Morgantown Atheists » atheist

Monthly Meeting August 1: Encouraging Nonbelievers

Neece — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:28:41 +0000

NOTE: LOCATION CHANGE

We are meeting at 5pm at Daniel and Ivy’s for a POTLUCK BBQ on August 1 for our Morgantown Atheists monthly meeting.

Topic of the Evening: Healthy ways to encourage nonbelievers to come out of the religious closet. Bring your ideas and suggestions.

Ivy and Daniel’s place:

486 Hite St.
Morgantown, WV

It’s off of Dorsey Ave. A few blocks up from White Park and the skating rink.
A house with a blue door.

Talk To An Atheist on Atheist Hotline

Neece — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:02:08 +0000

For some time we’ve been working behind the scenes on a way for atheists and people questioning their faith to talk to someone who can give some friendly atheist advice. We have started a voice mail system, an email address and a website called Atheist Hotline!

Ways to Contact Us:

You can call, email or post a question on the site now. The phone number is to a voice mail system. We are volunteering this service so we will get back to you as soon as we can. Leave your email address if you call, too please. It will be easiest for us to get back to you by email.

Our Goals:

Let atheists know they are not alone
Clear up common misconceptions about atheists in general
Provide people with information resources when needed
Personal experiences from atheists to help you with your perspective
Carefully helping people who are questioning their faith – in need of reason, etc.
Carefully helping atheists who have troubles with their family
Offering moral support to atheists and people questioning their faith
Friendly advice from atheists

What we’re NOT:

Faith crisis hotline
Not giving out therapeutic advice
Not a debate hotline
Not a confessional
Not a dating service
We are NOT professionals!
- Anything you say is not under client professional privilege. If you say something criminal, we will alert the police.
- We are not legally qualified in any way to give therapy. We are not claiming to do so. We are here only to give friendly advice or information.
- Anything you do based on information you get through AH is 100% your responsibility.

Here are the Disclaimer and Terms of Service:

By contacting us through email, voice mail or AtheistHotline.com, you state you have read these Terms of Service and agree to them.
Atheist Hotline is provided for informational, educational, fun and amusement purposes only; is not intended to diagnose or treat any person; and is not intended to constitute professional therapeutic advice. While care has been taken in the preparation of the information contained on Atheist Hotline, all information is provided on an “as is” basis without any representation, warranty or condition, whether express or implied, statutory or otherwise, as to: quality; accuracy; completeness; legality; reliability; efficacy; or fitness for any particular purpose. Anyone using this information does so at his or her own risk, and by using such information agrees to indemnify Atheist Hotline and its content providers from any and all liability, loss, injury, damages, costs and expenses (including legal fees and expenses) arising from such person’s use of the information and resources on this website. Anyone who is in any type of crisis should call 911 now and receive help from trained mental heath professionals.

Ideas About Atheist Groups

Neece — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:52:11 +0000

As you may know, I’m the co-cat herder (co-director) of Morgantown Atheists. I’m also the coordinator for Morgantown Coalition of Reason, an umbrella organization that encompasses Morgantown Atheists and other local groups so that we can work together in the name of Reason.

The funny thing is, I’m not really a people person. Like a lot of atheists (supposedly), I’m quite an outsider, as much of a hermit as I can get away with, in fact. I have never liked going out in crowds or socializing with large groups of people.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I have realized something that I want to share with you. Even though I’m a curmudgeonly hermit-y atheist, I love going to the 3 atheist/freethinker meetings we have every month. That’s 3 Sundays a month where I happily leave the house and go socialize with a small group of people. And I look forward to it. The one or 2 Sundays where we don’t meet I miss it.

Even people like me benefit from social community and contact. The beauty of the atheist/freethinker community is that we are relatively like-minded. We have a foundation of common ground. But we are also quite different, of course, which is good because that makes things interesting. The added bonus of freethinkers, skeptics and atheists is that we seem relatively level-headed and we argue and discuss matters with interest and fairness. No drama llama is invited! So it’s actually fun and mentally stimulating.

I think we all need some type of community, which is one thing that religion has in its favor that being a lone atheist does not.

But this is easily remedied. I thought I’d share some thoughts on how to get involved with a secular group of like-minded people. If none exist in your area, you can start one up.

