The Secular Student Alliance, or SSA, is a national group of free thinkers. I like their goals:
The mission of the Secular Student Alliance is to organize, unite, educate, and serve students and student communities that promote the ideals of scientific and critical inquiry, democracy, secularism, and human based ethics.
They are good folks trying to do good work… and they’re having their annual meeting this year from August 7-9 in Ohio. Sadly, they have PZ Myers as their keynote speaker, but I suspect you can get past that and have a good time anyway.
As their name implies, they work with students to make them activists and leaders in the field. But even if you’re an ex-student like me, you no doubt would get a lot out of the conference. So go check them out and attend if you can!
June 5th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I live nearby and wanted to check this out. But the cost for non OSU students is insane!
June 5th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Don’t know if this’ll work, but worth a try:
June 5th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Maybe it’s due to your overwhelming popularity, that the SSA figured they would never be able to get you as the keynote.
Hey, I’m just trying to help you find a good
excusereason…June 5th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
When I saw “OSU” in the title, I was hoping it was Oregon State… which is across the street from the coffee shop where I spend most of my waking life. So when my OSU hosts this event, here’s hoping you’re the speaker.
June 5th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Like the thousands of others who visit PZ’s site regularly (his comment threads run into the hundreds and sometimes thousands) I love his ability to make science understandable, his twisted sense of humor, and his defense of atheism…
Unlike the sad threads here where you are lucky to get 3 or 4 semi-interested commentators…
Not sure why you bash PZ, but he’s got a lot more supporters out there than you, and gets a lot more attention from the press (alright, I know this is partly because of his host defiling stunt, which drew me into his site) and generally seems a lot more popular with the science crowd then you.
I suspect your antipathy towards him is more jealousy than anything else…
June 5th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
wagonjak: Of course, my regular readers tend to know a joke when they see one.
June 5th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
PS You guys should do something more graphically interesting with your site…it’s so boring and has had exactly the same images and layout for as long as I’ve visited. There are some interesting articles here, but your web guy needs to do a makover of this site and make it more viewer friendly!
June 5th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
There are jokes here? Swear to god?
June 5th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
With PZ there will get some catchup with their sleep.
June 5th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
wagonjak, anything else? I bet some of the electrons here may be slightly past their sell-by date. Also, I once had to type something with a bandaid on one finger. That must have really been hard to read that post!
June 5th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
oops,should have been.
“With pz there they will be able to catch up on their sleep.”
June 5th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
@ wagonjak: Phil and PZ have had a light-hearted and good-natured rivalry going on since they were first pitted against each other in a science blog contest years ago. They take occasional friendly jabs at each other when given an obvious opportunity like this one. They are probably the top two skeptical scientist blogs on the web right now, so having a bit of a rivarly is not surprising, but they work together on issues that really matter.
June 5th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
The rest of us do it just for cheap laughs.
June 5th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Not to mention that PZ is probably very uncomfortable with Wagonjaks lips suctioned onto his ass like that.
June 5th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Students always need more sleep, and I consider it my personal responsibility to use my god-given soporific powers to give it to them.
The organizers may have invited me instead of Phil because they know that jokes about Phil are always more entertaining than jokes about me.
June 5th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I love good snark as much as most bloggers, and go to sites like SadlyNo!, Wonkette, Mock, Papers, Scissors, and others…but I hadn’t been here enough to understand your throw away line about PZ was light hearted…maybe for those of us uninitiated about your rivalry with PZ, you might have made the snark a little clearer…
I guess since I misunderstood the snark Ty, and criticized the remark about PZ, I “have my lips suctioned onto PZ’s ass?” I love PZ’s site, but the very idea of that image sends shivers up and down my spine and a generates a queasy feeling in my stomach!
And Phil…this site COULD use a visual makeover…which would probably help bring in and retain more viewers and commentators, which as I understand, is the point of most blogs sites…
Really sorry I riled all the sensitive veterans here!
June 5th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Wagonjak:
I think Phil could use a hug??? Go on… you know it’s the right thing to do… and you know you want to…!
Phil, I remember that post when you had a band aid on! It must have been a bad cut because I couldn’t get the blood off the inside of my screen for days
When I saw the title of this post, I thought it said ORU… Oral Roberts University… Now that would be something! PZ at ORU… Let the good times roll… down the aisles… from the chandeliers…
June 5th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Frankly I find Phil’s blogs here pretty boring…PZ can be abrasive and snarky, but he’s always fun to read…but alright…
I can’t give Phil a hug, but I’ll blow him an air kiss through the etherwaves…
June 5th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
@ wagonjak: Then why are you here? To defend PZ? I think he can take care of himself.
