Past list view

Flash!
NYCA’s Irreverent Blogster to Host Meetup
Witty, Outspoken Michael Dorian Debuts as Talk Leader

Just when the August doldrums have left you panting, all is quiet on the Obama-McCain political front and you are wondering whether you should have taken that end-of-summer share in Fire Island, have we got a treat for you…

It’s the debut of Michael Dorian, our outspoken, tell-it-like-it-is, no-holds-barred Blogmaster, who will host, for the first time, the NYC Atheists Meetup on Tuesday, August 19, at the Stone Creek Bar.

Handsome Dorian (OK, he’s got a portrait in his attic that is disintegrating fast), with his George Clooney looks and Brad Pitt attitude, is delightfully funny, insightful, magnetic. He has done standup comedy, written a book, made a documentary film, lived in Paris. He’s with-it, on top of today’s culture, with a touch of George Carlin, a lot of Bill Maher and just a teensy weensy bit of Adam Sandler.

Lively Discussion

Dorian admits that he likes to be occasionally “intolerant of the religious” for the sake of provoking lively debate. Are you ready for witty conversation, outspoken ideas, a lot of laughter and good camaraderie?

New York may have eight million people, but rarely do you meet a roomful of them who are on your wave length, rarely do you meet men and women who listen and respond enthusiastically because they know where you’re coming from. Come share Tuesday evening with Michael Dorian and get to know the rest of us in an atmosphere of safe, understanding acceptance.

EVENT SUMMARY

WHAT: Michael Dorian Leads the NYC Atheists Meetup

WHEN: Tuesday, August 19, at 7 pm

WHERE: Stone Creek Bar and Lounge
140 East 27th Street (Bet. 3rd & Lex)
Back Room

COST: Free, but since the Stone Creek is letting us use their
room, it would be nice if you order at least
one drink. Food is also available.

------------------------------------------------
New York City Atheists is a not-for-profit education and activist association dedicated to separation of church and state and the right to be non-religious. It is open to all: freethinkers, humanists, skeptics and doubters as well as those who are questioning and searching. NYCA is an affiliate of American Atheists, Atheist Alliance International and the Center For Atheism.
------------------------------------------------

If you like exciting discussions, interesting people, provocative ideas, challenging conversation; if you like people who make you think and let you talk, if you want to get to know your fellow atheists, what they're really like with no pretensions, no affectations, this is the place for you. Discuss and socialize with the sharpest, most creative minds in New York atheist circles.

Please visit our web page for more information:
www.nyc-atheists.org
=======================

For Immediate Release
Web: nyc-atheists.org
Press Contact: 212-879-2687

Popular Prof to Discuss the Bible as Creative Fiction

Argues That Bible Is Not the Word of God
And Nativity Story a 'Nice Fairy Tale'

Can it be that the Gospels of the New Testament are actually four versions of the same fictional story like, say, four segments of the TV soap opera As the World Turns--only with a different character actor playing the Jesus role for each Gospel?

Yes indeed, says our very popular Bible professor, Dr. Peter Brancazio, who debunked the Bible for us at our May monthly meeting and is returning by popular demand on Thursday to continue his Bible expose'-- this time, demystifying the New Testament.

"The New Testament is not history," Brancazio says. "The Gospels are actually four literary versions of the story of Jesus by different writers. When you study them in sequence and as literary documents, you begin to recognize that none of the gospel authors were eye witnesses, so they were getting secondhand information and creating a character named Jesus."

Gospels As Literary Invention

Each of the gospels tells a story that, by present day journalistic standards, is recognizable as unrealistic. For example, Brancazio says, "There's this famous scene where the solitary Jesus throws himself on the ground and beseeches god, 'why are you doing this to me?' and then you realize, no one was there to see this, so this was the author's literary invention."

In arguing against the idea that the Bible is the word of god, Brancazio will tellNew York City Atheists what's in the New Testament, how it was written, when it was written and point out all the contradictions.

