Discussion on setting up of Irish Atheist association

studiorat

PDN wrote: »

More pretentious than self-righteous - unless you happen to be French, of course.

or canadian...

Zamboni

lostexpectation wrote: »

peeps over at atheist.ie have finally decided to make the leap to setting up a campaigning group the Irish Atheist Association

still working out the details, the format and the name but I presume its focus will be on assertive atheism and secular equality.

a real world meeting has been set for Sunday 30th November 4pm to 7pm.
Central Hotel
Exchequer St Dublin 2
( just off South Great Georges St. )

find out more here.
http://www.atheist.ie/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=19

Bump
So is anyone actually going to this?

robindch

I think I might manage it.

Dades

^^ We have our mole! ^^

I just got offered a ticket to Top Gear so I think I'll give the heathen convention a miss!

Zamboni

Dades wrote: »

I just got offered a ticket to Top Gear so I think I'll give the heathen convention a miss!

You'll look back in years to come and think....

..I made the right decision.

(jammy git;))

fitz0

I'm going to it as well. Seems like it might be good.

lostexpectation

Dades wrote: »

^^ We have our mole! ^^

I just got offered a ticket to Top Gear so I think I'll give the heathen convention a miss!

when does top gear start?

Dades

lostexpectation wrote: »

when does top gear start?

4pm I think.

Hivemind187

lol @ Top Gear (we know where certain peoples true faith lies)

I was hoping to get to this but other stuff has come up. Will there be minutes posted?

Fanny Cradock

Give Clarkson a punch in the back of the head for me if you get close to him.

Dades

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Give Clarkson a punch in the back of the head for me if you get close to him.

Only if you bring me a box of quality street in hospital when the security guards get done with me. :pac:

lostexpectation

we have web cam streaming the meeting now over at
http://www.atheist.ie/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=19

lostexpectation

second half starting now

JohnGalt

Ideas such as this have often caused me a few problems. As an atheist myself, my position is that I do not believe in any god or the ideas and rituals surrounding this notion, ie religion. I think a part of my becoming an atheist was disassociating myself with religion in any way shape or form. Therefore, joining a group which sets itself out as being in opposition to a these beliefs seems almost like a regression. I am sure many of the activities of such a group would be interesting and intellectually stimulating, but I have trouble with the idea of positively identifying myself as an atheist in this way as it seems to make religion (albeit from the point of view of rejecting it) in some way significant in my life again.

CerebralCortex

JohnGalt wrote: »

Ideas such as this have often caused me a few problems. As an atheist myself, my position is that I do not believe in any god or the ideas and rituals surrounding this notion, ie religion. I think a part of my becoming an atheist was disassociating myself with religion in any way shape or form. Therefore, joining a group which sets itself out as being in opposition to a these beliefs seems almost like a regression. I am sure many of the activities of such a group would be interesting and intellectually stimulating, but I have trouble with the idea of positively identifying myself as an atheist in this way as it seems to make religion (albeit from the point of view of rejecting it) in some way significant in my life again.

It almost feels to me like you can run but you can't hide. I sometimes wonder if this Atheist Ireland association will draw fire from religion and have no way of ending the fight.

lostexpectation

does religion not affect you and your country, did it not effect you previously.

are you happy with the status quo?

JohnGalt

I am posting on an atheist and agnosticism board however, and acknowledge that the ironing of my previous statement is indeed delicious

CerebralCortex

lostexpectation wrote: »

does religion not affect you and your country, did it not effect you previously.

Yes.

lostexpectation wrote: »

are you happy with the status quo?

No.

I'm just sick of having to deal with religion when I want to have nothing to do with it but of course thats no excuse to try and oppose it. I guess my moral is low.

stevejazzx

JohnGalt wrote: »

Ideas such as this have often caused me a few problems. As an atheist myself, my position is that I do not believe in any god or the ideas and rituals surrounding this notion, ie religion. I think a part of my becoming an atheist was disassociating myself with religion in any way shape or form. Therefore, joining a group which sets itself out as being in opposition to a these beliefs seems almost like a regression. I am sure many of the activities of such a group would be interesting and intellectually stimulating, but I have trouble with the idea of positively identifying myself as an atheist in this way as it seems to make religion (albeit from the point of view of rejecting it) in some way significant in my life again.

Jeez talk about reapeating the same old arguments....deja vu anyone!

stevejazzx

Jeez talk about reapeating the same old arguments....deja vu anyone!

JohnGalt

stevejazzx wrote: »

Jeez talk about reapeating the same old arguments....deja vous anyone!

(Repeating)

I would be very interested if you could supply me with links to other arguments made on this board which are entirely original in every respect. I don't claim that I am the first to make the point you refer to, and I think anybody who believes that any of their philosophical positions are theirs and theirs alone is very naive.

