Wait! I’m complaining in that last entry! Sure, I’m exhausted from all my wanderings, but I had a fabulous time in Australia. Allow me to include a few pictures to demonstrate.
Here’s a nice video from the Sunshine Coast Atheists to give you an idea of the tone of the conference:
And really, I spent a lot of time laughing.
It’s a rough life, being an out atheist.
Now I have to go crawl into the shower and then take a nap, just to recover from all the hilarity. And then back to writing, writing, writing, so I have an excuse to do it all again someday.
Wow. It looks like a rough life. I hope you are going to have time to let the spine recover.
Yes, but laughing at religion.
But what if it all turns out to be tr–uh, not nice or something?
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
The rise of atheism? Is that what you call it then?
It’s BoSOM on the left, right? But who’s the blonde left on the right?
Someone asked if you’d lost weight. You certainly look healthy in these pictures. (I recommend losing more weight – all you’ll get fed in Denmark is pork, lard, liver, lard, more pork and the occasional pickled herring.)
“… back to writing, writing, writing, so I have an excuse to do it all again someday.”
Wait! Were you promoting your book-to-be over there when we don’t even know the title of it over here? (I read somewhere that it’s “Natural Revelation”, I think…)
Given that the number of Atheists, in developed countries at least, is increasing, then yes, it seems reasonable to call it the rise of atheism.
That said, I am not to sure to what extent the rise in people identifying as atheist is a true rise in the numbers, or a reflection of an increased willingness of people to identify as atheist.
If one looks to Western Europe, you see the major religions beginning to get very concerned over their loss of influence. The Church of England, and the Catholic Church in England both have policies of trying to reverse the trend to the UK taking less notice of religious sensibilities. I doubt they will have much success.
I love that picture of you with Bible Guy. :-) ..|..
In each of those pictures, there’s a bearded git with his mouth wide open!
*runs*
Matt, I think you may have missed a little double entendre.
*comes back*
Yeah, sure. Look at the last picture. I’ll bet something is rising there.
I’ll get me coat.
Matt @ 6, MrFire @ 10: guys, #3 was intended as a dirty joke. Notice what’s happening in the picture in which that phrase appears?
This is the problem with subtlety.
I truly wish my financial circumstances would have allowed me to attend. I’m glad you had a great time!
It certainly is a rough life, not only do you have a Trophy Wife, you also now have groupies. Way to go!
I am sorry.
I have been dealing with a moron (actually more than one) on another thread on this blog, and I guess my sense of humour suffered.
I am going to pour a bucket of cold water over me. At the very least it will deal with anything rising.
Matt @14: Love the bucket-of-cold-water image. Funny and apropos.
Oh dear. Here, have a wall to bang your head against: it’s much less painful.
I would just like to make a snarky point, aimed at no one here so it is just for the record, that I am capable of recognising when I have totally misunderstood what some has said.
You’re not at the dentist. You don’t have to have your mouth open all the time. :-0
I wonder if the Trophy WifeTM would be upset with the last pic.
Atheism certainly produces a better class of shameless hussy.
Hope you had a chance to run into this guy:
http://27bslash6.com/easter.html
(Warning: Not safe to anyone with heightened sensitivity to coffee spewing from his nose.)
augustus mulliner,
I was wondering if perhaps you have stumbled upon Smoggy Batzrubble’s alter ego, David Thorne. It was precisely the level of humorous contempt that school chaplains deserve. Jesus and his mudstick—I’ll never forget that now. :D
dr-rieux;
I shall belatedly rise to the occasion, and apologise too.
I found that last night after someone tweeted it. I spend 2 hours on David’s site and laughed so hard that I threw up a little. (a coughing fit didnt help matters)
Highly recommended
On that third image, I’d swear that’s the very same expression my dog gets when you scratch his ribs so his leg twitches.
Good to know PZ enjoyed his antipodean sojourn.
Aha! I knew I’d seen that expression before! Thanks, John!
(Except my dog is a bitch, but same thing…)
Oh god that Easter email exchange (someone linked above) make me snort painfully. That’s some good work.
And yeah, it took me about three days to sober up and catch up on sleep after the convention. Bitter and friendless atheist hag that I am, of course. Who would have though two and a bit days of talking about nothing could be so tiring?
It certainly is a rough life, not only do you have a Trophy Wife, you also now have groupies.
If TW wants groupies, the line for volunteers forms right behind me.
It’s funny (in both senses) how when you stop worrying about what sky-daddy thinks the joy in the world becomes more apparent.
PZed, you lucky bastard. I hear you met my best friend over there. Wish I had been there with the both of you.
Come back soon!
Ha! Bookmarked that Chaplain exchange right away- another drop in productivity as I scour the rest of that site :)
Thanks for coming PZ! When the kids are older, I’ll gather them round and tell them of the day I met the original ‘Hard Atheist’ in person, bought him a beer, shook his hand, and gained wisdom from his council.