Witty, Dynamic

Dr. Brancazio was chosen by Newsday as one of six "Great Teachers in New York" in 1990. He taught for 35 years in the Physics department of Brooklyn College. He created, and taught for seven years, a now-famous course called "Science and Religion," inspired by a grant from the famous Templeton Foundation. He is the author of the book "The Bible From Cover to Cover," which, one reviewer said, provides a "sharp and witty" critical-eye guided tour of the Old and New Testaments.

On Thursday, July 31, Dr. Brancazio will tell New York City Atheists how to deal with people who wave the Bible in your face. Come hear this dynamic, inspiring, pioneer educator who has had the courage to bring a rational and scientific look at the Bible to the college community.

EVENT SUMMARY

WHAT: "The Bible as Creative Literary Fiction," a talk by Dr.
Peter Brancazio.

WHEN: Thursday, July 31 at 6:30 pm

WHERE: SLC Conference Center
352 Seventh Ave., 16th Floor (Bet. 29th & 30th Sts)

COST: We would appreciate a donation of $5 to cover the cost of
the Conference Center.

CONTACTS:
Jane Everhart
Director of Communications
212-879-2687

Kenneth Bronstein
President
New York City Atheists
212-535-7425

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New York City Atheists Inc. is a not-for-profit educational and activist association dedicated to separation of church and state and the right to be nonreligious. It is open to all—freethinkers, humanists, skeptics and doubters as well as those who are questioning and searching. NYCA is an affiliate of American Atheists, AtheistAlliance International and the Center for Atheism.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For Immediate Release

A Wake-Up Call for Americans?

Calling for a New 'Post-Religion' World,
Indian Atheists Work for Social Change

If you think of India today only as Bollywood, or the teeming masses on the streets of Bombay, or a disembodied voice of someone named Abu talking to you on the phone about your Internet server bill, you have an interesting surprise coming. India, it seems, is becoming one of the biggest Atheist centers in the world.

"The whole world is moving away from religion," says Dr. Vijayam Gora, Executive director of the renowned Atheist Centre in the southern India city of Vijayawada, said to be the first such Atheist center in the world. "Atheism, for us, has become a way of life?we havetaken Atheism and made it not negative but positive, constructive and creative."

He is talking about the unusual India Atheist Centre that won the International Humanist Award in Oslo in 1986. It was founded in 1940 by his father, Gora, who was a close
acquaintance of Mahatma Gandhi.

Fired for Being Openly Atheist

Gora was a professor of botany for 15 years in various colleges of South India but he was dismissed twice for being an Atheist. "So he decided to quit his job and devote all his time to Atheist activities," relates Dr. Vijayam. "His wife, Saraswathi, supported him in all his ideas, and together?inspired by Gandhi?they founded the Atheist Centre as a social change institution."

Today, 68 years later, the India Atheist Centre boasts three four-story buildings that contain a hospital, dormitories for poor women and widows, a working women's hostel, a Science Center, classrooms and, surprisingly?a dance school. The Centre is operated by the nine children of Gora and Saraswathi, all of whom work in the Centre as doctors, engineers, teachers or social workers.

"The Atheist Centre is a social change institution," says Vijayam. "We fight the caste system, witchcraft and sorcery. We work in 800 villages?India is a land of villages?for the promotion of Atheism and social change. We don't have Social Security in India, so we work with the poorest of the poor. We have hospitals in the villages. We teach disease prevention and hygiene. We provide disaster relief, we work for rural development. Many religious organizations also work in the villages to try to convert people to Christianity or some other religion. But we show the villagers that Christ and religion are not needed to help our fellow human beings. We say, 'To do good or to be good, god and religion are not needed.'"
Building an Atheist Society

Vijayam's enthusiasm for his work is catching. He is coming off a month-long trip to the U.S. that started with a humanist conference in Washington, DC; telling atheist groups across the country about the Indian Atheist Centre. On Sunday, he is coming to Manhattan to tell the New York City Atheists at their monthly Brunch about the Centre, a unique and forward-looking phenomenon half a world away.

