Seattle Atheists and its fellow organizations in the Northwest Freethought Coalition (NWFC), including Tacoma Atheists, will come to together to celebrate Darwin, science, humanity and in appreciation of verifiable knowledge that has been acquired solely through human curiosity and ingenuity.

The event is family-friendly and will include speakers, educational evolution-themed games, activities, and food. The public is encouraged to attend.

WHERE: Juanita Community Club, 13027 100th Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98034

WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 6, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.

“The script was finished, the roles cast, and a date has been set to begin filming,” says Riggs. “We have an all volunteer cast and crew. We received a grant from the City of Tacoma in the form of a store front to film in that we get, rent free, for three months.” Filming begins next month.

“One of the things I learned,” he adds, “is that making a feature length film is expensive, even with an all volunteer cast and crew. We have to pay for insurance, feed the cast, get some important filming equipment, electric bills, props, etc.”

Riggs is asking friends for financial help to finish this project. They start filming July 16th. “Any amount you can afford, even one dollar, will help,” he says.

A $20 donation gets you your name in the credits of the movie and a DVD of it when it’s done. $50 will get you a “Jesus-4-Less” t-shirt and your (bigger) name in the credits. Also, in return, you will receive their deep gratitude, and the knowledge that you are supporting the local economy and the artistic/creative endeavors of your community.

Here are the instructions:

1. Log onto www.paypal.com
2. Click “Send Money”
3. Enter the e-mail address: jesus4less@gmail.com
4. Enter your donation amount
5. Click on the “Personal” tab and select “Gift”

The topic will be “Epistemology: Knowledge and Belief,” and will look at the philosophical controversies and consensus behind the “Theory of Knowledge” as it relates to the divine and the mundane.

Watch on SCAN TV (Comcast ch. 77, Broadstripe ch. 23 or Limited Basic Cable service ch. 26) or, watch the live video stream at SCANtv.org (click the big grey button in the middle of the page that reads ‘Watch the Online Stream’).

They are on Facebook, and here is the website for the show.

Here’s their YouTube channel, since I appear to be unable to post videos for some reason.

The picnic will be held at Ravenna Park (2000 NE 58th St.) in Seattle, a convenient and large location that in recent years has drawn up to 200 attendees over the course of the day. The event will begin at 1 p.m., with the potluck meal (grill your own) running from 1 to 3 p.m. and a raffle and music by Jim Corbett from 3 to 4 p.m. Although clean-up will officially occur at 5 pm, we have reserved the park until evening, so you can stay and play for as long as you want.

HOW is leading the planning effort. Please contact HOW treasurer Jim Rybock (206-784-6541) if you want to volunteer or have suggestions for making this the best Freethinkers’ Picnic ever!

Be sure to register soon for the NW Freethought Conference in Renton, before it fills up! Space is limited! Registration is online, via PayPal! The conference website is https://www.nwfreethought.org/

Speakers include:

Ophelia Benson, the co-force behind several books and a superb website, the goal of which is “fighting fashionable nonsense.” She will open our conference talking about being as critical of what we agree with as what we scorn.

Dr. David Domke, University of Washington Communications professor and author of “The God Strategy” and “God Willing? Political Fundamentalism in the White House.” He was one of the two top-rated speakers at the 2009 conference, and will be the keynote speaker at the banquet this year. He’ll be sharing ideas from his most recent research.

Anu Garg, the founder of wordsmith.org, which goes to 800,000 subscribers in 200 countries, and has often included free-thought ideas in the daily quote. He’ll talk about his philosophical path from Hinduism (330,000 deities) to where he is now (none at all). He’s a member of FFRF and AU.

Topics include:

AU/CFI Forum: Reaching Public School Students for Christ — It’s Legal!
Green Eating
How We Know What Isn’t So: Why Personal Experiences Override Science
Critical Thinking Skills
Living without a Soul, Dying without a God
Green Burial
Faith-based Child Abuse: Recent Oregon Court Cases
Current Church-State Separation Cases
Drug Policy Reform

Sign up now! Registration is online, via PayPal!

Seattle Atheists and our fellow organizations in the Northwest Freethought Coalition (NWFC) will come to together to celebrate Darwin, science, humanity and in appreciation of verifiable knowledge that has been acquired solely through human curiosity and ingenuity.

The event is family-friendly and will include speakers, educational evolution-themed games, activities, and food. The public is encouraged to attend.

WHERE:
Juanita Community Club, 13027 100th Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98034

WHEN:
Saturday, Feb. 6, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Collision cinematically weaves together a series of debates from pubs, a seminary, the Empire State Building, the back of automobiles and more between leading atheist and pungent journalist Christopher Hitchens and controversialist pastor Douglas Wilson regarding the question “Is Christianity Good for the World?”

Join atheists, Christians, and those undecided for this witty, jovial and hard-hitting conversation framed by prolific independent filmmaker Darren Doane.  Christmas is coming. You decide. Sponsored by the Secular Student Union and Trinity Church in Bellevue.

Neptune Theatre, 1303 NE 45th St , Seattle, WA Tickets are $5 at the door.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=188463870508

Find out more about the Meetup details here.

Humans, like all other living beings, are a product of four billion years of evolutionary processes. We have been shaped and pounded by the rhythms of our planet’s geology and climate as well by the continual interplay among biological organisms. You exist because eons of your ancestors, from bacteria to primates, struggled and reproduced successfully. The genes that reside in each and every one of us are the ones that helped our ancestors not only to survive, but to out-reproduce their competitors. And as improbable as it might seem, you are here through the success of billions and billions of generations.

Every living species on the planet — from cabbages to whales — has gone through this process, and evolved to fit a particular niche. Our human niche just happens to have emphasized brains over brawn, which has given us language, creativity, curiosity, and the most complicated social system of any species. However, our incredibly powerful brain is locked in a continual battle between reason and ancestral fears. This conflict helps us understand why religion has held such a grip on humanity and why reason must still fight to be heard.

Our ability to solve complex cognitive problems evolved over our long, tenuous, evolutionary history. Many adaptations that squeezed through the sieve of environmental constraints have led up to more and more complex brains. This culminated in fine-tuned software for negotiating the competitive social hierarchies that have been a crucial aspect to primate, especially human, evolution. We humans evolved the uniquely complex communication system that is language, and it in turn drove the evolution of more and more complex social interactions.

Here are the winners for this week’s chalk-off, sponsored by Tacoma Atheists:

Stowe won the iMac for his shark, and Andrea got the gift certificate for the Crown Bar (from us) for her giant robot pothole ray. Someone else will get the backpack. Congratulations, everyone!