Atheist Alliance of America Delivers Who We Are and What We Do PLUS: Articles by Board Members John Loftus |Derek Colanduno | New Logo Our Vision
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A Publication of Atheist Alliance of America SUMMER 2017 Serving our Shared Communities for More than 25 Years Atheist Alliance of America Delivers Who We Are and What We Do PLUS: articles by board members John Loftus |Derek Colanduno | New Logo Our Vision Atheist Alliance of America unveils its new logo!!! Our vision is to transform society into one that sup- ports and promotes an atheistic worldview based on the values of reason, empiricism and naturalism, a society which respects the wellbeing of all living things, the environment and the separation of church and state. We give our members, associates and affiliates the skills and tools needed to develop and provide educational, ad- vocacy, and community-building programs located throughout the nation. Our values are informed by reason, compassion, purpose, empiricism, science, knowledge, progress, equality, and freedom. Atheist AlliAnce of community involvement our vision our mission AmericA is a national On the national level, and AAoA’s vision is to trans- To develop and provide 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, tax through our local affiliates form society into one that educational, advocacy, and deductible educational or- across the U.S., we encour- values reason, rationality, community-building pro- ganization. We are a demo- age and assist in civic and honesty, clarity, and kind- grams for the atheist com- cratically run organization charitable activities at the ness. munity that assist towards led by a Board of Directors. local level. Please visit our fulfilling our vision. website to find a local affili- ate of AAA. If you can’t find a local group, contact us for help in starting one. 2 | www.atheistallianceamerica.org 29 Understanding Atheist Alliance Dogmatic Belief 5 Atheist Alliance of America Delivers by Mark Reimers, M.D. Leaving Religion 31 Church Scandals: Why Christians Get Angry for 6 Individual MemberContents Benefits All the Wrong Reasons 8 From6 Affiliate the VP: Member Join Us Benefits at Dragon*7 Committees Con Generalby Candace Interest R. M. Gorham, MA, LPC 9 Meet the Team at Atheist 37 On the Value of Philosophy AllianceBy Mark W. of Gura America and Definitional Apologetics The Secular Buddhist Reformation Artisticby John Loftus Persuasion 15 Secular Buddhism: 38 Saved Interview with Mark W. Gura, Part 1 by Shelley Segal Spotlightby Mark W. Gura Affiliates and Associates 17 Battling Science 40 Listing of affiliates, Deniers: It Takes All of associates and national Us. So, Use Your Voice! organizations 19 To Join or to Start? Thatby Adam Is the Tilford Question 21 How I Fled Islamic Persecutionby Dustin Kemper in Bangladesh and Came to the USA Savedby Zerin by Firoze Science 24 The Importance of Critical Thinking in the 21st Century 26 The Curse of the Carl Sagan Effectby Dr. Christopher DiCarlo Secular Nation: Volume 23 | 3 by Julien Musolino \Secular Nation Magazine Digital Content Art Direction, Cover & Graphic Design Kristi Dale Check www.AtheistAllianceAmerica.org (and Mark W. Gura Angelos Sofocleous click on the Podcast link) for more great inter- views! Editorial Executive Editor, Kristi Dale Copy Editor, Angelos Sofocleous To see the online version of this magazine Proof Reader, John Richards become a member and visit: www. Proof Reader, Vivienne Rathband AtheistAllianceAmerica.org Contact Info, Subscriptions, Ads, Donations, Reprints [email protected] Mailing Address Submission Guidelines Atheist Alliance of America P.O. Box 190 Wilder, VT 05088 Please send all submissions to editors@atheistal- Atheist Alliance of America Board of Directors lianceamerica.org for consideration. In the sub- Vice President, Mark W. Gura, ject line, indicate the type of submission, and try Secretary, Dustin Kemper to stay within our preferred sizes: Executive Director / Social Media Director, CW Brown Assistant Social Media Director, Adam Tilford Letter: 100 to 400 words. Derek Colanduno Article: 750-1500 words. John Loftus Fiction: 100-1500 words. Kelli Cooke Poem: up to 300 words. Kristi Dale Tina Hamilton Please include a 2-3 sentence biography and con- Board of Advisers tact information with your submission. Andy Thomson, MD Photograph: Images must be 300 ppi at the de- Angelos Sofocleous sired print size. Bill Flavell Buck Bowen All submissions are subject to editing for length, Candace Gorham Dr. Christopher DiCarlo content, and style. If the editing substantially David Hancock changes the work, it is at staff discretion to notify Ian Harris the author. John Richards Micael Langer By submitting to us you agree that we have the Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, PhD