David Driscoll reports on his adventures at the Gods and Politics conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, June 18-20. The conference was co-sponsored by the Danish Atheist Society and Atheist Alliance International and featured such luminaries as Richard Dawkins, Dan Barker, PZ Myers, Victor Stenger and James “The Amazing” Randi.
Archive for the ‘international freethought’ Category
Podcast #93 – Gods and Politics in Copenhagen
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Teach the controversy: Russian edition
Thursday, June 10th, 2010We’ve gotten used to hearing that Creationism and Intelligent Design are peculiar to the United States. Other places, especially Europe, not so much.
Unfortunately, that is changing. There’s increasing pressure from religious factions in the United Kingdom, and Australians continue to play the occasional game of whack-a-mole with Creationists.
Now the Russians are feeling the heat. The Russian Orthodox Church has launched its own version of “teach the controversy,” insisting that “several theories” about the origin of life should be taught alongside the Darwinian theory of evolution. Archbishop Hilarion (love the name) decries the “monopoly of Darwinism” in Russian schools. Of course, the good Archbishop does not decry the monopoly of Russian Orthodoxy in his own pulpit, and I’m sure he would shrink at the suggestion that “several theories” of religious belief be taught regularly alongside his own. Good for the goose and all that jazz.
Oh, and if you read the article all the way through, you’ll also find the Russian version of “Russia is a Christian nation.” Enjoy!
Violence continues in Nigeria
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Agnostics continue to slaughter atheists in Nigeria.
Ah, who am I kidding? It’s Muslims slaughtering Christians (and vice versa). Nigeria’s Acting President–the ironically named Goodluck Jonathan–has promised to quell the violence, but I suspect he’ll do no more than tamp it down temporarily.
Podcast #76 – Stuart Bechman (Pres. of Atheist Alliance International)
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
Happy New Year! We kick off 2010 by interviewing Stuart Bechman, president of Atheist Alliance International (AtheistAlliance.org). AAI is planning its first-ever Australian convention in Melbourne on March 12-14, 2010. For details visit AtheistConvention.org.au–tickets are going fast!
Podcast #76 - Stuart Bechman (Pres. of Atheist Alliance Intl) [45:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3791)Podcast #66 – Freethought in Mexico
Monday, September 28th, 2009
We interview Danny Zepeda, a skeptical blogger living in Morelia, a city in central Mexico. He talks about the state of freethought South of the Border, the prevalence of superstition and alt-medicine quackery in Mexican society, and the challenges of raising children to be critical thinkers. Visit Danny’s Spanish-language blog Un Papá Escéptico (A Skeptical Papa) at papaesceptico.wordpress.com. If you can’t read Spanish, try pasting the URL into the Babel Fish text translation tool: the results are sometimes a bit iffy but readable.
Way to go Malawi!
Saturday, April 25th, 2009First I hear that Nigerians are planning a conference to combat witch-hunting, child abuse and Christian fundamentalism. Now Malawi is stepping up. I have no idea how many people this message will reach via my blog, but since I think it’s a worthy effort, I’m passing this along:
Witch-hunting is no laughing matter
Saturday, April 25th, 2009If, like mine, your first reaction in hearing about modern-day witch-hunting is to snicker–don’t. It’s just a bunch of superstitious silliness, right? Think again. Witch-hunting kills. It destroys lives. Read this chilling article from Johann Hari. Maybe we won’t snicker so much the next time we see that clip of Sarah Palin being blessed by self-proclaimed Nigerian witch-hunter Thomas Muthee. Muthee isn’t just some African blowhard conning a bunch of Alaskan yahoos. His actions have ruined peoples lives and reputations.
For some reason, witch-hunting seems all the rage in Africa lately. Thankfully, skeptical/secular Africans are working to change that.
Nigerians call for conference against witch-hunting
Sunday, April 19th, 2009This is very encouraging news. Leo Ingwe of the Nigerian Humanist Movement has issued a call for papers for the “National Conference on Witch-hunts, Christian Fundamentalism, and Child Abuse” (you gotta love that they lumped these three topics together). The Conference is scheduled for October 2009.