Secular Portal Blogs

Crazy Tuesdays

Thursday, August 27th, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

We started off Tuesday with a committee meeting which didn’t go too tell as it was noiser than we had anticipiated in the pub. We also had far more to talk about than we could possibly fit into one meeting and we had several non-committee members in attendance who had shown up also so it didn’t make for the most productive meeting.

The rest of the night went well though with much eating of stake and drinking of alcohol as should be expected from our Tuesday nights these days.

Zoltan and the steak

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

A-Soc social rolled around on Tuesday though despite it being steak night the Cuthbert Brodrick had, somehow, managed to run out of rump and sirloin steak! Luckily we were all ordering mixed grills so it worked out alright in the end.

What followed was a night of long debate and drinking – Rich getting through two bottles of wine by himself! Probably suggested to him by Kate who then proceeded to try and molest him.

Evolution and homosexuality

Sunday, August 16th, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

Saturday saw Skeptics in the Pub roll round again with this month’s talk being delivered by Rich on evolution and homosexuality – the talk which he gave on the Thursday of Rationalist Week 2009. As always the talk was excellent and turn out was quite reasonable given it was summer. Good times.

Not long now…

Sunday, August 16th, 2009 | Leeds Atheist Society | No Comments

The following post is likely to cause some readers a bout a of serious, deep depression but for those like me who are aching to get back into the full, term-time swing of A-Soc it will casue untold joy!

There are only a few weeks left until term starts again and the diary busting level of events we all love to take part in will be upon us again!

I am unable to provide much insight into the events the new committee have in store for us, but having worked closely with most of them for the past year (or years in some cases ) I am convinced we will see the same high standard and immensevariety of events that A-Soc regulars have come to expect. I am also sure that Sophie’s presidency will see some new and fresh ideas bursting on to the scene.

I have high hopes for the coming year as the society is now breaking even financially and has an experienced and dedicated leadership team in place which all bodes well for us normal members.

I would also like to send a message to all our alumni, students and staff that have left the society over the years to get in touch with us and let us know what you are up to now. We are always interested in hearing from our members both old and new.

Not long now…

Sunday, August 16th, 2009 | Leeds Atheist Society | No Comments

The following post is likely to cause some readers a bout a of serious, deep depression but for those like me who are aching to get back into the full, term-time swing of A-Soc it will casue untold joy!

There are only a few weeks left until term starts again and the diary busting level of events we all love to take part in will be upon us again!

I am unable to provide much insight into the events the new committee have in store for us, but having worked closely with most of them for the past year (or years in some cases :P) I am convinced we will see the same high standard and immensevariety of events that A-Soc regulars have come to expect. I am also sure that Sophie's presidency will see some new and fresh ideas bursting on to the scene.

I have high hopes for the coming year as the society is now breaking even financially and has an experienced and dedicated leadership team in place which all bodes well for us normal members.

I would also like to send a message to all our alumni, students and staff that have left the society over the years to get in touch with us and let us know what you are up to now. We are always interested in hearing from our members both old and new.

Steak night

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

Tuesday night saw the second A-Soc summer social since the move to Cuthbert Brodrick. It was a fine move indeed with it being steak night! So having enjoyed a variety of steaks (including a mixed grill for myself) we settled in with some drinks and chatted the night away like old times. Apparently some people were intoxicated but I can’t say I noticed.

I think I’ll have myself a beer

Thursday, August 6th, 2009 | Chris Worfolk | No Comments

Tuesday night rolled around again and this time I was properly moved into town and could enjoy being able to walk home, which I did. We kicked things off at Wetherspoon’s collecting the regular A-Soc’ers before heading over to D-Fusion for more drinking and a bit of karaoke too in celebration of Sophie’s recent birthday.

Is Atheism the New Coca-Cola?

Monday, August 3rd, 2009 | Norman Ralph | No Comments

Since leaving university and stepping down from my positions with the AHS and Leeds Atheist Society I have had quite a bit of free time on my hands, much of which has been spent looking at new ways of developing a national identity for atheists.

I don’t know how many of you will have ever tried looking at how many different groups exist for atheists and the seemingly endless associated groups, humanists, secularists, brights, freethinkers, rationalists, sceptics etc, but there are a lot. Almost every conceivable name and wordplay related to atheism, humanism, secularism etc has been used and there is a group set up. However, the majority of these groups have relatively low numbers and small areas of influence. In fact with the exception of the British Humanist Association and National Secular Society, these groups receive little to no national attention.

I think this is a problem. I think it is perhaps a greater problem, however, that there is no unified group representing all non-religious people. Whilst it is true that no two atheists (and I will use atheist from now on as an umbrella term for anyone who describes themselves as non-religious) have the same desires, ambitions or even world views, they do tend to exhibit broadly similar political and ethical views. These views should be expressed to decision makers, politicians and commercial leaders. Atheists should have a national voice that should be listened to.

Having spent some time with the BHA I can report that they do sterling work in the name of humanism and the NSS, likewise for secularism but they don’t represent enough people. Their image is not attractive to young atheists, for example, and their membership demographics highlight this. There is a need for a unifying brand to be created and heavily marketed. The most difficult thing for atheists to grasp at the moment seems to be the need to start running an organised, national atheist centred organisation that represents everyone, regardless of the name they call themselves. Moreover, this organisation needs to be run like a business.

The more time I spend delving into local and regional groups, and even some of the larger national groups, is the feeling that they are not meant to be attracting new faces, finding new blood. What is more depressing is the fact that the large organisations do not have the resources or, seemingly, the desire to recruit and retain members.

In order to develop the kind of business, the kind of brand that I have alluded to above, requires a rethink of how atheist organisations should approach marketing, recruitment and ultimately their basic business model. People in today’s world are consumers. We consume everything. We should start appreciating this fact and begin to treat members and potential members like customers and potential customers respectively. If atheist organisations approached recruitment like a service brand approaches their customer base I believe they would be far more successful.

These organisations need to start marketing themselves not as a luxury, discretionary purchase such as a large screen TV or an expensive tailor made holiday, but an essential! Once you have started to change people’s minds about how essential their worldview is to their lives then you can start to turn your customers into fans. Brand loyalty is something that the religious organisations have built up and the strength of this loyalty is stronger than that of household names like Coca-Cola and Sky. Atheists should be aiming for that kind of loyalty.

This kind of loyalty can only be developed if atheists stop thinking of themselves as idealists and start thinking of themselves as offering a service, a product.

Tags: ahs

BBC1 The Big Questions: Is Atheism an Intolerant Belief?

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 | AHS | 4 Comments

Carry on the debate on www.secularportal.com

Watch on BBC iPlayer for the next week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007zpll