Stephen Law right to publish your submission in any issue of Secular Nation and in any anthologies or similar Key Contributors collections of Secular Nation material, in print Assistant Executive Director, John Jackson and electronic formats. Alex Penuelas Jeremy Casey Karen Jungwirth Secular Nation provides contributors with a copy Steve Miller of the paper and pdf version of the issue in which Zerin Firoze the submission appears, provided your address is supplied. Submissions are unpaid unless oth- erwise pre-arranged. We look forward to reading what ytu write! Copyright 2017 Secular Nation Magazine. All rights reserved. Neither this publication not any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, recording, photocopying, or any other method currently available or to be developed in the future without the prior permission of Atheist Alliance of America. The views and opinions expressed in Secular Nation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Atheist Alliance of America, its affiliates, donors, members, or advertisers. Photo Credits: pages/people for varied photos . 4 | www.atheistallianceamerica.org By Mark W. Gura Atheisttheist Alliance of AmericaAlliance (AAoA) recently of underwent America the most significant Delivers changes since its inception nearly a quarter century ago. For those who are unaware, AAoA had historically been run by an affiliation of separate atheist organizations, which, as one might imagine, presented extra responsibilities for the affiliates and challenges for AAoA when it came to making substantive decisions in a timely manner. In early 2016, Mark W. Gura and the Board successfully petitioned the Affiliate Council to relinquish their decision-making authority so that AAoA could control its own future in a democratic fashion. This marked an enormous turning point for our organization, and we are deeply appreciative of the kindness our affiliates and collaborators have extended to us over the A years, and for the gracious manner in which they supported our request for autonomy. Atheist Alliance of America tive director; John Loftus, Derek Visit our convention this year (AAoA) recently underwent the Colanduno, Kristi Dale, Adam during September 1-4, 2017 most significant changes since Tilford, Kelli Cooke, and Tina in Atlanta, Georgia and come its inception nearly a quarter Hamilton, as board members— celebrate our 25-year anniver- century ago—and these chang- all while retaining Mark W. Gura sary with us! Stay tuned for es help us deliver new products as Vice President and Dustin more updates at www.atheistal- and services to our members, Kemper as a board member, lianceamerica.org or email affiliates and to our community. both of whom played key roles us at information@atheistal- in providing continuity and re- lianceamerica.org. Historically, AAoA was run by vitalization to the organization. AAoA is as an incubator for an affiliation of separate atheist With its activists and organizations, presenting extra The Alliance is also supported organizations: exten- responsibilities for the affiliates by advisers Ian Harris, Andy sive and challenging AAoA to make Thomson, Stephen Law, Can- reach, timely, substantive decisions. dace Gorham, Bill Flavell, Buck connec- As such, Vice President Mark Bowen, David Hancock, Micael tions, W. Gura and the board of direc- Langer, John Richards and and experience, AAoA now tors successfully petitioned the Christopher DiCarlo, Angelos offers exciting new content to Affiliate Council in early 2016 Sofocleous and by key contribu- its members while serving as a to relinquish their decision- tors Robyn Henderson-Espi- facilitator for secular activists making authority, giving AAoA noza, PhD., Zerin Firoze, and and community organizations control over its own future in Jeremy Kasey. at all levels to achieve their own a democratic fashion. We are objectives. New as well as deeply appreciative of the kind- From now on, Atheist Alliance established activists can take ness our affiliates and collabo- of America will hold its an- advantage of our national plat- rators have extended to us over nual convention in conjunction form, our social media reach, the years and their support of with Dragon*Con’s Skeptrack along with our upcoming pro- our request for autonomy. (www.skeptics.dragoncon.org). grams in street epistemology, Tickets to Dragon*Con may be critical thinking, and online Making the most of this new purchased at www.DragonCon. multimedia development. We’re opportunity, AAoA assembled con. Dragon*Con usually draws also putting together a speak- a powerhouse team of secular more than 75,000 participants er’s bureau and placement activists, educators, editors, and hosts. program for those who inter- authors, producers, and artists ested in incorporatingSecular Nation: Volume traveling 23 | 5 including