I am currently staying in Buffalo, NY, as a guest of Paul Kurtz and the Centre for Inquiry (transnational). We are sorting out how CFI London will proceed. I am interested in what kind of talks and events people would like to see put on, If you've got suggestions let me know...
POST SCRIPT: Here are ideas I am currently playing with. Comments please.
1. LEAD EVENT: PUBLIC DEBATE: THE NEW ATHEISM. Perhaps with a certain well-known atheist and his nemesis. Not mentioning any names....
2. Course: Exploring the paranormal. 2hrs for one evening per week, over 5 weeks. Possible charge of £20. With leading parapsychologists.
3. Course: The Omega Course. (or Alpha plus course). an alternative to the Church of England's cultish Alpha Course.
3a. Course or event on how cults work.
4. EVENT: Psychic powers. Come along and see fantastic demonstrations of psychic ability! (Some of you may remember I did this for the launch of THINK with Tony Youens, and it was a lot of fun. Got lots of punters in. Many were clearly upset, but rather wiser, when the scams were subsequently revealed... I'm thinking Sally Morgan type thing).
5. Course. Psychology of Religion. There's some fabulous work being done in this area. we should get some of the leading researchers in from Oxford and elsewhere to explain their work (n.b. many are religious). Again, should we charge?
6. Science talks. Mind blowing talks from leading astrophysicists, etc. to popularize science.
7. Socials? CFI Amherst has mountain biking trips and white water rafting. Not sure if we can manage that.
NB courses are likely to be 5 weeks, one evening a week. That sound about right? Probably with different speaker each week. The downside to this is lack of continuity (course is very "bitty"). The upside is no speaker has to do more than one evening, so easier to get a commitment from the best speakers. (Also we may be able to avoid paying them!)
PPS: Help is going to be needed, especially re events, socials, etc. Anyone willing to give an hour here and there do please let me know.
POST SCRIPT: Here are ideas I am currently playing with. Comments please.
1. LEAD EVENT: PUBLIC DEBATE: THE NEW ATHEISM. Perhaps with a certain well-known atheist and his nemesis. Not mentioning any names....
2. Course: Exploring the paranormal. 2hrs for one evening per week, over 5 weeks. Possible charge of £20. With leading parapsychologists.
3. Course: The Omega Course. (or Alpha plus course). an alternative to the Church of England's cultish Alpha Course.
3a. Course or event on how cults work.
4. EVENT: Psychic powers. Come along and see fantastic demonstrations of psychic ability! (Some of you may remember I did this for the launch of THINK with Tony Youens, and it was a lot of fun. Got lots of punters in. Many were clearly upset, but rather wiser, when the scams were subsequently revealed... I'm thinking Sally Morgan type thing).
5. Course. Psychology of Religion. There's some fabulous work being done in this area. we should get some of the leading researchers in from Oxford and elsewhere to explain their work (n.b. many are religious). Again, should we charge?
6. Science talks. Mind blowing talks from leading astrophysicists, etc. to popularize science.
7. Socials? CFI Amherst has mountain biking trips and white water rafting. Not sure if we can manage that.
NB courses are likely to be 5 weeks, one evening a week. That sound about right? Probably with different speaker each week. The downside to this is lack of continuity (course is very "bitty"). The upside is no speaker has to do more than one evening, so easier to get a commitment from the best speakers. (Also we may be able to avoid paying them!)
PPS: Help is going to be needed, especially re events, socials, etc. Anyone willing to give an hour here and there do please let me know.
Comments
Although I'm not too interested in a therapeutic analysis of the big questions of life and death, I would be interested in attending a thoroughly secular and rational critique of the dread and despair which some say is meant to follow a Godless universe (i.e., much like the stuff you write in this blog actually!).
1) The religious need to worship. I have heard this described as "the need to express gratitude to someone".
2) The sense of the transcendent/divine possibly experienced through music art or looking at the stars, possibly though practices such as meditation. Wasn't there a thread here at some point?
3) Sin. Where it comes from. Why we feel guilty when we have done something wrong. Why we feel better if we atone for our transgressions. How do atheists explain these feelings if they do not come from God(s)? Lots of ethics to be had here.
I hope someone will be keeping an eye on the Royal Society calendar to avoid lashes.
Some of us live too far away to attend. Would be great.
Better would be to have a couple of armchairs on stage, have the debate more of a conversation, with a moderator to keep the ship on a rough course.
How about a course in critical thinking? Depends who it is pitched at, but there is a distinct lack of it.
(Slightly off-topic, but this a.m. I heard a member of the synod say that it was the 'mind of Christ' that there should be no women bishops! Because in an old book a character called Jesus chose 12 male disciples! (nothing to do with the way the church was and is dominated by men). When did Jesus say he wanted his followers to erect churches, elect bishops and a pope? Personally I don't see why women or gays would want to be a part of such an institution... to say that I nearly died of apoplexy would capture my response aptly.)
But the CfI library is way cool.
I get really fed up of theists of all types complaining that it’s just the few “bad apples” that spoil the reputation and expect others to “do something”. I couldn’t give a toss about Islam: it’s their religion they should sort it out. And so rationalism should sort out its “bad apples”.
You should be able to get Ben Goldacre (of badscience.net) to do some good exposés
Karl Popper’s pupil and colleague David Miller has a good line in slapping down the pretensions of science to some sort of specially-warranted knowledge. Eg: http://intl.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/284/5420/1625 (I’ve posted that one before!).
Dare I suggest (as a counterpoint) Steve Fuller? Who testified on behalf of the IDers in the Kitzmiller trial?
V. good suggestion. It's a puzzle, that one.
You'd think that realising that we live in a purposeless universe would take a load of everyone's mind. Kind of like cramming for an exam you know you can't possibly pass, only to be told that there isn't an exam after all.
"I hope someone will be keeping an eye on the Royal Society calendar to avoid clashes." not lashes
I am quite sure they would not resort to such punishment!
The sort of question arises if we find something which we suspect of being an artifact. If it is incomplete or non-functional by reason of age or exposure to harsh conditions how do we deterine whether it is
(a) a product of intelligence
(b) a product of non-intelligent life (c) a product of a natural process
(d) just a fluke
The two extreme cases are I guess a "widget" found on Mars (aliens?) or a strangely chipped rock on Earth (flint knapping or erosion?)