I’m just back from speaking in Torun, which was great fun, including a slap-up traditional Polish lunch in the dean’s office, which is the fanciest office I’ve ever seen (some of the furniture dates from the sixteenth century). I also saw Copernicus’s house, but I’m getting ahead of myself; there will photos of all this tomorrow. In the meantime, I’m announcing a secular meeting whose organizers seem to have been rather dilatory about publicizing it. Here goes:
The Atheist Alliance of America (AAA) has finally put up the program for its annual meeting, held this year in Atlanta, Georgia between October 15 and 18. I’ll speak briefly (less than 10 minutes) as recipient of the Richard Dawkins Award, but there is a big slate of other speakers—including Jeff Tayler (his strident secular Sunday sermons summarized here), and Inna Shevchenko, head of FEMEN—who will be giving full-length talks. I’m also scheduled to talk to the kids of Camp Quest about the wonders of evolution—another a longish talk.
I’ll look forward to meeting any readers there, and although I don’t think the conference will be selling my books, I’ll be glad to sign any that you bring (if you want a cat drawn in, you must say the magic phrase, which in this case is the Latin binomial for the tiger).
Alas, a bit of a trek for me this year…perhaps next year…?
And you’re gonna have to clear out some space in your office for all the awards you’re likely going to garner. Just make sure you still have room for sqrlz food, plus maybe a few extra nuts for those actually doing work in the lab!
b&
Yes! I will be there. And I’m glad the program of speakers is finally out: there are a lot of good ones.
If there are other WEIT fans maybe we can all get together for a lunch or something…
Okay, maybe you can tell me now what my award object wlll be!
No, you must wait…
Looking forward to seeing the pics from your talk/visit in Toruń!
I’m absolutely delighted about the Camp Quest talk! I’ll be sending my little one in a few years. Trying to convince my slightly religious sister to let her son go!
I love everything about this except the name “Atheist Alliance.” We are just gift-wrapping ammunition for our detractors with a name like that. Keeping that name must have something to do with stubbornness because it certainly isn’t a wisdom induced decision.
That being said, I sure wish I could be there with all of those smartest most reasonable people in the world. I wish you all the best.
As I understand it the original Atheist Alliance formed when a number of independent atheist and humanist groups came together to pool some of their resources into a mutually beneficial democratic alliance — thus the name. The member groups are not subsidiaries or offshoots, and last I knew they paid no dues. It’s more like a partnership.
‘Atheist Alliance’ soon became ‘Atheist Alliance International.’ ‘Atheist Alliance of America’ later amicably split off because of how large the coalition had become.
Copernicus is a real hero. Looking forward to sing where he hung his hat. For some period, while he was a monk, he had a female house keeper who likely was more than just dusting furniture. The abbot got after him and after several years forced the woman out.
I wonder who washed the abbot’s drawers.
The AAA Conference page opens with a view across the lake at Piedmont Park in north Atlanta. Minus the taller buildings, it looks pretty much like when I was a kid in the early 1950s and fished (for cat food) under a willow about where the camera was set up. The park has a natural wooded area with trails maintained by the Atlanta Botanical Garden. In mid-October the leaves should be starting to turn.
They need to update their information:
Dr. Coyne is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago and the author of the New York Times bestseller, Why Evolution is True as well as the soon-to-be-released Faith vs. Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible.