MyFoxAtlanta had a short segment Sunday evening about the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s billboards that are supposed to hit 50 billboards in Atlanta this month. No sightings, yet, though some of the billboards shown in the clip look like they might be around Atlanta.

The negative reactions are disappointing, at best, but no threats of violence or vandalism. I agree with Pastor Alan Morris, from the Georgia Baptist Convention, that the “sleep in on Sunday” billboards are likely counterproductive.

Atlantan Perry Mitchell speaks extensively for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and does a good job at presenting his case.

Pastor Morris opines, “‘Imagine there’s no heaven. Imagine…’ You know…that is an absolute absurdity, because what do we have to live for? We have no explanation for how we got here, we have no explanation for where we’re going, or no explanation for why we should even live morally, today.”

The newsreader has an amusing quote at the end (emphasis added), “Just about everyone we spoke with said people have the right to free speech, and to make their religion (or lack of religion) known.”

[added 09/15/10 18:15] They also posted a video of an on-air debate between Mr. Mitchell and Dr. David Sapp, senior pastor of Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church. Fox 5′s Russ Spencer agreed with Dr. Sapp that some of the billboards were “attacks” upon Christianity. Russ Spencer also gave an extensive editorial after the brief debate. I don’t agree with all of his conclusions, but I like the way he presented his ideas. It’s the best I expect from a local news program, much more so from a Fox affiliate.

Kelly Nelson, a travel writer for the Atlanta Examiner open publishing news site, wrote a short article in the Examiner. She says that the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s billboard campaign (including “In Reason We Trust” on a penny) will hit Atlanta after Labor Day 2010. I didn’t see the Auburn University billboards in Atlanta get vandalized, so maybe these billboards have a chance to survive, too.

Is Kelly otherwise active in the Atlanta Skeptics/critical thinking community?

It’s time! Tickets for our 2nd Annual Charity Star Party are on sale now! Are you coming to Dragon*Con this year? If so, you should seriously consider coming in a day early to attend. This year’s entertainment includes renowned astronomers and hosts of AstronomyCast, Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain with special appearance by musician George Hrab! Plus, Skepchick Rebecca Watson will be hosting the event. The Emory University Physics department is sponsoring the event and will be showing off their observatory and telescopes.

This event is in honor of Jeff Medkeff, the Blue Collar Scientist, astronomer, skeptic and friend to many of us. Jeff succumbed to liver cancer in 2008. All proceeds will go toward the Light the Night Fund: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in Jeff’s name.

Food, drinks and conversations with astronomers. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, star gazing!

We have a bit more space than we did last year but tickets will sell out. Get them while you can!

I’ve been remiss in my recapping duties on this, but here’s a brief summary at last of how things went. Once again, any suggestions/comments are welcome

To be continued after the break:

» Continue reading “Skeptics in the Park II: Post Mortem”

Announcing our second ever Skeptics in the Park!

The Atlanta Skeptics will once again emerge from the pub and wander outside on Saturday, June 12th from 11AM-3PM at Jones Bridge Park.

Details after the break:

» Continue reading “Skeptics in the Park – June 12th”

Two internationally known skeptics are appearing in Atlanta in June. Outspoken atheist and political pundit Christopher Hitchens is touring in support of his new book Hitch-22 and the well-known mentalist Banachek is doing a ticketed mentalism show at the Academy Theatre.

Update Friday June 4: Details on Banachek tickets updated! See below.

Full details on times and tickets after the jump…
» Continue reading “Two notable skeptics appearing in Atlanta in June”

On May 15th and 16th, we held our 2nd Skepticamp here in Atlanta. This year’s event included presentations from 18 attendees, a poster presentation session, a round table discussion on “Skepticism for Everyone through Social Media”, sword fights, a pony made of cake and 60+ attendees each day!

Atlanta Skepticamp 2010

For me, the presentations that stood out came from LaVerne Knight-West and Dr. Ginger Campbell (host of Brain Science Podcast and Books and Ideas). Each shared their personal journeys and experiences with the skeptical community, and warm, fuzzy feelings ensued.

Dr. Ginger Campbell at Atlanta Skepticamp 2010

Certainly the most unique presenter at Skepticamp was martial arts expert, John Clements. In addition to the fact that he brought SWORDS, he himself was highly entertaining. One of the more quotable Skepticamp moments: During a demonstration with SWORDS, John matter-of-factly states, “People with weapons KILL people without weapons, that’s why we have so many of them.”  I was afforded the opportunity to challenge him in duel. I could have killed him, but the 2nd rule of Skepticamp is “Be Awesome. And Don’t Kill Anyone.”

Presenter John Clements is no match for Taylor Proctor's sword fighting skills.

I was personally excited to see the presentations from Brian, Laura, Veronica, Sean and Bob, who participated in our SkeptiBOOTcamp workshops over the weeks leading up to Skepticamp. The whole thing was a bit of an experiment, and I hope to develop the idea further before next year’s Skepticamp. I do encourage other organizers to consider doing something like this before Skepticamps. I think each participant’s presentation benefited in some way from the support and assistance gained through the different workshops.

Presenter Laura Ross at Atlanta Skepticamp 2010

Another notable aspect of Atlanta’s Skepticamp was our theme, “Critical Thinking For Everyone.” I felt the message successfully resounded throughout the weekend. Each presenter shared their own unique perspective on skepticism, and the panel on “Skepticism for Everyone through Social Media,” yielded a lot of discussion and sharing from the audience. I felt an overall sense of humility from participants throughout the weekend, a sentiment that can seem sometimes lacking in the skeptical community.  I want to give extra thanks to Swoopy from Skepticality, for helping me out with my idea for a theme and really running with it.