"Religion has got to go," insists the Indian Atheist leader. "Morality exists because of necessity and has nothing to do with god and religion. In the 19th century, atheism was just anti-religion, but now, what's important is how we build an alternative to religion. We at the Centre are working for a post-religion society."

It is, perhaps, a wake-up call to Americans, who have always considered themselves in the forefront of progress. In a fast-moving world, it appears that American atheists have some catching up to do.

EVENT SUMMARY

WHAT: Atheism in Post-Religion India:

Building a Positive Atheist Society

By Dr. Vijayam Gora, Director

The Atheist Centre

Vijayawada, India

WHEN: Sunday, July 13 at 12 noon

WHERE: Kennedy's Pub & Restaurant

327 West 57th St. (8th/9th)

Back Room

COST: Brunch is $20, which includes entrée, one drink, tax, tip.

Book Club / Library

After brunch, we move to the NYCA Library located on East 79th Street.
We continue discussing Christopher Hitchens' god is not Great. Chapter 8: "The Koran Is Borrowed from Both Jewish and Christian Myths." Need have not read the assignment to participate.
------------------------------------------------

New York City Atheists Inc. is a nonprofit educational and action association dedicated to advancing the right to be non-religious and the separation of church and state. NYCA is open to all: atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, skeptics and those who are questioning and searching.

--------------------------------------------------------

Getting Religious Coercion Out of the Armed Forces:

He's Young, He's a West Point Grad,
And He's Mad As Hell at the Military

Jason Torpy gave up a promising career in the Military and "went civilian" despite his West Point education, despite 10 years in the Military, despite his strong patriotism. You see, Jason Torpy is an iconoclast and a nonconformist, and most of all, he's a nonbeliever and, though these characteristics led him to prefer a civilian life for himself, he's never going to let the Military forget that it's OK to be all of those things.

Torpy, who now works for a top civilian firm in information technology, is still a biting flea on the U.S. Military's back: He is president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) and one of his foremost missions in life is to achieve equality for atheists and freethinkers in the U.S. Military.

Torpy points out the there are probably more atheists in the Armed Forces than the Military will acknowledge, despite the old adage that "there are no Atheists in Foxholes." Not true, says Torpy. The problem is, the military pretends atheists don't exist.

"There's pressure in the military to conform," says Torpy, "and that extends to religion. It's often passive pressure. They say things like 'Hey, who's going to church? Everybody else is going to church, why aren't you?' And you start to feel, how am I going to get promoted if I don't go to church like everyone else."

Religious Coercion

There are also efforts in the military that are not-so-passive to coerce recruits into accepting religion. For example, there is the Shipboard Prayer issue in the U.S.Navy: On many, if not most Navy ships, a loudspeaker is used to broadcast prayers once a day to the entire ship.

Another tactic of persuasion is the Free Day Away program at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri, in which recruits are given an extra day off if they use part of it to go to church. A third tactic, still in use, is the Evangelist coin given out by officers to recruits in some training camps as an approved reward. And of course, there is a the case of Jeremy Hall, the young soldier who was hounded by his colleagues and officers when he tried to organize a MAAF group in Iraq.

Jason Torpy is on top of all these issues and working with MAAF members to make it illegal for young military men and women to be coerced, either openly or tacitly, into any religious observation.

Come hear the young ex-militarist tell New York City Atheists on June 26th how he is continuing his resistance-to-religion work even outside the military.

Or, as Torpy says, "Reason is doing what is right no matter what you are told, while religion is doing what you are told no matter what is right."

EVENT SUMMARY

WHAT: "Getting Religious Coercion Out of the Military," by Jason Torpy,
president of the Military Association of Atheists and
Freethinkers (MAAF).

