon. Donate to the SSA today! Read more about my reader challenges here.

 

 

Minnesota Atheists at the Stand Up For Religious Freedom Rally

Today: Atheists Talk

Brianne Bilyeu, , , 1,346 Comments

This morning at 9am CST, Scott Lohman and Carl Hancock will be interviewing Robert Price, the author of The Christ-Myth Theory and Its Problems on KTNF AM950. You can stream the show live or download it later on iTunes or listen to it on the Minnesota Atheists podcast page.

“The Christ-Myth Theory and Its Problems” Robert Price on Atheists Talk #171 Sunday, June 10th, 2012

Even among those who don’t believe that Jesus was divine, disagreement remains over whether he existed at all. On one side, there are the historicists, who believe that Jesus was a fully human preacher who founded a small cult. On the other side, there are the mythicists, who believe that the cult was formed later and Jesus was hallucinated and/or invented to support the cult.
The academic fight between the historicists and the mythicists is heating up at the moment. A number of leading scholars have released or are about to release books making their cases to the public. In his recent book The Christ-Myth Theory and Its Problems, Robert Price makes a case for the mythicists.

The Christ-Myth theory … “Worse Than Atheism”? New Testament scholar Robert M. Price, one of America’s leading authorities on the Bible, has assembled in his book evidence that shows that almost the entire “biography of Jesus” is a conscious reworking of earlier literature.It is one thing to say “There are no gods” or “Jesus was not a god, just a man.” It is quite another thing to say “Jesus of Nazareth never existed at all” or that “Christ is a myth.” But scholars have been saying exactly that since at least 1793 when the Enlightenment scholar Charles Dupuis began to publish his 13-volume Origine de Tous les Cultes, ou Religion Universelle, which elucidated the astral origins not only of Christianity but of other ancient religions as well.

New Testament scholar Robert M. Price, one of America’s leading authorities on the Bible, here summarizes much of the scholarship that has led him and a growing number of modern scholars to conclude that Christ — a partial synonym for Jesus of Nazareth — is mythical. Most usefully, Price has assembled evidence that shows that almost the entire “biography of Jesus” has been created from Greek Old Testament stories and themes and even incorporates motifs from Homer, Euripides, and perhaps Aesop. Because readers will have a hard time “taking it on faith” that the Jesus biography is merely a reworking of previous material, broad swaths of “Old Testament” context are quoted in association with each New Testament equivalent, so readers can judge for themselves whether or not Dr. Price’s claim be true: the “Live of Christ” was not fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies; it was, rather, a conscious reworking of earlier literature.

This is post 40 of 49 in the SSAweek Biodork Blogathon. Donate to the SSA today! Read more about my reader challenges here.

Today: Atheists Talk

6 O'Clock BS – Joining Groups

Brianne Bilyeu, , 698 Comments

Look at that – it’s six o’clock! Today let’s talk about how to choose a cause. If you believe that getting involved in groups, issues, debates, community building, et cetera is a good way to spend your time, then it’s not an issue of finding an issue, it’s a matter of choosing one (or several). Thanks to the internet you can find or get involved with almost any issue from almost any location, and there is no end of groups that are looking for people to help spread their message, fight for their cause or to just hang out and be social. In many cases, the only limiting factors to your involvement are your time, your attention or interest, and your sanity.

Continue reading “6 O'Clock BS – Joining Groups” →

6 O'Clock BS – Joining Groups

6 O’Clock BS – Joining Groups

Brianne Bilyeu, , 638 Comments

Look at that – it’s six o’clock! Today let’s talk about how to choose a cause. If you believe that getting involved in groups, issues, debates, community building, et cetera is a good way to spend your time, then it’s not an issue of finding an issue, it’s a matter of choosing one (or several). Thanks to the internet you can find or get involved with almost any issue from almost any location, and there is no end of groups that are looking for people to help spread their message, fight for their cause or to just hang out and be social. In many cases, the only limiting factors to your involvement are your time, your attention or interest, and your sanity.

Continue reading “6 O’Clock BS – Joining Groups” →

6 O’Clock BS – Joining Groups

I Did This Today

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , , , , , , , 673 Comments

This was just a typical day for me, hanging out with Phil Ferguson (Skeptic Money), Greg Laden (X Blog), Jen McCreight (Blag Hag) – that’s me next – and Stephanie Zvan (Almost Diamonds). 