Tips For Finding A Local Atheist/Humanist/Freethinker/Skeptical Community

1. Do a local Google search on the type of group you’re interested in. They may have a Yahoo, Google or Facebook group, or other page set up, or a website devoted to their activities.

2. Go to your favorite organizations and see if they have local chapters, or a list of local groups associated with them. Examples would be CFI, American Atheists, AHA, UnitedCoR, SCA, etc.

3. Look in your local paper, either online or in print. We have our meetings listed in the Today section of the paper, as well as a general entry in the church section (which is really more for a laugh than anyone looking there for an atheist group, I think)

4. Visit the library or local coffee shops for possible fliers on the bulletin boards.

Once you’ve seen that no local groups exist, or you find that you aren’t interested in what’s available, it’s time to start your own.

Tips For Starting A Local Atheist/Humanist/Freethinker/Skeptical Community

1. Start a local yahoo group, Google group, and/0r Facebook group. If you are sure of the name you want your group to have, you can get a domain name and set up a blog or website for the group you are forming.

I recommend a WordPress blog that pings to many different listing sites. This gets you into Google and other search engines much faster than a plain old website, in the easiest way.

2. Go to your favorite organizations and see if they offer any tips on starting a local chapter. Examples would be CFI, American Atheists, AHA, UnitedCoR, SCA, Atheist Nexus, etc.

3. Set a date, time and place for the first meeting. Also have a topic or agenda to talk about. For the first meeting, your location can be the library or a comfortable coffee shop. Provide directions to the meeting clearly in whatever web presence you’ve chosen.

4. Set up a Gmail email so people can contact you with questions. Or set up an email address associated with your domain name.

5. Contact your local paper. Look for a contact for the Today section, or something similar. Be friendly and polite and see if they will list your local meeting.

6. Create fliers (they don’t have to be big or fancy) and put them in the local coffee shops, the library, and any other places you can think of. If you created a group somewhere online, make sure to share that on the flier so people can read more, as well as your new email address so they can ask questions.

Also post to any groups you’ve created on Facebook, Yahoo or Google groups. Spread the word!

7. Show up to the meeting about 10 or 15 minutes early. I carry a tote bag that identifies me as an atheist (one of my Sir Lee Tees designs, a positive atheism message) to help people I haven’t met yet find me in the location. You can do something else to identify yourself to make it easier and more comfortable to people who will need to approach you. Or if you meet at the library, put up a sign in the room you are in, etc.

Expect the first meetings to be small. Maybe get a friend to sit with you for a half hour to see if anyone shows up. For Morgantown Atheists, there were quite a few meetings that were just the original founders and no one else. But with lots of messages on Atheist Nexus and other areas, it has grown to quite a dynamic little group that meets 3 times a month and now will have an ongoing Secular Service project.

8. Have some flexible goals in mind for the direction you want your group to go in. My experience is that these small communities sort of take on a life of their own, but having some ideas to start off with can at least give you confidence, as well as help others to decide if they want to come to a meeting.

~ So that should get you started. If you are interested in finding our starting a group, or if you do start one and want some more ideas, let me know! We can brainstorm, as I’m always looking for new ideas for my groups.

Cross-posted by Neece from Heaving Dead Cats

Monthly Meeting March 7: Who We Admire

Neece — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:56:46 +0000

We met at 5pm at the Blue Moose on Sunday, March 7.

Our topic was:

Who We Admire in Science, Philosophy or Atheism and Why.

Update:

Ivy: Victor Frankl, author of Man’s Search For Meaning. His Logotherapy was about searching for a new and increased awareness in the present and enabling a new freedom and responsibility to act. The patient can then accept they they are not special and that their existence is simply coincidental, without destiny or fate. By accepting this, they can overcome their anxieties, and instead view life as moments, in which they are fundamentally free.

Daniel: Thomas Jefferson, the third president and a founding father. A freethinker and a great leader, he worked very hard to give America the separation of church and state. He was also opposed to a central bank, he was very insightful, and wanted to keep the power of the federal government in check.

Tim: John Shelby Spong is a retired bishop of the Episcopal church. He wrote Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love, and Equality and followed the principle of the Episcopal seminary’s adage, “Seek the truth, come whence it may, cost what it will.” He revolutionized the Episcopal church.

Brent: August Weismann, Leonard Hayflick and Aubrey de Grey are three men in different biology fields who worked or work in life extension.