Speaking of that email exchange – what is the situation with religion in public schools in Australia these days?
Back when I was in school there was the Tuesday-morning “Scripture” class when everyone divided up into little religious groups to get whatever religious instruction the random volunteers felt like giving. There was also the option to do “non-scripture” which was an hour of quietly reading or doing your homework for the athiests and adherents of unusual religions that the school didn’t have classes for.
In high school they shifted roll call so it was after scripture, which meant the athiests and miscellaneous got to sleep in.
In order to go to non-scripture though, you had to bring a permission slip every year, which always struck me as deeply unfair since you didn’t have to bring a note specifying which scripture class you were to go to (it would usually take me a few weeks to remember to bring the note, so I tried out quite a few of the groups).
I remember in sixth grade the Jewish scripture class actually cracked down on new members – word had gotten around that they got lollies every week.
So, that was the deal in the three government run schools I went to in Sydney back in the eighties. How does it work now?
That chaplain exchange was great. Reminds me of the old saying, ‘Man without a god is like a fish without a bicycle’.
Fossilfishy sez:
Man, you’ve been reading my mind.
the_manxome_foe @#33:
For the moment, about the same as it ever was in primary schools.
However, following a campaign a few schools have been given permission to trial having a non-religious “ethics” option.
http://www.ethics.org.au/content/ethics-based-complement-to-scripture
Ultimately the aim is to available more widely in NSW primary schools but already chirches are up in arms over it, and there have been calls to cancel even the very limited trial (no, no, we mustn’t even find out if it could work). Apparently if you don’t force the nonreligious to sit and do nothing productive while they brainwash the kiddies, the world will end in fire and brimstone or something.
e.g.
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/anglican-church-wants-school-trial-of-ethics-classes-scrapped/story-e6frfku9-1225803780482
I found all that really pathetic. An ethics class would be great, I had to wait until university for a formal education on the matter. Meanwhile I had to sit through years of liberal Christian nonsense that if it touched on morality was mere incedental. More on selling the relationship between you and God – that one needs God in their life. Oh and Jesus was a real person ergo those miracles were real too. Believe now please?
Hi
That’s me on the left, Vicki on the right. We ambushed PZ at the dinner and asked if we could do a funny photo. PZ was talking when the flash went off resulting in his particuarly sexy expression. Thanks to PZ (and his wife) for lending us the lovely furry cheeks!
As you can see, we had a ball at the convention. Great conversation, smart people, lots of giggles.
Re religion in schools: in our state it’s compulsory. One of the many things we want to change in our fight for secularism.
Aratina: That’s the guy, as other commenters have noted. My first encounter with him, more’s the pity. Also just finished Matt Taibbi’s The Great Derangement; highly recommended. Especially the part where he goes to a fundagelical encounter group, is asked to recount his “childhood wound,” and says his father was an alcoholic circus clown who would come home and beat him with his oversized Bozo shoes. (And is met with total credulity.)
Oh, and PZ: Is this what atheists are promised in lieu of 77 virgins?
@ #38:
You done good, Karen and Vicki. And you look good doing it. That just about covers it.
You are forever stuck in my brain. Don’t worry, it’s quite all right. [smiles big smile]
So, you say that PZ was talking while all of this was going on. That seems about right.
Re: the third picture above — and they say PZ doesn’t know anything about Framing
Link given @ 21 :
Funniest shit I’ve ever read !
Introduced in Germany(well, in my state) in 1984 or 85 for year 10 and above, it was an extremely interesting class, basically a Philosophy 101, I remember the discussions with the teacher about relativism, I would chase him after class and during the morning break, just to continue the discussion or ask questions.
What a pathetic bunch of whiners are those people trying to get it scrapped over here.
That’s not me in the last photo. It’s some other
hussyPharyngulite.Daryl the volunteering school chaplain counselor (Voschocco) appears to have undergone humor amputation. Amazingly, he seems to be one of the rare cases who don’t experience phantom chuckles. Surely, the exceptional humor blocking effects of appropriate dosages of Christianity are to be investigated. Circumstantial evidence suggests similar efficacy of other religions, with varying degrees of aggression supplanting the humor vacuum.
Well, in my mind it will always be you kissing PeZed (when the TW allows, of course).
I managed to get kicked out of my God bothering class in school (Public Selective High School) when I was 12 – argued with the Deaconess about Genesis, and next thing I knew I was waiting outside the headmistress’s office. Who, I might add, took one look at me, exclaimed “What on earth have you done now?” and then once informed – told me to find something better to do and not go back to that particular class ever again! Probably started me on the path that brought me to Pharyngula – so thanks Miss Shackley.
:)