Atheists won't let Easter spoil the weekend

April 9, 11:15 AMAtlanta Atheism ExaminerJohn Snider

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Yuri's Night is among the
upcoming events for those not
interested in Easter.

Ironically, Easter is the second biggest weekend for Christians, ranking way below Christmas in terms of visibility.  Like Christmas, Easter is well-known in the Southeast as a day when businesses close, the faithful pack the churches, and everybody else stays home and sits it out.

But not us atheists!

Believe it or not, there's something for atheists, skeptics, and freethinkers to do every single weekend in metro Atlanta, and Easter weekend is no exception. 

The main event is the American Atheists (AA) National Convention (April 9-12 at the Emory Conference Center Hotel).  Featured speakers include author/activist Richard Dawkins, journalist/blogger Michelle Goldberg, award-winning sci-fi fantasist James Morrow, and AA bigwig Ed Buckner (an Atlantan and member of the Atlanta Freethought Society who recently assumed the presidency originally occupied by infamous atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair).  Attendees can register at the hotel while seats are available.  On Thursday evening, April 9, there's registration and informal reception with cash bar.  Friday and Saturday are devoted to the speakers, and there's a Sunday outing that includes a tour of Stone Mountain and the MLK Memorial.

Speaking of the Atlanta Freethought Society (AFS), their monthly meeting is Sunday, April 12 at 1:00 p.m.  Featured speaker is Stuart Bechman, president of Atheist Alliance International (not to be confused with American Atheists).  AFS meets in a renovated church in Smyrna.

If you're not attending the big AA convention or the AFS meeting, there's always the Atlanta Skeptics Meetup at 7:00 p.m. Friday, April 10, at Manuel's Tavern.  The Atlanta Skeptics are a relatively new group, youthful in spirit and very energetic.

Meanwhile, the Decatur Atheists Meetup (a subset of the Atlanta Atheists Meetup) are scrambling to find an alternative venue from their usual second-Sunday meeting place, Thinking Man Tavern.  The Decaturites found out almost at the last minute that TMT will not be open on Easter.  Check back with the Atlanta Atheists Meetup site; hopefully they'll settle on a place to meet.

If you're a runner/walker, you'll be glad to know that Atlanta-based Fellowship of Reason has a weekly run/walk (every Sunday except the first Sunday of the month).  As far as I know, they will be doing their thing Easter Sunday.  Meet at 8:00 a.m. at the obelisk in the southwest corner of Piedmont Park (just down Piedmont Avenue from the Flying Biscuit).  Breakfast at the Biscuit afterwards.

Finally (and this isn't technically an atheist/skeptic/freethought event), you might consider celebrating Yuri's Night.  For the last few years, fans of science and space exploration have organized local parties around the world to celebrate Yuri Gagarin's first manned spaceflight--April 12, 1961.  (If you're a redblooded American for whom celebrating the achievements of the "lousy Commies" is distasteful, it might help to know that April 12, 1981 was the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle.)  There is a Yuri's Night event in Atlanta, although it's a day late: the Mars Society at Georgia Tech is holding their party on Monday, April 13, from 8:00 p.m. to midnight on campus--check out their Facebook page for all the details.