David: Richard and Mary Leaky who were doing great things in 1968, a book called African Genesis: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man which helped David to seek a scientific basis to life, and Paul Monette who wrote Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story.

Neece: Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins. Both great men who taught and teach critical thinking, skepticism, and make science attainable for anyone willing to look at how awesome the universe really is naturally. Sagan wrote quite a few books and so has Dawkins.

Butch: Frank Zappa and George Carlin, both men who were proponents of free speech and not letting yourself get crushed under the boot heel of religion or the government. Zappa was a part of the PMRC trials in the 80′s and Carlin was an outspoken critic of the church back in the 60′s before it was fashionable.

Gerald: Martin Gardner and James Randi. Gardner started the ball rolling in the 50′s with speaking out against creationism. He was a secular humanist. He wrote Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Discourses on Reflexology, Numerology, Urine Therapy, and Other Dubious Subjects and Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. James Randi is a big part of the skeptical movement, a part of CFI and the founder of the JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation). He has written many books.

Chad: Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist who brings passion to science and scientific literacy. This video of a talk by Tyson from 2006 is about 38 minutes long. He talks about the god of the gaps throughout scientific history, intelligent design and then about Stupid Design. Highly recommended watching. Tyson has written several books.

Joe: Pearl S. Buck and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). Pearl S. Buck took Joe out of his Ozzie and Harriet life and showed him other ways of life and different ways of thinking. Buck wrote many books. Here’s a quote from her about religion: “I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. Like Confucius of old, I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.” The FFRF is a group that fights for the separation of church and state.

A Wild Ride With Robert Sapolsky

Neece — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:51:44 +0000

Brent sent me a link to a page on the web. It’s a conversation with Robert Sapolsky, a quiet, funny, apparently brilliant professor of biological sciences at Stanford University and of neurology at Stanford’s School of Medicine. Professor Sapolsky has written several books such as:

The link Brent sent me was called TOXO and he suggested it to me, to share with you, because we’re reading The God Virus: How religion infects our lives and culture, by Daniel W Ray. Now the video on that page was Robert Sapolsky talking about a most interesting parasite called Toxoplasma. This is what pregnant women need to worry about, and why they avoid cats and cat feces. It can wreak havoc on their unborn baby’s nervous system.

If you’re reading The God Virus, which talks about parasites and viruses as an analogy for religion, I highly recommend watching this video. If you aren’t going to read the book I still recommend the video. The transcript is underneath it too, which will make it even more accessible for you. But the video is longer than the transcript. So take 25 minutes and enjoy it. Here’s another link to the video. I’m telling you, it’s fascinating. As I mentioned, the video is longer than the transcript. He goes into telemeres and molecular age, which I heard a study about recently confirming what he is explaining.

What he’s talking about touches on evolution, common ancestors, parasites and how they go about getting where they need to be, motorcyclists and speed freaks, and schizophrenics, as well as the government’s interest in this parasite. A wild ride indeed!

Of course, as a skeptic, I thought I’d just look around a bit and see who this Sapolsky guy is, since I’d never heard of him. I found his books (linked to above), his Wikipedia page, and a very cool speech he gave to Stanford students about to graduate. It’s about the uniqueness of humans. Here is the Stanford speech:

TED likes him too. Here’s his bio page .

“If a rat is a good model for your emotional life, you’re in big trouble.” Robert Sapolsky

I guess it’s no surprise that he’s an “unbudgeable atheist“. Did I mention he was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant? But if you watch the videos, you’ll find that he’s fairly easy to understand, so he’s able to teach what he knows, which is awesome.

Oh, and the connection between toxoplasma and schizophrenia? Science Daily has a few studies that I could find:

Feel free to share anything interesting you might know about the toxoplasma parasite or Robert Sapolsky in the comments or at the meeting for The God Virus Book Club Meeting February 21st.

Donation Drive For Thanksgiving

Neece — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:40:44 +0000

Hello fellow Nonbelievers!

Update: A huge Thank You to everyone who made our first Secular Service Event a great success! Matt at the Bartlett House was amazed at how much stuff we brought in, and commented on the name of the Morgantown Coalition of Reason when he filled out our receipt for their records.

One of the goals of Morgantown Atheists is to help others in our community. As the holidays approach, now is a great time to launch our first Secular Service Event.

