Say it ain’t so, Brent!

Brent Rasmussen is shutting down Unscrewing the Inscrutable. This is sad; Pharyngula is a lowly newbie to the atheist blogosphere, and when I set up shop way back in 2003 the godless blogs I followed included the Raving Atheist (which switched sides with the conversion of its owner years ago), World Wide Rant (which shut down a while back), UTI (which was hanging in there until now), and Stupid Evil Bastard, which is still plugging away. This is simply the nature of the blogging beast, which tends to be tied to the personality of the owner, and if someone decides there’s something else they’d rather be doing, the blog doesn’t outlast them. There will be a day — not in my plans, and certainly not, I hope, imminent — when Pharyngula also shuts down.

I’d like to see Brent keep on going with it, but that’s his personal decision. And while the individual blogs have their own lifetime, have no fear, the atheist blogosphere is still booming and will keep on growing.

No means no!

I told you all to not vote for me in that poll looking for the most influential female atheist of 2009, but you just had to go and disobey me. The photo at that link is photoshopped, I swear; I’m sure I’d be more bosomy.

However, one good thing has come out of it. Jen has compiled a good (but still, as always, incomplete!) list of notable godless women. Please, organizers of atheist/humanist events, take a look at that list when thinking about speakers, because I’m tired.

I WANT A UNITY CONVENTION!

An annoying but intrinsic property of atheists is that we are all horribly fractured — this is a disparate group with no central leadership, and that’s the way we like it — but it also means our presence is fragmented and easier to ignore. We have all these different godless organizations with different national meetings that overlap and often share members, but no coherence. Margaret Downey has been pushing an idea for a little while that you can read about in a post on the Friendly Atheist from last year: we should all at least once get together in one giant massive united meeting and make a show of our numbers and our common goals.

It’s been a struggle to get this together. The initial plan was to do it in 2010, but that’s not going to happen; the proposal now is to stage a Unity Convention in 2013 in Washington, DC. All the national non-theist organizations would coordinate for this event and bring their memberships together in one gathering, one grand mega-meeting in which we’d let the leaders of the country know that we’re here and we’re watching them and we vote.

I think it’s a fabulous idea. I’d go. How many of you would join us? We could all join hands in the Mall and make a joyful noise for humanity and reason, and then adjourn to the Smithsonian for some tasty science. If you like the idea, leave an endorsement here or at Hemant’s site…and, I might add, if you’re a member of one of the many atheist groups in the US, let your leadership know you want to be able to share the dream with everyone else.

Winnipeg next week!

Next Saturday, 9 January, I’ll be driving up to Winnipeg to talk with the local humanists. You can come, too! There’s a bit of a warning there, though:

Myers will speak at 7 p.m. at the CanadInns Club Regent Casino Hotel in Ambassador Room B.

Admission is free but because seating is limited, attendees are being asked to register. Email to ham_librarian@yahoo.ca or phone 792-0931.

Reserve a seat today!

I conquered! Now try a poll that I am not on

I sicced you on this poll to identify the most vocal atheist of 2009: don’t be surprised, I won. Of course, the real problem there was that the winner was determined in an open online poll — if it had been a poll to determine the most vocal Christian of the year, I also would have smashed into it hard.

Now try something a little less biased: a poll to determine the most influential female atheist. My name is not on it, so I’m safe from messing this one up.

Ophelia Benson 7% (76 votes)
Greta Christina 21% (237 votes)
Annie Laurie Gaylor 6% (68 votes)
Tracie Harris & Jen Peeples 3% (29 votes)
Sikivu Hutchinson <1% (2 votes)
Susan Jacoby 2% (26 votes)
Lyz Liddell 1% (12 votes)
Heather MacDonald 1% (6 votes)
Amanda Marcotte 1% (10 votes)
Melissa McEwan <1% (3 votes)
Ashley Paramore 1% (8 votes)
“Surly” Amy Davis Roth 4% (51 votes)
Eugenie Scott 13% (145 votes)
Ariane Sherine 16% (184 votes)
Julia Sweeney 9% (99 votes)
Rebecca Watson 14% (160 votes)
Other (say who in comments) 2% (19 votes)

Oh, no! There’s an “other”! Don’t write my name in!

What’s really interesting here is how easy it is to make a long list of female atheists…and note that people in the comments are already mentioning all the women who were left out. Maybe this list ought to be shared around to various godless conference organizers as a little hint…


All right, people…you’re writing my name in. Stop it, or Jen is going to make me send her a photo of me. In a dress. While I could pull that off when I was 18, I don’t think it will work any more.

A good way to start the new year

The Foundation Beyond Belief is a new humanist charitable and educational organization that can be the focus of your godless giving. They’ve got an interesting approach: they set up 10 categories (education, the environment, poverty, human rights, etc.), and you pick what percentage of your donation you’d like to go to each category. They also highlight a reputable charity within each category that will receive your donation: read the FAQ for details on how it works.

One of the major virtues of this foundation to the humanist and atheist movement is that it can be (if many of us cooperate!) a center point that makes godless donations more prominent; it can also make the community of unbelievers a desirable group for charitable organizations to court. So join up! They do have a $9 annual membership fee, but it’s also a group that emphasizes the efficient distribution of your money to the people who need it most.