CerebralCortex

JohnGalt wrote: »

(Repeating)

I would be very interested if you could supply me with links to other arguments made on this board which are entirely original in every respect. I don't claim that I am the first to make the point you refer to, and I think anybody who believes that any of their philosophical positions are theirs and theirs alone is very naive.

I think he's commenting on the fact that you double posted.

lostexpectation

i was asking john galt

does religion not affect you and your country, did it not effect you previously.

are you happy with the status quo?

stevejazzx

JohnGalt wrote: »

(Repeating)

I would be very interested if you could supply me with links to other arguments made on this board which are entirely original in every respect. I don't claim that I am the first to make the point you refer to, and I think anybody who believes that any of their philosophical positions are theirs and theirs alone is very naive.

Hi John,

I think you made a valid point but not so valid that it merited replication.

robindch

Dades wrote: »

We have our mole!

Having enjoyed a long and godless lunch with a fellow boardsie, I didn't get to the thingy until half five and had to head off at half six to a family dinner and subsequent bloatation. Not quite the three hours of heathen politicking I'd hoped for, but from the hour that I could spend there, the AI were certainly pointing in the right direction.

Expect to hear more from them.

Zillah

robindch wrote: »

but from the hour that I could spend there, the AI were certainly pointing in the right direction.

Violent insurrection, right?

lostexpectation

anyway quick virtual report,

about 30-40 people there for 2.5 hr meeting

discussed name voted and agreed atheist ireland

discusssion mission statement, and had general discussion about whether to define ourselves in contrast to the church, the religion, the religious, or atheist themselves.

voted on mission statement which was :...?
spoke about working groups, you might not to work on everything so just work on everything so you can work in a particualr issue and working group ,eg church indemnity deal, or constitution.
broke into 3 groups to,discuss promotion of atheism? how and if
organisation and secularism and consititution.

reviewed those then voted on temp commitee members, which we agreed most positions.
agreed to have full agm in first half of next year

further details at http://www.atheist.ie

lostexpectation

c+P from the chairperson Michael Nugent who ain't lostexpectation

I would like to thank everybody who turned up to the meeting yesterday, and who contributed to such a constructive and reasoned discussion.

We now have a new organisation, Atheist Ireland, for people who wish to work together to build a rational, ethical and secular society free from superstition and supernaturalism.

I would also like to thank Seamus for setting up the website that brought us together in the first place.

Next Steps

We have priority activity goals for each of our aims between now and our first AGM, which will take place during the first half of next year.

To make these goals happen, we need volunteers for each of these activities:


Priority goals related to aim number 1: To promote atheism and reason over superstition and supernaturalism.

1. Identify our own internal resources

2. Identify targets for developing contacts.

3. Promote Atheist Ireland and its aims, initially to people without religion. Methods include YouTube channel, newspaper columns, press releases, booklet.


Priority goals related to aim number 2: To promote an ethical and secular Ireland where the state does not support or fund or give special treatment to any religion.

4. Promote a secular Irish Constitution. First focus on information awareness and lobbying campaign.

5. Promote a secular education system. First focus on opt-outs from religious education classes.

6. Promote a secular census form. No need for State to to collect information on religion.


Priority Goals related to organisational matters.

7. Set up system for membership management. Could include PO Box.

8. Design website and merge with atheist.ie forum.

9. Establish review committee to develop full constitution for AGM. Suggested that it be five people based in Dublin.


Please let us know here if you want to help on any of these activities, and if so which ones.

I look forward to working with everyone on making this project work as effectively as we can.

c+P from the chairperson Michael Nugent

http://www.atheist.ie

Dades

Congrats on your first steps.
A couple of things jump out for me in what you've described:

lostexpectation wrote: »

Priority goals related to aim number 1: To promote atheism and reason over superstition and supernaturalism.

How exactly does one package "atheism" as something to promote? It doesn't really have any inherent appeal. Reality rarely does.

lostexpectation wrote: »

6. Promote a secular census form. No need for State to to collect information on religion.

Rather than trying (with no chance of success) to remove a very relevant question from the census, why not try and promote accurate completion? We all know the results are completely skewed by parents putting their kids down as RC by default, and by adults who never step foot inside a church doing the same. Your cause might be better off asking for a new category of "lapsed Catholic" or some such which at least offer people the option to be honest. Also encourage people living with their parents to have a say in what is said about them. That kind of promotion would put Atheist Ireland in a more positive light than just asking religion to be removed from the census. That just smacks of extremism.

lostexpectation

i hardly say a few words written on bulletin board is extremism, i don't entirely agree with the wording there, but hey people work with us.

i think there's a case to be made for not collecting any data on religion. obviously you'd need to enact other practicalities to render the issue mute.