Wednesday 26 November 2008

World Catholic Youth Day Cost

So it looks like in the washup of World Catholic Youth Day, it's cost the State of New South Wales (sorry...you and me as taxpayers) in excess of $100M. Not a bad 'handout' to another privileged religious organisation:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/youth-day-100m-over-budget/2008/11/26/1227491594599.html

Originally posted by John Attwater

Some Muslim leaders condone rape

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/some-muslim-leaders-condone-rape/2008/11/20/1226770649438.html

Originally posted by Dr Kay

Monday 17 November 2008

New book - The End of Biblical Studies

Anyone interested in biblical scholarship might like to read a review of the latest book by Hector Avalos at http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6354

Avalos is a respected Havard trained biblical scholar at Iowa State. Here's the general thrust of his latest book: "... academic biblical scholarship has clearly succeeded in showing that the ancient civilization that produced the Bible held beliefs about the origin, nature, and purpose of the world and humanity that are fundamentally opposed to the views of modern society. The Bible is thus largely irrelevant to the needs and concerns of contemporary human beings.... Avalos argues that our world is best served by leaving the Bible as a relic of an ancient civilization instead of the 'living' document most religionist scholars believe it should be. He urges his colleagues to concentrate on educating the broader society to recognize the irrelevance and even violent effects of the Bible in modern life."

Originally posted by Russell Hobson

Monday 10 November 2008

Clean feed or Church feed?

The Federal government plans to censor the internet down to the level of a 5 year old child. Senator Conroy is basing this on a Church-circulated petition that he brought to parliament: Petitions to parliament drove ALP’s Internet filtering policy

Originally posted by Ian Woolf

The Rapture Is Coming!

A great list of all the times in history that the world was supposed to end, as well as details as to what they did about it, and what happened to the believers after the world kept on existing :)

Originally posted by Tiffany Day

Sunday 9 November 2008

Dangers of religion

Marcus Brigstocke - Comedy Genius

Probably the funniest atheist rant in existence :)



Originally posted by Tiffany Day, updated youtube URL

Friday 7 November 2008

Critical Mass

Critical Mass is the blog of Alan and Rachel. Sydney Atheists are proud to have Critical Mass as a major contributor.


You can see all the Critical Mass content at http://www.sydneyatheists.org/critical_mass

Or, visit the original site at http://criticalmasspodcast.blogspot.com/

Originally posted by Ian Woolf

Donate

Sydney Atheists accept donations to help us carry out advocacy and education programs on various issues.


The easiest way to donate to Sydney Atheists is through PayPal's secure servers.





Alternatively, you can make a deposit directly to the Sydney Atheists St George Bank account: BSB 112-879 account no. 410 136 189.


We are a strictly non-profit organisation and all donations are used to support the activities of Sydney Atheists. Deposits via PayPal are in accordance with PayPal’s terms and conditions which include the deduction of PayPal’s handling fee.


Calendar

[[[http://www.meetup.com/sydneyatheists/calendar/ height=2300]]]

Calendar

[[[http://www.meetup.com/sydneyatheists/calendar/ height=2300]]]

Welcome

Why might you be interested in Sydney Atheists?


Tired of religious dogma?


Want your kids to grow up able to think critically and have open minds?


Looking for positive secular values?


Feeling under-represented or ignored on important social issues?


Then welcome to Sydney Atheists!



Our vision, mission and values


Our vision is of a society that lives and grows through evidence-based reasoning and secular values.


Our mission is to be:



  • an active atheist resource for the people of Sydney,

  • an open and welcoming community for atheists and atheist-friendly people


We work through education, supporting secular charities and by representing the voice of reason in public debate. We also get together to celebrate life and have fun!



Our values are:



  • an open and inquiring attitude;

  • evidence based reasoning;

  • inclusiveness and diversity; and

  • respect, compassion and goodwill.


How we work


We hold regular get togethers:



  • talks starting 6 pm on the second Sunday evening of every month at different pubs; and

  • social lounges starting 6:30 pm on the last Thursday evening of every month (venue changes).


We also promote secular education for all and we run events where we all chip in to do things like support charity work. We are an open organisation led by a Committee whose job it is to enable us all to express ourselves as atheists and atheist friendly people, do good community work and have fun.


Major activities in the pipeline


We are currently planning an advertising campaign intended to make sure people know they can be good without gods.


Continue to Sydney Atheists content



 

Sunday 2 November 2008

Critical Mass Podcast

Critical Mass podcast MP3


On the show are Anthony, Ian, Dave and Alan



We talk about




  • What the Sydney Atheists have been up to

  • What we're all about

  • Religion invading schools

  • Kevin Rudd's argument from design

  • The London buses

Also, Dave does the topical song, 'On the buses'



Check it out now!

Podcast #1 out now!

The first Critical Mass podcast is available now!

You can get to it via this site,

or you can just download the file here (high quality 47 MB) or here (med quality 23 MB)

On the show are Anthony, Ian, Dave and myself

We talk about
  • What the Sydney Atheists have been up to

  • What we're all about

  • Religion invading schools

  • Kevin Rudd's argument from design

  • The London buses

Also, Dave does the topical song, On the buses 'Freethought Bus'

Check it out now!

You can subscribe to it by clicking the feedburner link at the top of the page.

Originally Posted by Alan Conradi