WHEN: Thursday, June 26, at 6:30 PM

WHERE: SLC Conference Center
352 Seventh Avenue, (29/30th St.), 16th Floor

COST: We would appreciate a donation of $5 toward the cost of the
Conference room.

For further information, contact:

Kenneth Bronstein
President
New York City Atheists
212-535-7425

or

Jane Everhart
Director of Communications
New York City Atheists
212-879-2687

New York City Atheists Inc. is a not-for-profit educational and activist association dedicated to advancing the right to be non-religious and the separation of church and state. NYCA is open to all: atheists, humanists, freethinkers, skeptics and those who are questioning and searching.

As Church Tries to Hush Up Scandals...

Sex Abuse Lawyer Who Sued Catholic Church Tells All

Manhattan attorney John Aretakis is mad as hell and he isn't going to let the kids take it anymore. He's mad at the Catholic church, he's mad at the Pope, he's mad at the church bishops and most of all, he's mad at child-abusing clergy, who, he says, constitute anywhere from six to 12 percent of the 49,000 Catholic priests in this country.

In 1995, Aretakis won the largest settlement, a million dollars, in the history of clergy sexual abuse in the state of New York . He is currently suing the church on behalf of some 300 child victims in New York , and he has taken part in suits in Boston and California that won, respectively, $85 million and $500 million for victims of clergy sexual abuse. He has acquired the reputation of being a "thorn in the church's side," a label he's quite happy with. He's onto the church's cover-ups and evasions and its code of silence. "It's this code of silence that has caused this pandemic of clergy sex abuse of children," he says.

"I have dealt, primarily in the past six years, with about 300 priests and all of them have had sex or sodomized innocent children," Aretakis says. "Now when I see a man of the cloth, all I see is what's behind the mask--I see the charlatan.. I'm not saying all priests are charlatans, but I know a little too much and these monsters who have sex with children have ripped religious beliefs right out of me," admits Aretakis, who was raised in the Greek Orthodox church in upstate New York. But his legal experiences with the church have made him, the distinguished attorney admits, move toward atheism.

The Child-Seduction Scams of Priests

"The thing about these pedophiles, is they're all widely loved," Aretakis notes. "Because if you are a pedophile and your goal is to have sex with as many children as you can and to get parents to trust you, you know what you have to do: You have to start the soup kitchen, you have to start the food pantry, you have to feed the AIDS people, you have to do things that make people look at you and say, oh my god, he's a saint. It's a cover, it's absolute trickery. When these priests get exposed as pedophiles, people say, 'But he ran the Christmas parade! He ran Bingo every year for 30 years!' Of course he did, it's part of the scam."

On Sunday, June 8th, at the New York City Atheists' monthly Brunch, Aretakis, who has a Juris Doctorate (JD) degree from Albany Law School and a Masters of Law in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, will describe, and discuss, his experiences in legally pressuring the church to do right by all the children whose lives the church's agents have in many cases destroyed. Please be aware that some of this discussion will involve topics of a sensitive nature.

EVENT SUMMARY

WHAT: "Who's To Blame? How The Customs of the Catholic Church Fostered Sexual Abuse of Children By Priests," by Attorney John Aretakis, renowned sex-abuse litigator.

WHEN: Sunday, June 8 at l2 Noon

WHERE: Kennedy's Restaurant & Pub
327 West 57th Street (8th/9th Ave.)

COST: $20 (includes entrée, one drink, tax, tip)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Jane Everhart
Director of Communications
New York City Atheists
212-879-2687

Kenneth Bronstein
President
New York City Atheists
212-535-7425

----------------------------------------------------------------------
New York City Atheists Inc. is a nonprofit educational and action association dedicated to advancing the right to be non-religious and the separation of church and state. NYCA is open to all: atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, skeptics and those who are questioning and searching.
---------------------------------------------------------------------