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Skeptics in the Pub

Sunday, January 18th, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

Saturday saw the first Leeds Skeptics in the Pub which went rather well at least for an initial meeting. We got around twenty people turning up in total with a mix of ages and backgrounds which is exactly what we were aiming for really.

I kept my actual talk fairly short as I wasn’t too sure what people were expecting for a first meeting, in future they will be a bit more well-rounded talks but for the moment I was more interested in people getting to know each other and having a good drink and a chat.

Hopefully we can build on the success of Saturday and build attenance even more in the future. We’ve booked up speakers as far as May so there is plenty going on.

Skeptics in the Pub

Sunday, January 18th, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

Saturday saw the first Leeds Skeptics in the Pub which went rather well at least for an initial meeting. We got around twenty people turning up in total with a mix of ages and backgrounds which is exactly what we were aiming for really.

I kept my actual talk fairly short as I wasn’t too sure what people were expecting for a first meeting, in future they will be a bit more well-rounded talks but for the moment I was more interested in people getting to know each other and having a good drink and a chat.

Hopefully we can build on the success of Saturday and build attenance even more in the future. We’ve booked up speakers as far as May so there is plenty going on.

Anagrams

Saturday, January 17th, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

We took down the lettering we have in the office on the back wall to make way for a fresh coat of paint and the new logo to be put up there. Gaz then decided to have a play around with the leters, no a rather nice result I think.

I aint driving no atheist bus

Friday, January 16th, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

If you’ve been keeping an eye on the news today you may have seen the story that a bus driver refused to do his shift because he was given a bus with the new atheist advert on it.

I mean seriously, what the hell?

This is a clear case of descrimination against atheists. If an atheist tried this stunt with one of the many, many Alpha adverts that can be found on buses he would be ridiculed, told to stop being stupid and ordered back to work. But when the tables are turned it’s suddenly acceptable to walk off shift?

But it gets even more offensive…

“I was just about to board and there it was staring me in the face, my first reaction was shock horror.” “I think it was the starkness of this advert which implied there was no God.”

Horror? What horror is caused by this? An advert which has gone out of it’s way to accommodate religious people (it could have read there is definitely no god, now shut your cake hole). An advert with has already been approved by the Advertising Standards Agency.

What this really shows is the massive intolerance bread by religious people. Who ever heard of someone refusing to drive a bus with a political party advert on which always push the boat out and get personal and yet as soon as something goes on that isn’t even offensive, the atheist community is suddenly under attack. Disgraceful.

Humanism and me

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

Last night I headed down to the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire for Moz’s talk on religion in Pre Christian Britain. While it was mostly an excuse for Moz to show off the quality of pictures his very expensive camera can take, the talk was never the less etertaining and brought up some up some very interesting facts about the suprisingly rich heritage of Britain before the Romans arrived.

As I had suggested, Paul invited everyone to Joseph’s Well for a drink and the uptaking was very impressive, by Humanist Society standards anyway, we must have had a good fifteen of us stay for a drink compared to the usual quick evaporation of meeting attendees that traditionally takes place.

Having had a drink there I headed up to the union to meet the usual A-Soc crowd which had somewhat increased since the meeting first began, clearly people were in need of a good pint to calm their pre-exam nerves.

Follow us on Twitter

Monday, January 12th, 2009 | Leeds Atheist Society | No Comments

We try out best to let people know is going on in the society. But despite our efforts sometimes vocally, at every meeting, via email, via text message, via Facebook, via the website and via RSS feed just aren't enough. Where then will people find out what is happening?

Luckily, having recently made the move onto Twitter I have also now set up an account for the society that all of the committee can tweet at so now you can follow us here.

First A-Soc social of 2009

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

Tuesday night saw the first A-Soc social of 2009 and quite a well attended one at that. Given a lot of people are not back in Leeds yet, many have exams next week and it been freezing cold outside (literally, it’s well below 0), we still managed to get probably 15 people to come down.

Our plans to meet in The Terrace had been somewhat thwarted by the union not opening The Terrace we switched things to The Old Bar (which weren’t serving food either), people kindly being directed down by union staff who asked Norm “are you looking for the long haired guy and his dad” referring to Paul .

The Old Bar was being rubbish as well though and closed the bar at 9. Interestingly Izzy turned up soon after to find us all getting our stuff together to leave. She immediately then made an exit stating that “well, Norm’s not here” - charming. The night ended with Kate trading in some shifts at Rationalist Week for a lift home which is fair enough really.

Welcome Back

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 | Leeds Atheist Society | No Comments

Tonight say the first A-Soc event of 2009 take place in the Old Bar. We officially kicked off the new year with a social,a chance for those back in Leeds (and those that never left :P ) to take a break from work and chill out with soem good company. the decent sized turn out shows that there are many of you no doubt working hard for the upcoming exams.

To help ease you back into the A-Soc calendar we have a couple of relatively light events during the exam period. We start with Sinnimation - a collection of cartoons specially chosen by your committee that have a slight connection to religion, but are just plain funny! Expect The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, God, The Devil and Bob and many more! The second week back is a little more serious with us showing the moving docu-film "Baby Bible Bashers", a look at young Christian evangelists and their 'work'.