[Atheists] Liquid Rationalism/Shirt Order

Hey Everyone,

We are having Liquid Rationalism this week on Thursday February 4th at
Dewey's (starts around 3 pm) where we will talk a little bit about the
debate and other upcoming events for this group. Come out if you are
interested. If you are still interested in purchasing a shirt for this
group ($20) you can sign up at Dewey's or come to the club's office
(SUB 0-40C) during our office hours. Also, if you prefer to have LRs
on Fridays please let us know.

Farid Iskandar
VP Internal
University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics

http://www.ualberta.ca/~atheists/

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[Atheists] Does Morality Exist Without God? Debate Jan. 28

Hey Everyone,

Attached is the poster that was made for the debate.

Does Morality Exist Without God? This debate has been going on for
centuries and it's making a stop at the University of Alberta.

Date: Thursday, January 28, 2010
Time: 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Location: Myer Horowitz Theater

Yes:

Massimo Pigliucci: has a Doctorate in Genetics from the University of
Ferrara (Italy), a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of
Connecticut, and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee.
He has done post-doctoral research in evolutionary ecology at Brown
University and is currently Professor of Philosophy at the City
University of New York.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massimo_Pigliucci)

No:

Michael Horner: a Canadian philosopher who promotes and defends
Christianity on university and college campuses. His lectures and
debates provide convincing arguments for the Christian faith.
(http://www.michaelhorner.com/index.php)

Tickets for the debate cost $2 for students and $5 public. They will
be sold at Infobooths around campus and at ticket tables outside
(before the debate).

Rough Schedule:

5:00 – doors open
5:30 – debate starts
7:10 – Q&A from audience

This event is organized by: University of Alberta Student's Union,
Campus for Christ, University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics.

Hope to see you there

Farid Iskandar
VP Internal
University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics

http://www.ualberta.ca/~atheists/

[Atheists] Origins Discussion

Hi everyone,

Sorry to spam you with email, but below is an event that you may find
interesting.

Cheers,

Sonia Milbradt
VP Finance and Operations

*Title:* Beyond the "Evolution" vs. "Creation" Debate
*Lecturer:* Dr. Denis O. Lamoureux
*Date*: Thursday 21 Jan 2010
*Time:* 5:00 to 6:00 PM
*Place:* Lecture Theater DP-2104 (Dentistry-Pharmacy Centre)

*Abstract*
Are there only two positions on origins: either "evolution" or "creation"?
This lecture is an introduction to professional terminology,
science-religion dialogue, and various views on origins (young earth
creation, progressive creation, evolutionary creation, deistic evolution,
and atheistic evolution). Lecturer also shares his personal voyage in this
debate.

*Biography*

Denis O. Lamoureux is an Associate Professor of Science and Religion at St.
Joseph's College in the University of Alberta. He has debated leading
anti-evolutionists, including Phillip Johnson, Michael Behe, and Jonathan
Wells. With Johnson, he co-authored *Darwinism Defeated? The
Johnson-Lamoureux Debate on Biological Origins* (1999). Lamoureux has
recently released *Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to
Evolution*(2008). He holds three earned doctoral degrees-dentistry,
theology, and
biology.

--
Denis O. Lamoureux DDS PhD PhD
Associate Professor of Science & Religion
St. Joseph's College, University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2J5
Tel: 780 492 7681 ext.246
Fax: 780 492 8145
E-mail: dlamoure@ualberta.ca
Website: www.ualberta.ca/~dlamoure
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[Atheists] Office Hour Change

Due to unforseen circumstances, tomorrow (January 19th) Sonia's office
hours will be from 12:00-1:00. You can drop any t-shirt orders off at
that time. Her office hours will return to normal the following
Tuesday. Sorry for any problems this may cause.

University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics
http://www.ualberta.ca/~atheists/

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[Atheists] UAAA Events/Info

Hi Everyone,

Just a few things of note:

_____________________________
1. T-shirt Order

We will be doing a t-shirt order again this year. Everyone is
encouraged to order a shirt! We are selling both girls and guys shirts
at a cost of $20. Order forms are available at our table in Main SUB
on Thursday (Jan 14th), or online at:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~atheists/members.html

Please return the order form with money to our office (040C) during
our office hours - posted here:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~atheists/events.html

Otherwise, email us at: atheists@ualberta.ca (DON'T RESPOND TO THIS
EMAIL) if you want to meet with one of the exec at another time to
drop off your order form.

Orders are due February 1st.