We have opened this event to all of Morgantown Coalition of Reason so Brights, Freethinkers, UU’s and Thomas Paine lovers join in and help out!

Between now and Saturday, November 21, please collect any of the following items to donate to the Bartlett House and the Salvation Army in Morgantown.

We will donate on the 21st in the name of Morgantown Coalition of Reason, and the participating groups that make up the CoR, to help the less fortunate for Thanksgiving. Meeting location is The Blue Moose at 1pm.

The Salvation Army:

Old clothing

The Bartlett House requests the following:

Styrofoam plates and cups
Napkins
Shampoo
Conditioner
Disposable Razors
Toothpaste
Washcloths
Deodorant
Blistex
Cough Drops
Gloves for children under 15 years

Comment below to let us know you’re going to participate.

Morgantown Atheists Join American Atheists

Neece — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:06:21 +0000

Hello Morgantown Atheists!

Last Wednesday, October 21, we became an affiliate of American Atheists!

We’re listed on the affiliates page. Just click on the icon in WV.

Here is what AA said:

American Atheists is honored to welcome Morgantown Atheists to the growing list of Affiliates across the United States. A good synonym for Affiliation is friendship and that is exactly what we look forward to with Morgantown Atheists.

Morgantown Atheists can now begin taking advantage of the many benefits that come with being an Affiliate of American Atheists, including:

Free listing on the American Atheists’ Web Page
Assistance in arranging programs and setting up new local organization.
Free subscription to the American Atheist Magazine.
20% discount at the American Atheists store for purchases over $50.00 (use promo code aff2009).
Reduced convention fees for members of Morgantown Atheists and a free Affiliate meeting at the annual convention.
20% first-year discount for American Atheists membership for members of Morgantown Atheists (use promo code aff2009)

The Demography of Unbelief

Neece — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:00:22 +0000

“Who Are These Doubters, Anyway? The Demography of Unbelief”

presented by Tom Flynn, Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism and Editor of Free Inquiry magazine

Thursday, October 29, 7:00 p.m.
Carnegie Science Center
1 Allegheny Avenue, Pittsburgh

You’ve seen the various religion polls and the reported percentages of unbelievers – and the polls vary widely. How do you know which polls are more reliable? Join Tom Flynn as he explores how sociologists and pollsters measure religious belief and unbelief. He will also cover the controversies and scandals in the polling field, and what the polling data on religion really mean (for example, how many of those “no religious preference” people are really atheists?).

Tom Flynn is Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism and the Editor of Free Inquiry magazine. A journalist, novelist, entertainer, and folklorist, Flynn is the author of numerous articles for Free Inquiry, many addressing church-state issues, as well as the best-selling The Trouble With Christmas, about which he has made hundreds of radio and TV appearances in his role as the curmudgeonly “anti-Claus.” He is also the author of the critically acclaimed anti-religious black comedy science fiction novels, Galactic Rapture and Nothing Sacred. His latest work, The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief, is a comprehensive reference work on the history, beliefs, and thinking of America’s fastest growing minority: those who live without religion.

General Admission: $6
Friends of the Center: FREE

For more information about this and other CFI Pittsburgh events, please visit www.centerforinquiry.net/pgh or email pgh@centerforinquiry.net.

Teaming Up, Doing Good

Neece — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:01:25 +0000

Hello Everyone!

The billboard is up and making the news! You can see all the press we’ve gotten so far here: http://morgantown.unitedcor.org/press . Some of the comments at the different articles are fun and interesting. The Charleston Gazette has 100 comments, the most popular story at the moment. It appears that there are about 3 or 4 positive to each negative comment! Here is the link: http://wvgazette.com/News/200909290601

Rachel has done a great job as our spokesperson. She even got on TV: http://wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=67641 Watch the video too!

So, MorgantownCoR comprises the Morgantown Atheists, the Morgantown Brights, the Freethinkers Morgantown Book Club and the Morgantown Thomas Paine Society. One thing we all want to do is make a positive difference in our community. Through our actions, we can show the traditionally religious people in our area that we are good, moral people too. Together we can make even more of a difference.

As Rachel said earlier today, “Right now, we have the attention of not just our neighbors, but our state. Let’s show them that we are a valuable force in the community. Let’s have a strong showing for our Habitat for Humanity Build this Saturday.”