Back story: The Atheists Talk radio show had Jen in the studio for a live interview. Greg, Stephanie, Jen and myself chatted about our blogging, our activism and Freethought Blogs. Phil Freaking Ferguson – which is how he introduces himself* – from Skeptic Money happened to be in town, so he stopped by the studio to watch the show and ended up letting us drag him on the air for a few moments. And we took this snazy photo afterwards.

And then this afternoon I attended the Minnesota Atheists monthly meeting. Jen was the guest speaker; she gave a talk called “God’s Lady Problem”. By my estimation the talk had major three parts: Religion-based discrimination against women and a thought-provoking God-as-abuser analogy, the current War On Women that we’ve been fighting against in the US in recent months (the Catholic church birth control hubaloo, transvaginal ultrasounds, Terry England’s “women-slash-livestock” speech, etc), and lastly the lady problems that we run into in our own atheist communities. It was a solid, engaging, well-attended talk and the Q&A took up all of the allotted time and then some. Jen will be in Indiana for three more speaking engagements in this next week leading up to the Reason Rally. If you’re in the area, I’d recommend stopping by.

So this was a pretty dandy way to spend a Sunday, right?

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*Not intended to be a factual statement.

I Did This Today

Exciting Atheist Speakers in Minneapolis!

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , , , , , 521 Comments

There are a couple of exciting events coming up, especially if you’re in the Twin Cities and interested in atheism and science.

TONIGHT JT Eberhard from FreeThought Blogs WWJTD will be speaking at the University of Minnesota for the student group CASH – Campus Atheists, Skeptics and Humanists. He’ll be giving a talk called “Activism and Why Atheism Rocks!”. Tonight, 7pm at Smith Hall, Room 231, 207 Pleasant Street SE, Minneapolis, MN. There’s talk of pizza and karaoke at nearby Campus Pizza afterwards.

SUNDAY I’m hosting the Atheists Talk radio show and podcast and we’re interview some guy who’s going to be talking about some stuff, which would be pretty meh except the guy is fricking Dr. LAWRENCE KRAUSS and the stuff he’ll be talking about are the wild ideas in his newest book The Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing. You can read my write-up for the event at the Minnesota Atheists Atheists Talk radio web page. And if you’re not local, the website will also tell you how to stream the interview and call or email with questions during Dr. Krauss’s visit.

And this one’s a bit farther out, but another FreeThought Blogger, Jen McCreight, the author of Blag Hag will be speaking at the March public meeting of Minnesota Atheists on March 18th. She’ll be giving her talk “God’s Lady Problem”. More details like time, location, etc. can be found at the Minnesota Atheists Meetup page for this event.

 

Exciting Atheist Speakers in Minneapolis!

Atheist Billboard Celebration

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , 1,023 Comments

Yesterday a group of Minnesota Atheists gathered at The Public House restaurant for an evening of socializing and celebrating the two billboards that are nearing the end of their month-long run. There was one couple who was attending this as their first MNA meetup; they had donated to the billboard fund and wanted to gather for the last hurrah.

I sat next to a group that discussed  the joke that was Darrel Issa’s hearing on the constitutionality of the HHS rules on contraception and the now infamous aspirin as contraception quote from Foster Friess (aka, keep your legs shut you filthy sluts), then we chatted books. One of the guys tried to keep us on track about the “serious” books we were reading, but then someone mentioned the Hunger Games and all was lost (ohmigawd – only a little over one month until the movie comes out!). We were also sitting next to the producer of Atheists Talk, the MNA radio show that airs every Sunday morning at 9am on KTNF AM950, so we talked about some of the upcoming guests – it’s quite the lineup!

There was a fun 10-question quiz about religion, atheism and separation of church and state. One of the new attendees ended up winning the free Minnesota Atheists t-shirt prize. The shirts were also available for sale – $6.66 each. And then we all trooped outside into the brisk Minnesota weather to take a group photo under the billboard. I haven’t seen the photo posted up on the meetup site or mnatheists.org yet, but here’s a pic that was taken earlier this month when the sign was being put up:

Billboard by Minnesota Atheists

Billboard in Minneapolis by Minnesota Atheists. Photo by Lynn Fellman.

I can’t properly describe to you how this photo doesn’t do the billboard’s SCREAMING YELLOW!!! justice, especially at night when the board is illuminated by three powerful lights. I’ll post the photo that we took last night when it become available.

Both billboards – this one and the one in Saint Paul – come down on Monday. They’ve been up for the month and the committee overseeing the billboards are very pleased with the reception, the media attention, and the increase in people who have signed up on the MNA meetup group. And from the water cooler gossip being tossed around last night, it sounds like this might be something that MNA is interested in doing again in the future.

Atheist Billboard Celebration