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Secular Nation - Vignettes From the Editor |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 02 February 2010 |
I wanted to start the year off with a bang. Fireworks on the cover, while a nice visual for the new year, is one way of saying that’s the reaction I’m expecting by many readers to this issue of Secular Nation. The articles run the gamut from the old guard view of atheism to new atheism, our ethics and unity, morals and behavior, goals and aspirations, the past and the future, and making yourself better, not only as a person but as someone defending the cause. This issue gives everyone plenty to work with and provides us with a lot to think about, implement, and improve on. Now, unlike what the young man whom I met in the next vignette thinks, we atheists are indeed a highly moral people already, it’s just sometimes we rub each other the wrong way, like any family whose members sometimes see things differently yet agree on many aspects of the those very same things. Every now and then we need to individually and collectively reflect. And boy does this issue have a lot of reflection. Read, enjoy, get pissed, and then use these articles to check yourself in the mirror. You’ll come out facing the world better prepared — for everything.
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At the AAI 2009 Convention in Burbank, California, I was apparently one of three attendees whose computer couldn’t pick up the free hotel wifi signal. Relegated to the hotel computer room to check email, in there were two young guys over a computer as one accessed a bus schedule; they didn’t appear to be hotel guests. The young man standing, a very open and talkative type, said he noticed all the atheists and, while polite, matter-of-factly asked me and another attendee in the room why we didn’t kill and rob and rape if we didn’t believe in God. Then he said he’d kill and rob and rape if he didn’t believe in God. My fellow atheist and I explained to him this misconceived theist viewpoint and how atheists live by the golden rule (or the platinum rule: see Dr. Stephen Uhl’s article beginning on page 19), but neither she nor I could convince him we weren’t marauding molesters. I’d like to think we made a good impression on him, perhaps putting a doubt in his mind about his beliefs, if not helping to change them. It’s all we can do sometimes, and be happy with that and just move on. And if he doesn’t change his mind on the atheist/morals thing, let’s hope that with his views, like Herb Silverman says, he keeps believing in God.
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You never know what you might see when you look to the sky. Or look at machines that look at the sky. Which is what happened to Charles Schisler. You won’t find this in the history books, but in 1967 he discovered pulsars. He could’ve won the Nobel Prize in Physics, prominent scientists said 40 years later (see www.ns2007.org for more info), except for the fact that he was at a highly-classified site and couldn’t say anything. Instead, a British student working on her doctorate was credited with discovering pulsars a few months later. She could’ve won the Nobel Prize in Physics, except for the fact that she was a graduate student working for someone else. Guess who got the Nobel Prize? Today, most historical records will say both the student, (now Dr.) Jocelyn Bell Burnell, and the professor, Dr. Antony Hewish, are the two discoverers of pulsars. Much as Alfred Russel Wallace has been given his due in evolutionary circles, Charles Schisler should be included as one of the three discoverers of pulsars. Read his story on page 27.
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The Saskatoon Freethinkers of Saskatchewan, Canada are thrilled to be celebrating their one year anniversary this December. With over 125 members, they’ve had a very successful year of monthly meetings, atheists in the pub nights, movie showings, Darwin Day celebration, Blasphemy Day de-baptizing, and an inside ad bus campaign, soon to be an outside ad bus campaign. Given our publishing timeline, it might still be possible to get to their festivities, 11:30 AM Sunday, December 20th at Venice House on Central Avenue in Saskatoon. If you miss it, this is one active group and events are always developing. To find out more, visit them at www.SaskatoonFreethinkers.com or email them at
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Two provinces west and you’ll find another rising atheist group, Kamloops Atheists, in the largest city in southern interior British Columbia, Canada. The group was founded by Bill Ligertwood who, after attending the 2009 AAI Convention in Burbank, “came back inspired to do more to combat irrational thought.” Atheists are finding their way from the Internet and by a press release — “Finally Non-Believers and other people of reason have a place to call our own” — he sent to the local paper, which surprised him by printing it on page 3. Up-and-coming www.KamloopsAtheists.com is now up and running, featuring discussion forums, links to great video material ands other websites, and plans to help educate people in Kamloops about the realities of the world today as they relate to religion and religious fundamentalism through a bus ad campaign and other activities. Visit the website or email
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to join. Many already have.
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Open Call: All groups that want their upcoming events, plans, gatherings, speakers, and whatnot (atheists definitely have a lot of whatnot), email your announcements and photos to me at
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Or snailmail them. That still works, too. Have photos of events, etc. already done? Send them. I’m here. S N
Tom Melchiorre
Editor-in-Chief
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Secular Nation 