You can get all the information you need at the Morgantown Brights page: http://www.morgantownbrights.com/2009/09/27/habitatoct3/

Another project we’re looking into is Adopt A Road. Rachel has already started this process rolling. Please let us know if you will be willing to help clean a road with us. We need to show the Brights that the Atheists, Freethinkers and Thomas Paine lovers are also interested in this great endeavor.

We’ll send out more details of what is involved in the Adopt a Road project, but give us an idea if you are interested in helping by commenting below.

So let’s keep the momentum from the billboard going! Please consider showing up for the Habitat for Humanity Build, and let us know we can count on you for the Adopt a Road project.

Also, we will be happy to meet new faces at our upcoming meetings! We’ll keep you posted in the following locations on what events are coming up with our different groups:

Morgantown CoR (includes all events)
Morgantown Atheists (includes the Freethinkers Morgantown Schedule and will also include any Thomas Paine Society Meetings)
Morgantown Brights

We hope to see you soon. You can follow the events by getting our email updates from the Atheists and Brights sites.

Godless WV Groups Organize around Morgantown Billboard

Neece — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:50:21 +0000

(Morgantown, WV, September 29, 2009.) Atheists and agnostics in Morgantown, West Virginia, have organized around an electronic billboard on Mileground Road. The billboard reads, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.” These words are superimposed over an image of blue sky and clouds.

Four groups of freethinkers and humanists have pooled their efforts to launch the new Morgantown Coalition of Reason, sponsor of the billboard. Their aim is to educate the public about their worldview and what their groups do. The billboard invites like-minded people to visit the coalition’s website at www.MorgantownCoR.org. Motorists traveling west on Mileground Road into Morgantown will see it.

Under the co-sponsorship of the United Coalition of Reason, a national coordinating body, this billboard is part of a larger nationwide campaign aimed at raising the public profile of nontheists and organizing nontheistic groups in major cities. The United Coalition of Reason plans to fund billboards in a dozen additional states before year’s end.

“The primary goal of a billboard like this is to act as a beacon for nontheistic people–such as atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and humanists–letting them know they aren’t alone,” explained Fred Edwords, communications director for the United Coalition of Reason. “This message is particularly important in a part of the country that, for many, has been identified with traditional religion. Nonreligious people in the area may be unaware there is a thriving community for them.”

The Morgantown billboard joins others around the country that appeared earlier, including in Denver, Dallas, Fort Worth, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. The United Coalition of Reason also cosponsored the recent controversial bus ads in Des Moines, Iowa. Unique about the Morgantown effort is that it marks the first time an electronic billboard has been used in the nationwide campaign.

Local organizers say that, although religious believers aren’t a target of the campaign, they too can learn something. “We want the public to see that atheists and agnostics are part of the community, just as the faithful are,” said Rachel Cather, spokesperson for the Morgantown Coalition of Reason. “We have the same compassionate values and, in most other ways, are just like them. We are hard-working, tax-paying, moral citizens who care deeply about family, community, state and nation.”

The local groups that have launched the Morgantown coalition are the Morgantown Atheists, Morgantown Brights, Freethinkers Morgantown Book Club and Morgantown Thomas Paine Society. “We encourage other like-minded groups in Morgantown and elsewhere in West Virginia to affiliate,” Cather added.

The billboard will remain in place for one month. An image of the billboard design can be found online at www.MorgantownCoR.org.

# # #

The United Coalition of Reason exists to raise the visibility of nontheists and change the way they are perceived by average Americans. The organization carries out its mission by bringing local nontheistic groups together for the purpose of creating a stronger community voice. United CoR is a nonprofit educational and charitable organization, online at www.UnitedCoR.org.

The Morgantown Coalition of Reason is a community of nontheistic groups in the Morgantown area. Morgantown CoR works to raise the public profile of and cooperation among all such local organizations.

# # #

For more information contact:

Fred Edwords, communications director, United CoR:
(202) 550-9964, fredwords@unitedcor.org

Rachel Cather, spokesperson, Morgantown CoR:
(304) 906-6724, morgantowncor@gmail.com

Neece, Coordinator and Webmaster, Morgantown CoR:
morgantowncor@gmail.com

Morgantown Atheists » atheist

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