Maria Walters and Tim Farley during panel discussion at Atlanta Skepticamp 2010

I definitely learned a lot more from organizing this year’s Skepticamp than I did during the planning of Atlanta’s first camp last year. The discussions and events of last weekend’s event, raised interesting questions in my mind to consider as I think about how we can move forward for next year’s Skepticamp. Namely, What is primary goal of having community events like Skepticamp? Is it to promote skepticism and critical thinking, or is it to nurture the skeptic?

There was marked shift in the nature of presentations from last year to this year. Last year, a majority of presentations were informative overviews of topics like logical fallacies, neuroscience, evolution, detox myths, etc. This year, more presentations addressed a skeptic’s humble lesson learned. Presenter Russ discussed how our fears, often fueled further by media sensationalism, can lead to the presumption of a crisis and unnecessary hysteria; Christian gave us an account his pleasant and relaxing visit to an acupuncturist, (despite leaving with an unhealed knee injury); Brian shared an anecdotal example of how even the most rational of skeptical critical thinkers are not immune to irrational thought. I’m excited and very interested to see the direction in which presentations might go for next year.

Thanks to all who volunteered, gave a talk, and attended Atlanta Skepticamp 2010!

I personally want to give extra-special thank yous to:

Maria Walters – for taking charge of planning when I was stressed and over-committed.

Mark Ditsler of Abrupt Media – for all things A/V club; equipment, recording, streaming, time-keeping. His contribution was priceless, as always

Derek Colanduno- for offering up our venue (even if it was quite toasty)

David Rodriguez – for designing our Skepticamp logo and shirts.

Derek (again) and Swoopy of Skepticality – for being our badass MCs.

Brian Thompson of Amateur Scientist Podcast- for coming all the way to Atlanta to record a live podcast at our Skepticamp Fundraiser in March.

Kylie Sturgess, George Hrab, A Kovacs and Surly Amy – for their recorded messages to Atlanta Skepticampers.

Shayna Glick – for making my Skepticamp dreams come true! All I wanted for Skepticamp was a pony!

SkeptiPony, official mascot of Atlanta Skepticamp 2010

Thanks to all our sponsors!

JREF

Skeptic Magazine

Fund For Thought

Skeptical Inquirer

Skepticality

Amateur Scientist Podcast

Thinking Man Tavern

Skepchick

Surly Ramics

Tree Lobsters

Abrupt Media

Bluefox Graphic

Skepticamp, created in Denver, perfected in Atlanta!

One of the greatest things about being in the Skeptical community is how quickly we rally around a cause. It seems that no matter what the subject, we have at least one person who’s a domain expert in the field; We have a belly-dancing astronomer for Pete’s sake!

I got a message on Google Talk today from my good friend @MasalaSkeptic, asking if I knew anyone who was hiring. It seems that a member of the Atlanta Skeptics had just been laid off and was looking for a job. Since the Atlanta Skepticamp is in a few days, I mentioned that we should make an effort to help that person and others out. Bringing together smart, critical thinking job-seekers and employers that value those same skills really is a no-brainer.

That’s probably why it occurred to me.

If people show interest and some good comes from this, who knows, maybe there will be a website in the near future. For now, I’m starting small. It would be great if a few people actually get some help out of this, but what I don’t want (and refuse) to do is detract from why we hold Skepticamp in the first place – to encourage participation in open discussion about science and skepticism. I want to prevent headhunters and commercial job sites from being involved; just friends in the community connecting with others. To borrow from Google’s alleged motto and “not be mean” is the goal.

Job seekers: If you’re attending the Atlanta Skepticamp and are looking for a job, please send your resume and a cover letter to skeptijob at gmail dot com. I will NOT give your information out to anyone except those people who attend Skepticamp without your consent.

Employers (or people who know about a job): If you are attending Atlanta Skepticamp and are looking to fill a position, please send a job description and the pertinent info to skeptijob at gmail dot com.

Thanks!

@JoeAnderson

Have you registered for Atlanta Skepticamp yet? If you haven’t, you are missing out on these AWESOME t-shirts that I just ordered!

Don’t worry – I ordered a few extra. Sign up soon to help out and get one! Not sure what you can do? Check out our page on Other Ways to Participate at Skepticamp!

I work in the arts.  Have for all my professional life.  And yes, I am a bleeding heart liberal that believes it is the state’s responsibility to help fund arts and culture.  It is simply a quality of life issue that we all deserve.  Indeed you will find many of us at Atlanta Skeptics either work in the arts or are active participants in arts related endeavors such as theater, museums, puppetry, etc.  Why?  Because arts and culture help us think, feel, and understand the world around us.  We are better critical thinkers and skeptics because of it.

It has been proven that art, theater, music, and other such cultural activities are a necessary part of a persons life and help greatly with education.  Apparently, however, the lawmakers in Georgia take a different stance on the importance of the arts and arts funding, a stance that I do not agree with.

The $17.8 billion budget passed by the House on Wednesday calls for the elimination of the Georgia Council for the Arts. Georgia would become the only state in the U.S. without an arts agency if that plan holds as the budget works its way through the Senate before going to Gov. Sonny Perdue.

It’s already a fact that arts funding in this state lags behind much of the country (we’re presently ranked 44th) so it is no big surprise that the whacko’s in the capitol building want to get rid of it altogether. It is a travesty, however, that should not be allowed to happen.  In an economy where jobs are already hard to come by, this decision will cut many jobs that depend on Georgia Arts Council funding.   How does cutting more jobs, by cutting a small part of the state budget help things?  In fact it will hurt far more than it helps.  I urge you, all of you who read this, to contact your state senator or representative and even the governor.  Let them know how you feel.  Try to do something about this.