Pericles,

Yes, thanks, wrong word. I possibly had car-lag after a long day driving.

I meant it was not compulsory to watch the vid of bid on the posters.

David

Poirot,

Atheism today is more than just acknowledging the lack of evidence for a god or gods which is roughly the position that atheism started with. It is the realisation that there is a great deal of harm done in the name of religion (yes, I know the same can be said for other ideologies as well but the AFA is concerned with religion). And again, yes, some will argue that religion does good but the AFA concentrates on the bad as it needs altering.

For those who want to bring in Pol Pot, Stalin and Hitler etc, you have entirely missed the point of atheism today and are mixing it up with other dogmatic political systems. Some will argue that seeking equality and showing the emperor that is religion has no clothes, is an ideology. That is very poor thinking.

As for history, the gathering of 4,000 atheists at such a convention is remarkable as it is a first and therefore historically important. Along with the 20,000 who attended the Reason Rally in the USA shows a growing awareness that many atheists think it is time to stand up and be counted.

The posters represent a point in time of history.

I know there will be, “What about the numbers at Hillsong” etc, but those numbers are not new and that is the point.

Atheists really do have to drop these arguments originating from a desperately frightened religion.

David

Dear Lee & David,we send our best wishes for your successful conferrence in Melbourne,it must have been a lot of hard work to organise
David we still feel that to promote a conference to the public is akin to religious organisations doing the same thing, there are millions of Atheists in the world who really do not have to attend Atheist conventions to hold their non existence of a God belief
Having viewed a Max Harris video on death, which was taken at the conference'we were disappointed that a large percentaage seemed to us to centre around meditation or hypnotism, shut your eyes and come along with me on the journey in to Atheism, we really do not have to do that as our thoughts are our own thoughts and do not have to resort to this type of stage managed magnetism, his talk prior to this part was very good and what was said we agreed with, but next time please tell him no shut eyes or soon he will have all Atheists waving their hands in the air with a rollicking song in \the background. Still it was nice seeing you and Lee asleep in the front row

Ojnab,

Thanks for your kind words. It’s Sam Harris by the way. The Max Harris you are thinking of was a literary critic from South Australia if memory serves be right.

I personally thought Sam Harris’ presentation was very interesting. He explained what we all know in that we live in the now and not to put too much emphasis on the ‘not now’. This is a marked difference between atheism and theism. Theism concentrates on the ‘not now’ but rather some imagined future after death.

I actually said to Sam that I nearly went to sleep through sheer exhaustion of being one of the organisers of the convention and late nights on that weekend. He smiled and said the sleep part was quite a common thing.

By the way, that clip has had 60,000 views, 1,800 likes and 18 dislikes. So, by the empirical evidence so far, your opinion is not common. :)

Atheists are never going to be hand-clapping followers of anyone else’s ideas and that is what is so remarkable about the numbers who attended the 2012 GAC and the Reason Rally.

Atheism is really spearheading a change in perception by people where Freethinking in preference to rigid religious ideas is taking hold quite rapidly. It is a greater happening than many recognise and the AFA is quite happy to be a part of it.

It is very difficult to see how such a change could be to the detriment of humanity but if signs showed it was, the AFA would close shop in its present form and work against it.

David

its the circular logic like

""Atheism today is more
than just acknowledging the lack of evidence..for a god or gods
[which is roughly the position that atheism started with.]""

yes thats sems simple
no god/gods..simple..it ewas of course science that dun it[or chance or aliens]lol..no mention of how the alians or science dun it neither

oh sure..quote..""It is the realisation
that there is a great deal of harm done in the name of religion""

and cause no god is too easy[nuthing to explain..thus nutrhin to refute..so lets somehow link god to the godless...that put creed before god..[creed/ritual/holy blood/holy war/just war[you know all that hate murder mayhem..done in his name

""(yes,I know the same can be said..for other ideologies
as well but the AFA is concerned with religion)...""

clearly...anti believing is still believing
and worse your lot dishonour god..cause of the vuile evil veil of religious zealots..and the extreem who dont grasp the simplt concept of that we do to others being dun to god[religion bah]athist..is a thiest as bad as any religion

worse..cause their lack of belief in religion..is clearly attacking religion[the messAngers..not god[there is this non belief in a non egsisting figment..expressed as reviling religion[same same]

""And again,..yes,
some will argue that religion does good
but the AFA concentrates on the bad..as it needs altering.""

yes you talked about your FORCED re-education camps last year
your as insane[generally]..as the religions you revile

them chasing figments..
making judgments of a supreeem good..as judge/jury
judgmentday..lol/hell fire/gods flesh/blood..sin..

and you lot judging them

same same shame
PRESENT A TRANSCRIPT
open each of your topics as a topic here..[based on your saintly godheads messages]

Congratulations Pericles and Poirot, it seems you're not so well established on David Nichols's "not worth responding to" list as moi...
Or maybe I should take that as a compliment, and that's just his preferred tactic when dealing with challenges and criticism he either doesn't understand or prefers to evade...
It's very commendable that the New Atheist cohort wants to address the "great deal of harm done in the name of religion" but, and I'm horse from asking, what political/social reforms do they have in mind?
If the answer continues to be resounding silence we can only conclude they're about clearing away encumbrances to an utterly free market.
Certainly I can't see Dawkins going in to bat for the working classes, the Socialist/communist Party or the third world world.
What do the New Atheists stand for?
Nothing apparently.
They stand for the negation of something.
They are a moral vacuum.