Wednesday 25 September 2013

October Monthly talk

The next monthly talk will be on October the 11th at the Strattons.

Raphael Lataster - 'There Was No Jesus, There Is No God', Jesus mythicism, Bayesian reasoning and William Lane Craig

Religious Studies scholar, Raphael Lataster (University of Sydney), discusses various issues relating to his recently released book, ‘There Was No Jesus There Is No God’, including: - What the book is actually about - Why he wrote it - The controversy of Jesus mythicism and the thesis that formed the basis of the book - His ongoing research - Why Bayesian reasoning is awesome - Finally, a brief and humourless romp through the arguments of William Lane Craig. There will be plenty of time for questions, and some jocularity.

Copies of his book will be available for $10, and signing will be available.



Murray Love - 21st Century Humanism
Committee member of the Humanist Society of NSW, Murray Love, will talk on the value of Humanism in the 21st Century. In the last century, the label of Humanist (or Secular Humanist) seemed appropriate, but many now shed it for the clear and simple label of Atheist. Yet famous Atheists like Dawkins and Grayling and Tim Minchin retain links to the Humanist movement, and the term Humanism remains valuable for a range of lifestyle issues, social and environmental concerns, and philosophical groundings. Murray will offer ideas on how Atheists might benefit from exploring Humanism as a customisable life-stance and community of people and ideas for those going beyond 'a lack of belief in a god'.

The dinner and talks are both on the First Floor of Strattons Hotel, 249 Castlereagh Street Sydney.
Dinner will be available from 6.00pm to 8.30pm whilst the talks will begin at 7.00pm
The nearest station is Museum, whilst Town Hall Station is a 5 to 10 minute walk. Cheap parking is available at 730 George Street, $9 flat rate 6 mins from the meetup hotel.


Thursday 19 September 2013

Debate - Did God create man, or did man create God?

The  Muslim Students Association and the Islamic Awareness Forum of NSW debated Sydney atheists on the 23rd of August 2013 at UNSW.
For the affirmative; Uthman Badar, Faraz
For the negative; Steve Marton, Aleks Zablotskii
Steve's book is available here; http://amzn.com/B00EK4VINK

This is the first part of the debate, the second is in the description of the first on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWVKm2JXeH0

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Announcement


Carolynn Valbuenna has resigned from the position of Public Relations Officer due to other commitments. We thank Carolynn for her contributions to the committee of Sydney Atheists and to the social aspects of Sydney Atheists. She will be missed.

As a result of Carolynn's departure, there has been a shift in positions on the committee. Nick Sewell has become the new secretary, whilst Thomas Kraemer has replaced Carolynn in the position of Public Relations Officer. On behalf of everyone at Sydney Atheists we welcome and congratulate Nick and Thomas in these new roles and wish them well in their endeavours in building Sydney Atheists to become an even more successful organisation.

Thursday 5 September 2013

Youtube

Lots of new videos, and some old ones that were found have been uploaded to the Sydney atheists youtube page, click on the youtube button over there, on the right and subscribe as there are more of our previous talks coming.