June 5th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
BlackCat…I came here to be enlightened and amused, and with Phil’s boring blogs, and his commentators delicate sensibilities, I probably won’t be back for awhile…
But I did encourage a long thread of his regulars abusing me!
Numbers count on blog sites, and I think I’ve helped Phil here.
June 5th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Our delicate sensibilities? Did you forget that this all started because you were the one who came rushing to defense of PZ after a perceived insult?
And you can’t have been a visitor at Pharyngula very long if you consider this abuse. You also can’t have been a visitor at PZ’s blog very long if you haven’t seen him making very similar comments about Phil.
June 5th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Methinks wagonjak should’ve said “oops, my bad, heh heh” and let it go.
BTW, I’m confused about the “spine” part he mentioned, ifyouknowwhatImean.
Oh, and BTW2, I’d go worsh-, err, I mean, watch PZ in Ohio if those dates weren’t so close to the start of school.
[BTW3, I predict that in exactly 5 minutes, davidlpf will discuss a certain quality of a legendary being....]
June 5th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I think wagonjak should grow a since of humour like his master.
June 5th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Whoa!
[not that I'm surprised by my great, yet bunkish, skill]
June 5th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I did not even see that and also I just woke up from a nap.
June 5th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
$1E6 check, please.
June 5th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I came here to be enlightened and amused, and with Phil’s boring blogs, and his commentators delicate sensibilities,
Trying…so…hard….not to….insult….
Must…not…draw…wrath…of BA…again…..
Gaaarrrrghhhhh!
June 5th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I’m with Lockwood! (#4)
Bring it to the *real* OSU, not that podunk Ohio backwater imitation; PZ can have it. We’ll even loan you a bike while you’re in Portland!
June 6th, 2009 at 1:36 am
“The Secular Student Alliance, or SSA, is a national group of free thinkers.”
Is it? Hardly. Being imprisoned by the ideology and religious &/or ideological cult of atheism is NOT thinking freely. Perhaps its time some of them – and some here – had the freedom of intellect to question Dawkin’s juvenile assumptions and rants and freely ask themselves whether their strawman caricatures of faith and Christianity have any real truth in them – or not.
Worshipping science and the particular fanatically atheist ‘scientism’ form of it is akin to worshipping the old godless doctrines of Marxism and Communism. There is NOTHING truly “free-thinking” about such groups – and the odious use of weasel word labels for what they really are is rather pathetic as well as dishonest. Plus, of course, carrying the unsubtle implication that nobody else, esp. those who disagree with them or respect things that are beyond the realm of materialist science, are able to “think freely.”
Why not be open and call the group the Atheist Scientismists Followers?
The same applies to the term “human based ethics” used in place of the accurate term: God-denying, Neo-pagan, self-worshipping, Satan following (but not openly believing) “ethics” – with the inverted commas pronounced.
June 6th, 2009 at 8:20 am
@wagonjak, did you look at the URL by any chance? This blog is hosted by an internationally published magazine. Dr. Plait has no choice in the layout. If you have issues with it, take it up with the Hive Overmind.
But I understand your defense of PZ (who even posted in this thread if you noticed). I have mancrush on Dr. Plait.
@Then Again… EPIC FAIL on your part. Just EPIC! Care to back up your assertions with any substance? All I see are strawmen and ad homs. Not to mention a total non-understanding of anything based in reality.
June 6th, 2009 at 8:50 am
And Then Again shows he or she knows absolutely nothing about atheism. Except for a very small number of pantheists like Einstein (who adamantly insisted he was not an atheist), very few people worship science. There is no ideology beyond what you have every time you turn on your car, use your computer, or look out a window. Demanding that people actually back up their claims of the existence of something with evidence is not “ideology”, it is the exact opposite of it. That is all the free-thinking means. Do you demand evidence that your god actually exists? If not, then by definition you are not a free-thinker.
And don’t bother with the standard fallback of “you can’t prove God doesn’t exist”. No one is claiming that we can (at least no in the general sense). If there is no evidence for or against something, then the default, tentative conclusion is that it does not exist. That is Occam’s razor, a fundamental rule of logic and a rule that is needed to function at all in the real world (although some people ignore it when it suits them, people apply it subconsciously almost all of the time).
In free-thinking there is no dogma, no core set of beliefs, nobody who worshiped. It has none of the characteristics of religion, despite attempts by religious people to shoe-horn various things into their religious mold. What are the atheist gospels? Who is their prophet? (don’t say Dawkins, atheism goes back thousands of years) What is their dogma? What are their places of worship? What are their holy sites? Who are their priests?