_____________________________
2. Liquid Rationalism

We are going to be holding Liquid Rationalism at Dewey's on this
Thursday (January 14th) from 3pm-6pm. We will try Thursday's to see if
it is less busy, but if not a lot of people can attend we may change
it back to Friday. This is a great chance to socialize.

We'll be handing out forms for the T-Shirt order, and discussing the
upcoming movie night and debate with Campus for Christ. Also, to help
locate the group for those first-timers, look for the gentleman
wearing a crown of thorns (Our president Rhys). On top of that, we
should have our banner on the table. Hope to see everyone there!

____________________________
3. Movie Night

We will be holding a movie night on Wednesay, January 20th starting at
5:15pm. It will be held in CAB 281. We will be showing cartoon
episodes such as South Park, Futurama, and Family Guy. If you have an
episode that makes fun of religion (or atheists) bring it in and we
will vote on what we watch. Hope to see you there!

__________________________
4. Debate

Don't forget about the debate between UAAA and Campus for Christ on
January 28th at 5:30pm (doors at 5pm)! It will be held in Myer
Horowitz theatre. The topic is God and morality. Posters will be up by
the end of the week, with all of the information.

Cheers,
Sonia Milbradt
VP Finance and Operations
University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics
http://www.ualberta.ca/~atheists/

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[Atheists] UAAA in Winter Semester

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a restful holiday/winter solstice/x-mas/etc...

There is just some information I would like to give out before classes
start again!

_____________________
1. Clubs Fair

We will be needing volunteers to sit clubs fair for us in order to
represent the club. We are asking for one hour shifts. We have a table
in Dinwoodie on Tuesday January 12th, and in main SUB on Thursday
January 14th. Here is a link to a spreadsheet where you can sign up to
help out:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmP-Y82T4XjIdGNfNTk1QTdvd1ZuZEwtbkE2YmxJNkE&hl=en

Please let me know if the link does not work.

____________________
2. DEBATE!

We, along with C4C and the Students' Union will be hosting a debate
about morality and God on January 28th. It should be very interesting!
We will be bringing up Dr. Massimo Pigliucci, who is a well known and
respected scientist and philospher. You don't want to miss this event!
Tickets will be $2 at the door. More details will follow, but as of
know we are planning for the event to start at 5:30pm (with doors at
5pm) and it will be held in the Myer Horowitz Theatre in the Students'
Union Building.

__________________
3. Liquid Rationalism

We will continue to hold Liquid Rationalism events this semester. We
meet every second Friday in Dewey's to discuss events and ideas, as
well as socialize and drink beverages. All are encouraged to attend.
We will try to make ourselves more visible this semester as well. We
will be sending out another email will the date of the first LR later.

Cheers!

Sonia Milbradt
VP Finance and Operations

University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics
http://www.ualberta.ca/~atheists/

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[Atheists] UofA Atheists and Agnostics Newsletter

Greetings, fellow Atheists, Agnostics, and Freethinkers!

I hope the Fall Semester is treating you all well. We have lots of
news from the Atheist world that we'd like to catch you up on, so
please bear with us if this e-mail gets a little long!

First things first. If you have not already done so, please take a
second to join our Facebook group. It's a great way for us to quickly
inform you about upcoming events, and share links to neat sources or
videos we find online.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=5442393782

We are also on Twitter, for those of you who use that medium. Ryan
sometimes posts current information about Liquid Rationalism events on
this account.

http://twitter.com/UoAAaA

Another order of business is to formally invite you all to next week's
Liquid Rationalism, on November 6th, 2009, at Deweys on Campus. Liquid
Rationalism is a chance for you to hang out with other free thinkers
and enjoy a few beverages, or just grab a coffee and catch up with
other members on what's happening in the Atheist world. Past LR's have
brought us such memories as "Pope Hat Day", "Finding Jesus Photoshop
Contest", and various other good times which are too hazy for me to
recall in detail. For those new to Campus, Deweys is located just
South of Cameron Library, and just East of CEB and CAB in the old
Power Plant.

Some current news from the freethinking community that you might find
interesting: Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort are leading a campaign to
distribute free copies of the Origin of Species to celebrate the 150
year anniversary of it's publication.

"Origin into Schools"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN9zpf5cT0M

The bad news is: it has a 50 page introduction that slanders Darwin,
tries to discredit evolution, and promotes a Creationist / Intelligent
Design viewpoint. 100, 000 copies of this book are set to be
distributed at Universities all over North America. More information
on this can be found in the following link:

http://www.livingwaters.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=383

As well as a free PDF version of the book to be distributed:

http://assets.livingwaters.com/pdf/OriginofSpecies.pdf

Lastly, I would like to share with you a link for a Youtube video
called "Jesus The Evidence". It's a documentary that has been banned
in the United States for it's viewpoint on Christianity. I found it to
be a more science/history based version of Zeitgeist, so if you're
interested check it out! (Thanks to Chris Allen for sending me this
link!)

