There are a lot of comments to respond to, so here goes:
Ir asked:
Secular meditation sounds interesting: did you go to that session? Do you know what it is?
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Here’s a question I have: did you hear many value-judgment-type comments about Christians in sessions or casual conversation, while you were at the conference - and to the extent you did, did you feel they were fair comments?
I did not go to the meditation session. Did I hear value-judgment-type comments about Christians? Not in the sessions and not by the speakers (unless you include Intelligent Design comments). Casually, I did, though most of those comments were rips against Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Sam Brownback, etc– people that many Christians I’ve met would say similar things about. I thought those comments about their intolerance and fundamental thinking were pretty fair. I did hear some unfair comments I didn’t agree with, but those were few and far between, and most responses to them (from myself and others) were anger that they would say such thoughtless words. If we want to get respect, we have to give it. And any Atheist who says unfair things against Christians are just as bad as the religious people who do the same against us.
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Hi everyone. I was at a conference all weekend in Kansas City hosted by Atheist Alliance International and my own group, the Secular Student Alliance. I was planning on writing a comparison to Christian conventions and/or my church visits. But since I’ve never been to a Christian convention, I think it might be useful to simply talk about what goes on at secular gatherings. It might help build a better picture of the issues that are important to us.
It might also be useful to take a second before reading on to consider what you think would go on at an Atheists’ convention.
Done? Good.
The first night, we were able to listen to Lori Lipman Brown, the first secular lobbyist in Washington D.C. talk about her experiences on Capitol Hill. She said she had been received warmly by both Democrats and Republicans, but it would certainly take time before she could truly have an effect by herself. Instead, she is relying on working together with other lobbying organizations (including religious ones) to work on common issues, such as Religious Equality in the Head Start program. The remarkable thing was that her business card has the word “Atheist” on it, and yet, people are talking to her. The audience loved it because that in itself is a huge step for us.
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TXAtheist wrote:
Jim,
On this line. Why do you find it hard to believe that atheists are morally, intellectually and better humans in general? I’m being blunt but I think we get the short end of the stick on image when I perceive us as the cream of the crop in humanity.
Interesting comment…
I don’t know that any person is morally superior than another. I think what you’re implying is that Atheists do good because we just know we should, and Christians do good because God wants them to.
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