And ignoring the fact that many religious people also support “human based ethics” (which is the only reason there is a split between humanism and secular humanism, the beliefs of the two groups are basically the same), it has absolutely nothing to do with pagans or neo-pagans (in fact neo-pagans claim to have divinely inspired religious ethical rules just like Christians), is not self-worshiping (it supports the benefits of humanity over the benefits of any individual human), and has nothing at all to do with Satanism (which support benefits of self over everyone else, the exact opposite of humanism).
Ignoring the fact that modern Christianity borrows far more from paganism than humanism does (Easter is even named after a pagan goddess), Christianity is really the self-serving and greedy perspective. In Christianity, ethics are based on the expectation of reward and the avoidance of punishment (the gospels go on and on about this). Humanists, on the other hand, say people should be good of the sake of being good, not for any personal benefit or avoidance of punishment, and in many cases to personal detriment (although not excessive personal detriment).
June 6th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Dear Then Again
Do your kind also troll Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Buddist boards and “proclaim the good news” there, or do you single out atheists?
A lot of Christians seem to think that one can worship someone one don’t even believe exists! We’re quite certain that your boogy-man is as mythical as your god! But you claim that anyone who doesn’t kow-tow to your preferred Imaginary Friend is by definition a Satan-worshipper.
This is a very strange interpretation of the term “worship”. And yet you claim that we are the ones distorting language?
And while I have read the “Good Book” cover-to-cover, I’ll bet my soul that you do not have the courage to read something like Rejection of Pascal’s Wager for more than a few minutes without going apoplectic. But I also bet that even if you did, you’d still be too close-minded to realise what a lie your religion is.
By the way, before you run back to your preferred circle of like-minded souls to proclaim your breath-taking victory over the pagan-Satanist-humanist-God-deniers, I’d just like to remind you that onanism is a “sin”, and mutual onanism out of wedlock is doubly so.
June 6th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
It’s too bad faith is not a commodity we can package and sell,,,Er, what was that Jerry? Oh, right, we do,do that ,don’t we,,,(page for mr John Crapper,,,)
To all those Muslim, Jews, Christians, etc, etc, etc,,,,I have both good news and bad news.
First: the Good News: You CAN experience the Mystics High and Connection With Gord,,,er,,,,I mean, God.(it’s easy. All you have to do is DIE).(or do a good approximation thereof).
Second: The Bad News. NOTHING you have been told by your Good Books has anything to do with a Higher Intellect. Period. It ALL derives from people thinking about what makes it tolerable to live together in large groups, ie, SECULAR HUMANISM(Mohammed was one as well as being an acute observer of biology,,,).
Third: How Do I Know? How could this rational/materialist, agnostic/atheist,secular/humanist possibly have anything to say about God???
See First News,,,Been There! Done That!
A way cool/out of sight, experience, but one I do not recommend to most people. It has a cost, ya know,,,and it still does NOT answer the question, “is there a God”. But SOME hallucinations can be fun,,,
GAry 7
June 6th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I’d like to point out, the only reason I enjoy zinging PZ is because biology is so,,,mushy, yucky and indeterminant. Not at all like the good, clean, hard science of physics,,,(until we get to the quantum level,,,erk!)
Come to think of it, maybe biology and physics have more in common than I’d thought,,,
GAry 7
June 6th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Pfft, Biology and Physics. I take you and your “science” and raise you humanities! We can make our own arguments and win with our quality of writing, rather than our conclusions!
Also, why does PZ have to visit Ohio State a now? A year ago I would have been on campus, now I’m in the mountains of Western North Carolina surrounded by a bunch of nature worshiping hippies. . . Damn you Appalachian State!!!
June 7th, 2009 at 11:05 am
35. AgnosticTheocrat:
I double your Pfft, and raise you two (non-rhyming) poems.
Ah, poetry.
Thy name is
grandiosity,,,
Ok, scratch that. I raise you ONE poem,,,
,,,but it’s still mushy,,,
GAry 7
June 7th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Pfft, Biology and Physics. I take you and your “science” and raise you humanities!
And we engineers trump you all.
We turn all that inane babbling of the scientists into wonderful things like MRI machines, two seater convertible roadsters, 200 inch plasma televisions and artificial retinas.
And if you don’t believe that last one: http://www.artificialretina.energy.gov/howartificialretinaworks.shtml
June 7th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
QD,,,
You Win!
GAry 7
June 7th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
And we computer-programmers write the firmware that makes all of the above function … in a way which disappoints everyone.
June 7th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
@ QD: Pfft, we’ve had artificial ears on the market for decades. Vision people are way behind.