"Jesus, the Evidence"

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8285B54DB1014024

Well, that is it for now. We hope to see you all at Liquid Rationalism
next week!

Continue doubting,

University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics

http://www.ualberta.ca/~atheists/

"Most people, I believe, think that you need a God to explain the
existence of the world, and especially the existence of life. They are
wrong, but our education system is such that many people don't know it."

-Richard Dawkins
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[Atheists] Movie Time

Sorry for the second email, but I forgot to include the time for the
kick off event.

The God Who Wasn't There will be screened at 5pm on Wednesday 9th, in CAB 239.

Ryan Bromsgrove
VP External

University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics

http://www.ualberta.ca/~atheists/

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[Atheists] Clubs Fair, Re-registration, Kick Off Event, Twitter

Hello All

I hope you had a good summer. This email is about four things:

1. Clubs Fair Volunteering.
2. Re-registration (EVERYONE READ!)
3. Kick off Event
4. Twitter Account

1. Clubs Fair Volunteering

Clubs Fair is happening next week, and our table needs volunteers. If
you are interested, all you have to do is sit at the table and talk a
bit about the group to potential new members checking out our display.
Clubs Fair is the event that gets us the most new members each year,
and so we appreciate anyone who volunteers their time to help out.

If you would like to volunteer, please insert your name on the
following Googledocs spreadsheet:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Amb85rmVK-NqdEctdGRUbm1HMS1NRnpwbzJpOTJkSlE&hl=en

Ideally we would like at least two people for each timeslot. The SU is
still finalizing times for Clubs Fair, so it is possible that these
times may change very slightly. Monday and Tuesday we will be in the
Butterdome, and Wednesday to Friday, at Quad.

As with previous years, the UAAA is helping to set up and clean up for
clubs fair. This gets us additional funding, meaning we get to hold
better events throughout the year. We defintely appreciate anyone
willing to come out early on Wednesday to move tables around, or stay
late on Friday to take down the tables and pick up garbage. At the
moment, the times on the spreadsheet are not final, but probably won't
change much.

2. Re-registration (EVERYONE READ)

If you would like to remain a member of the UAAA for the 2009/10 year,
you must send an email to atheists@ualberta.ca with the subject "UAAA
REGISTRATION". Do NOT reply to this email, as it will be sent to the
wrong place. All you need to put in the email is your name, and
preferred contact email address. If you do not send this email, you
will not remain on our memberlist!

3. Kick Off Event

Our first event of the year will be a screening of The God Who Wasn't
There. This will be on Wednesday, September 9th, in CAB 239. Everyone
is welcome to come out!

4. Twitter Account

The UAAA now has a Twitter account: http://twitter.com/uoaaaa. We'll
be using it to announce events and such, so if you're on Twitter,
please follow us!

If you have any questions about anything, you can email
atheists@ualberta.ca and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Thanks, and enjoy the last days of summer!

Ryan Bromsgrove
VP External

University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics

http://www.ualberta.ca/~atheists/
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[Atheists] Petition against the bill making evolution classes optional in Alberta

Dear UAAA members,

As you may have heard, the Alberta Legislature is considering a bill that would require teachers to notify parents in advance if a class will be discussing subjects related to religion, sexuality or sexual orientation. For some reason this is deemed to include the study of evolution. Once notified in this way, the parents would have the right to withdraw their children from such classes if they contradict their religious beliefs. Some people joke that since the bible (apparently) says that pi=3, any math class that teaches otherwise would also be optional.

Here is one of the news stories that have appeared on this topic:
http://technology.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/News/ContentPosting?newsitemid=cgy-bill-evolution-law-alberta-classes-teachers&feedname=CBC-TECH-SCIENCE-V3&show=False&number=10&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True

There are numerous reasons to oppose this bill (or, more specifically, some of its sections), as you may guess. The most vigorous opponents seem to be the representatives from NDP. They are vastly outnumbered, but they've launched a petition to demonstrate the support for their position from the public. If you agree that religious parents should not deprive their children of good science education, please sign this petition, linked to below.

Page with more details and a link:
http://www.ndpopposition.ab.ca/site/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.details&ID=8027&t=8&i=54

The petition itself:
http://www.ndpopposition.ab.ca/uploads/Bill%2044%20Petition.pdf

All the best,
Zoya

P.S. If you are not interested in this, then sorry to have wasted your time.