Welcome

Welcome to the blog for the Atheist and Agnostic Society! Our official school website can be found here. On this blog, we post news and event updates for the club as well as occasional commentary from our club members. We hope you’ll explore our site and learn more about us. Feel free to leave comments and get a conversation started. You may also start a discussion on our Facebook Fan Page discussion board.

Please note that any “fan mail” that is sent to the group’s email address or to any club member as a result of group activities may be posted on this blog for posterity, although we will remove your name and email address.

Secualar holiday celebrations

It’s that time of year where we all have to find our own way to celebrate or not celebrate the various religious winter holidays. Many of us have families that celebrate Christmas, and it can be difficult to find our own way to participate as non-religious persons. Some of us reject the whole thing, and some of us embrace it, including Richard Dawkins. Some of us enjoy surprising religious people, as Greg Laden of ScienceBlogs describes in Let the War on Christmas Begin. Atheist style. Do you celebrate any version of the winter holidays? If so, how?

AAS will be celebrating the winter holidays when we return to classes in January with sledding at La Casa Grande (Dr. and Mrs. Avalos’ lovely home), baking cookies, and making Flying Spaghetti Monster ornaments out of pipe cleaners and googly eyes!

This is also the time of year where the line between church and state begins to blur, as nativity scenes, Christmas trees, and menorahs go up on the steps of Capitol buildings and courthouses across the US. What is the holiday decoration situation in your home town?

One secular group in Westchester, PA has found a unique way to celebrate and to be included in the religious holiday display outside their courthouse – by decorating an evergreen tree with laminated book covers to represent human knowledge. Unfortunately, local religious groups have been less than accepting. The entire article: Atheist Tree of Knowledge under attack from Examiner.com is posted below the cut for posterity.

Meeting Canceled

Due to weather, We will have to reschedule the planned meeting for tonight.
Please be safe driving and enjoy the snow.

Weekly Update

This is the last week of AAS activities for this semester. If you have suggestions for events over break, please suggest them on the AAS Facebook discussion board or comment here.

As you register for classes for next semester, please keep in mind that AAS meetings for Spring 2010  will be Monday nights 7-8pm in the MU Gold room.

Thu Dec 3, 2009 7pm – 8pm  AAS Meeting – Memorial Union Gold Room (2nd floor, near Multicultural Center)
Fri Dec 4, 2009 11am – 1pm  Ask an Atheist Booth – UDCC Commons area
Sun Dec 6, 2009 11am – 1pm  AAS Sunday Brunch – Harvest Room of Seasons Marketplace on Campus

At this week’s meeting, we’ll watch the movie “Flight From Death“.

Have a happy winter break!

Food For [Critical] Thought

With Christmas time just around the corner we all have serious issues to be considering.  Some of these include: should we be good and, if so, why?  For goodness sake?  For Jesus? 

While you’re thinking about this age old topic I would like everyone to consider something that has been on my mind for years, something that I knew in my heart was wrong but that I just didn’t know how to express.  Now it has been expressed for me in a manner that I was incapable of.  They present it in a way that even me, as a confused and easily manipulated kid, can understand!!1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Oj0-splZw

From an interview with the creater, Jonathan Acuff:
“[Jesus] wants us to love our enemies and serve our neighbors. As long as there is no body on body action. I’m talking of course about a “full frontal hug,” one of those sinful abominations where you just wrap your arms around a friend and embrace them. That’s why Christians the world over have pioneered the “side hug.” In the side hug there’s no risk of two crotches touching.”

You’ll never have to feel guilty about giving hugs again!  When you see you mother and grandmother this holiday season make sure to Just Say “No” to the “full frontal hug” that they offer you because, remember, is it worth the risk?

AAS gets national news coverage!

As many of you know, AAS had an AP religion reporter on campus for the Ask an Atheist booth and the Superstition Bash. The resulting story is a fairly accurate picture of who we are and why we gather in this student organization. We’re already getting many responses to the article. If you’re visiting this site because of this article, feel free to share your views in the comments. The article is reprinted here in full for posterity, but will be removed upon request of the owner of the material. Select positive and negative responses to the article will be posted here on the AAS blog.

Atheist student groups flower on college campuses

By ERIC GORSKI Sat Nov 21, 2:05 pm ET

AP Photo by Charlie Neibergall

AMES, Iowa – The sign sits propped on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: “Ask an Atheist.”

Whenever a student gets within a few feet, Anastasia Bodnar waves and smiles, trying to make a good first impression before eyes drift down to a word many Americans rank down there with “socialist.”

Bodnar is the happy face of atheism at Iowa State University. Once a week at this booth at a campus community center, the PhD student who spends most of her time researching the nutritional traits of corn takes questions and occasional abuse while trying to raise the profile of religious skepticism.