Well, it's over. For 3 days in early October, a brilliant assemblage of atheist scientists, philosophers, educators and activists met at a hotel in Burbank along with 700+ like-minded individuals to exchange ideas, promote causes and, sometimes, just plain have a good time (anyone who thinks atheists are juiceless intellectuals too stuffy to enjoy life has obviously never attended an after-hours convention party!). Old friendships were renewed and new ones forged as atheists from all over the world mixed and talked. Some were even from Moslem countries where admission of atheism might result in a death sentence and it was especially poignant to see them able, for a change, to let their guard down and relax among friends.But now it's finished. Sunday and Monday was filled with the packing of bags and departures. The luminaries and the guests have almost all left. Richard Dawkins will be spending the next few days on a book tour of the United States before returning home to England. PZ Myers, the feisty biologist and founder of the Pharyngula science blog, is driving to Minot, North Dakota, to give a talk there before heading home to the wilds of Morris, Minnesota. The philosopher, Daniel Dennett is gone too; as is the planetary scientist, Carolyn Porco, the anthropologist, Eugenie Scott, the biologist and evolution-defender, Jerry Coyne, the actor, William B. Davis (best known as the cigarette-smoking man on the TV series The X-Files) and a host of other guests and speakers.
They're all gone but they left almost everyone who met them, or heard them, feeling inspired and, perhaps, imbued with a sense of a purpose, not necessarily to convert anyone else to atheism, but to do our part to make the world a better place for people instead of ideologies... religious or otherwise. I left the convention with this conviction because I was there not only as an observer for Examiner.com, but as a member of the atheist community.In other columns, I will describe my experiences serving as one of the volunteers working at the AAI 2009 convention and my impressions of the talks I heard.
Photo Credit:
1) Tongue-in-cheek image from Shaun P. McGonigal's page at Atheist Nexus.
2) Logo from AAI Convention 2009.
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Comments
Awesome article!!
Thanks, Brooke. I had an awesome time even though, as a volunteer, they worked my tail so hard that I was too tired to write daily reports like I originally intended.
Can't wait to read more about it... wish I could have been there!
Don't worry, Hugh. I am sure that not ALL the Atheists have left L.A.!
Meanwhile, thanks for keeping us posted on the event. It sounds great.
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