IT'S NOT ABOUT ME

I had a nice afternoon attending the 'Heretic's Barbecue' sponsored by CVASS. My good buddy Richard had a good assortment of food on hand, and both he and Mark had a nice presentation on the strange world of ghost hunters in the Fresno area:














After that, we had a few giggles making our own UFO photos:




Some books and other prizes were auctioned off to help defray our expenses, and then there was a business meeting of CVASS that touched on a variety of subjects, among them the impending visit of James Randi to CSU Fresno and the launching of Valley Cafe Scientifique's second season this evening (Monday) at the North India Bar and Grill in Clovis.

Shoot, this event even got some media coverage in the Fresno Bee! So...why am I a bit put off about the whole thing, if I had such a good time? Simply put, it's a little strange how my participation in CVASS was framed in the article. The impression I received from it was something along the lines of, 'this group's not so bad, they even had a Christian participating.' I would've much rather that I had not even been mentioned in the article. Atheists don't require the approval or participation of Christians in order to legitimize themselves as citizens or members of the community. Atheists are citizens, taxpayers, consumers, parents, husbands and wives...in other words, not much different from the other human beings I know.

Everyone of us stands to benefit from cultivating a habit of skepticism, of thinking critically about the claims we will encounter in life. Science education, which is my racket, is not just about developing the next generation of scientists, it's also a means of promoting scientific literacy and critical thinking in the general population. Science may not be the only way of knowing, but scientific literacy leads to citizens, consumers and community members who are better-informed and who are more likely to think critically about things. I would've liked to see more about that, and less about me and what I privately believe. As Rick Warren might've said in a different context, it's not about me.

AAAS STATEMENT ON SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Ian Barbour is often considered the father of science-religion studies. In his 1999 Templeton Prize acceptance speech, Barbour identified four modes in which science and religion can interact, among them conflict and compartmentalization (as in the case of Gould's NOMA). Both of these modes often seem unsatisfactory when contemplating evolution, however.

Along those lines, the above video was produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, arguably (along with the National Academy of Science) the most influential scientific organization in North America, and indeed, the world. It represents what the mainstream scientific community urges as prudent and helpful where the relationship of science and religion is concerned. I hope that my readership finds this helpful, as well.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

In no particular order.....

Big Brother 10 has a double elimination tonight! (Yes, I hate to admit it, I am hooked on this show. It's often vulgar, seems to bring out the worst in some people and taps into the kind of social networking skills guys like me struggle to acquire....but it's also completely compelling, a convoluted, ever-changing version of the Prisoner's Dilemma. How can I not watch?)

As previously mentioned, the Heretic's Barbecue on Sunday, September 7th. The event itself will begin at 10:00 in the morning and run through the late afternoon. Ironically, I'll be coming from church services, so I probably won't join my fellow skeptics until around noon, but I would encourage anyone interested in supporting CVASS to attend.

Cafe Scientifique is starting up again, and this time it's my colleague Madhusudan Khatti with a presentation on the evolutionary ecology of city life. You can catch this event beginning at 6:30 Monday evening, September 8th at:

North India Bar and Grill
80 W Shaw
Clovis, CA 93612
1-559-325-7788

And, finally, last but not least: only 322 days (July 17, 2009) until HP6.