For Those About to Atheist, We Salute You

Skepticon, first debate, moments away. Stay tuned for blogs from the event.

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http://twitter.com/SkepticonEvent
Tags: #skepticon #atheism

Thanks PZ!

PZ mentioned us on Pharyngula and kindly asked folks to pitch in. Thanks PZ!

As I wrote before...

We live in an area with over 340 in-town churches. James River Assembly has both a Starbucks and an ATM inside. Suffice that dredging up money for an event like this locally is not the easiest thing to do. Imagine walking into a local business and saying, "Hi. We're inviting a bunch of famous atheists to Springfield to criticize religion and explain how it's very dangerous. If you give us a donation, we'll put your business's name on the flyer." Yeah...

So we need help from everybody. We want five of your dollars. That's it, five. Let's imagine that we wanted to raise $5,000 to pull this off...I think it will be easier finding 1,000 people to donate $5 than five people to donate $1,000. Most people have five bucks to spare. Of course, you can send us more if you feel so moved.

You can either send it to skepticonevent@gmail.com via paypal, or click the shiny button below.

It's very true! My university has shown some reticence to giving us full funding for this, so we will need some outside assistance. Make it happen! This are really needs this kind of event.

Thanks everybody!

Donate to Skepticon II

I had a comment on my personal blog yesterday asking how people can donate to Skepticon II. We're gonna launch our fund-raising campaign in about a week, and you'll have the ability to donate when the web site goes live. However, here's the means for all of you who are just chomping at the bit to send us money. We have set ourselves up as a not-for-profit, which means we can now start taking donations. Here's the deal...

We want five of your dollars. That's it, five. Let's imagine that we wanted to raise $5,000 to pull this off...I think it will be easier finding 1,000 people to donate $5 than five people to donate $1,000. Most people have five bucks to spare.

You can either sent it to skepticonevent@gmail.com via paypal, or click the shiny button below.

Also, if this is a cause you support, write a blog on it and ask your readers to donate $5! Link this post. If they have questions, send them to me. I'll happily answer them.

Also...get down here in November for the event! It won't cost you a thing to get in, and we have lots of couches and sleeping bags.

Thanks guys.

New speaker and concept art

Katie Hartman did last year's poster, and it was phenomenal. She's on the job this year and she's just come out with her first concept piece:

We also picked up an additional speaker today on top of Victor Stenger. We also got a commitment from Robert M. Price. Those who have seen The God Who Wasn't There will recognize him as the theological scholar explaining the similarities of Christianity to other localized myths. He is also the author of several books surrounding the inaccuracy of the bible/Christianity including Blasphemies and Revelations and Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable is the Gospel Tradition. I've been told by some very reliable people in the atheist biz that few people rival price at deconstructing Christianity specifically. He will be a welcome addition.

Stenger Commits to Skepticon II

Skepticon II has just acquired physicist Dr. Victor J. Stenger, author of the NY Times bestseller God: The Failed Hypothesis, as well as Quantum Gods: Creation, Chaos, and the Search for Cosmic Consciousness, and The Comprehensible Comos, amongst many, many others.

Stenger will be giving a presentation on how the scientific evidence points most strongly to atheism.

This makes our current line up PZ Myers, Richard Carrier, Rebecca Watson (you can read my exchange with her here), Dan Barker, DJ Grothe, Joe Nickell, Victor J. Stenger, Mark Richter, and myself. I'm currently going after three other speakers: one big name and two smalls.

I'm also in the process of arranging a debate focusing on the question, "Does god exist?" I have some bites there, but nothing solidified.

Things you should do:

1. Confirm your attendence on the Skepticon II event page. (And invite all your friends!)
   
2. Add Skepticon as a friend on facebook.
3. Join the Skepticon II cause on facebook.
4. Join the MSU Chapter of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on facebook.

Also, help get the word out. Blog about it, tell your friends, etc. The fundraising machine also goes into full swing in mid-August, and you can bet I'll be blogging it.