Me enjoying coffee, which has
nothing to do with this post.
On October 18, I gave an address to the Northern Virginia Ethical Society on the subject of the New Atheism and the divides within the atheist community--a subject that seems to have boiled to the surface of nonbelievers' discussion of late.
I was honored to be invited, and I hope it is only the first chance of many that I will have to give talks and participate in other such events. I was invited to speak by NoVES's Chris Centner and was introduced--and generally taken care of--by fellow Examiner Bill Lewis (he'll be the first person you hear on the recording). It was a genuine pleasure to be there, and the NoVES is a fantastic group of people.
Here is the audio of my address, recorded, yes, on a standard audio cassette by the folks at NoVES. At one point they run out of tape and, yes, had to flip the tape over to keep recording. I have filled in the part of my address the tape missed by simply recording it here at home.
If you're a regular reader, some of the material should be familiar, much was based on some sudden revelations I had as I prepared the text. One way or the other, I hope you enjoy.
Click here to listen to or download the MP3 of my talk.
Related Secularism Examiner Articles:
- Newsweek religion columnist calls atheists 'adolescent regurgitators'
- Richard Dawkins and Karen Armstrong politely duel in the pages of the Wall Street Journal
- Augment but never persuade: Accomodationism's lack of ambition
Comments
Two things first... Atheism Classic - love it! And, when my son and I heard what you said about Christopher Hitchens jumping on the bandwagon and driving it into on-coming traffic, we busted out laughing. Brilliant!
This is a very interesting division you've laid out. I am going to have to give it some more thought.
You are an excellent speaker, by the way. Must be the acting experience. :)
Greetings from Fayetteville and Northwest AR.
Thank you so much for posting your presentation. I'll be recommending it to everyone. It's excellent. I hope to see you at Skepticons II.
We enjoyed having you as our speaker at the Northern Virginia Ethical Society. The content of your talk was very interesting and, as Trina Hoaks notes, your delivery is excellent.
Hey Paul,
I left a comment on the Twitter War over "no God, no peace". I ran out of room to tell you I will be hanging around your page for an undetermined amount of time, during any lengt of free time I have. I write the Richmond Evangelical-Examiner page.
I listened to your talk. You are a well versed speaker. Did you rehearse? I do.
Trina, Randall, Andy - Thank you!!
Jim - Glad you're here...I do rehearse, but I have an unfair advantage as a long time professional Shakespearean actor. :)
Hey Paul,
Theater is a passion of mine and my wife. My wife is a music major with a degree in music education. Her principle instrument is voice. I just like music and attending plays.
Paul, thank you for posting this. Listening to our platform and your talk again brought a up number of things for me - the pleasure of hearing your voice, the curiousness of hearing my voice, the grounding of reviewing "New Atheism 101," and a smile.
The smile creeps in when I reflect that I'm listening to a recording of a standard Sunday morning meeting of a religious congregation - unorthodox as that congregation may be - and hearing the murmurs, chuckles, and laughs of recognition and appreciation as our members and visitors "get with" your exposition of this interesting new phenomenon in the religious dialogue. And one that touches our non-theistic tradition directly.
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