Detonation Range

APPARENTLY I am not alone in thinking that A C Grayling, noted philosopher and speaker at the Rise of Atheism convention, was greeted like a rock star. A greeting he went on to live up to with a superb talk entitled ‘Atheism, Secularism, Humanism: Three Zones of Argument’. A striking contrast to this proper, treatise-esque title was Catherine Deveny’s performance, bearing the legend: ‘God is Bullshit. That’s the Good News.” Both of these speakers are representative of an overall superb convention in Melbourne last weekend, a success which can scarcely be expressed by words, in the humble opinion of this Full Weekend Pass-holding attendee.

While the standard of quality amongst the talks was astronomically high, a few especially poignant sessions stand out in my memory; Max Wallace’s “The Delusion We Pay For: How Taxpayers Subsidise Religion.” provided an extremely illuminating overview of the way in which taxation laws and standards favor churches with tax exemption and a lack of accountability, despite the enormous income of some such institutions. This talk was so superb that the stock of Wallace’s book, The Purple Economy, promptly sold out. Disappointing for myself and others like me, as we were hoping to buy a copy and have it signed. However, I have been reliably informed by the Australian Humanists that a mail-order service for Wallace’s book will be made available to satisfy the demand.

A session which was especially moving was the speech given by Taslima Nasrin, entitled ‘My Struggle for Secularism, Human Rights, Freedom of Expression and for Women’s Freedom’. Taslima, who has several fatwas issued against her even now and was guarded by security personnel, told the heartbreaking story of how she has been exiled from her home  in Bangladesh and ejected from India. She told of how she has been physically attacked, protested and hounded out of more than one country simply for expressing her views in writing. Her talk left me close to tears and received a well deserved standing ovation.

Of course, it is impossible to forget PZ Myers. PZ’s talk ‘The Inescapable Conflict Between Science and Religion’ detailed the incompatibility of scientific thought and holding religious beliefs. He quickly dispensed with the counter-argument that many scientists are theistic by pointing out that many serial murderers are also theistic. I am simplifying his argument, of course, but the general point is that the fact that two incompatible beliefs can be held simultaneously does not make them compatible. The existence of God, he said, is a scientific, material claim and can be, has been and should be treated as such. An aside; two newly made friends and I cornered PZ at the Saturday Night Dinner and had a very rewarding conversation with him about secularism and science communication. PZ was charming, delightful and friendly.

Myself and PZ Myers!

The final day of the convention opened with Peter Singer, a philosopher whom I admire very much. I was able to speak to Professor Singer about his book, Practical Ethics on Saturday evening, after having studied his work at great length last year as part of a Moral Philosophy course. His talk entitled ‘Ethics Without Religion’, detailed the philosophical bases of morality and ethics and dispensed with the absurd idea that ‘goodness’ is a gods-given quality.

Later, the audience heard from Dan Barker, who holds the unpleasant distinction of having been an Evangelical Preacher for many years before his eventual deconversion to atheism. His talk, ‘Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America’s Leading Atheists’ detailed his journey from up-and-coming Evangelical celebrity to Atheist activist. It was remarkable and enlightening to hear an account from ‘the other side of the fence’, especially when he explained how intense and real the feeling of the presence of God can be to some evangelicals and how convincing this had been. I had the opportunity (along with a couple of other friendly ladies and chaps) to speak to Mr. Barker after the convention and am certain to buy his book at the soonest possible convenience; the wealth of information he had to convey was, he said, much abridged in his talk.

Finally, of course, was Richard Dawkins. It will come as no surprise that Dawkins’ talk was absolutely superb, detailing the nature of evolution with obvious passion and hypothesising that religion might have come partly out of our sense of gratitude and of ‘fairness’ ‘firing in a vacuum’ in the same way that a beaver, he explained, will build a phantom dam in the absence of any logs or river to build it with. In the second part of his talk and the following Q&A, Professor Dawkins talked about the recent news regarding Mary McKillop’s sainthood, opining that it was “pure Monty Python”. The statement which resonated the most with me bears quoting in full here: “I don’t think we should go out of our way to insult Islam because it doesn’t do any good to get your head cut off, but we should always say that I may refrain from publishing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, but it’s because I fear you. Don’t for one moment think it’s because I respect you.” Dawkins, too, received a standing ovation. To my delight, I was able to speak with him during Sunday lunch. I asked him about the term ‘adaptationist’, which I had heard from PZ Myers the night before. Adaptationist, Dawkins opined, “is a silly word.” He went on to say that he would “have it out” with PZ. Hopefully no arguments ensued, though I did note that he mentioned the term ‘adaptationist’ a few times during his talk.

Myself and Richard Dawkins!

My heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone who made this convention possible, including and not limited to the Atheist Foundation of Australia and Atheist Alliance International. In addition, the hard work and dedication of the volunteers who worked tirelessly to keep everything running on track, including the Young Australian Skeptics’ own Jason Ball, who is fast becoming something of a celebrity. The speakers, too, all worked for free. Special mention is deserved for Kylie Sturgess and Stuart Bechman, who MC-ed the convention throughout and kept the program running smoothly. Kylie also gave an amusing and informative talk, entitled ‘Sex and Skepticism: a Study of Belief in Australian Women’.

On the flight home from Melbourne, I felt a small amount of sadness mixed in with the elation of such a superb weekend. It isn’t fair, I thought, that Theists have a monopoly on gathering and on community. It was amazing to be in a place where one need not be worried about causing offense, a place where science was properly respected and valued. As David Nicholls, president of the AFA said, “Isn’t it a magnificent feeling to be in the majority?”. I think this feeling has given me some insight on the lure of Church community. It was wonderful to feel perfectly at home, in a place where one belongs. It is my hope that the tradition of such conventions continues, not as a parallel to Theistic sermonizing and groupthink, but as a beacon of freethought, with disagreements, demands for independent thought and rejections of dogmatic beliefs. We all came to be part of this convention by a ‘spiritual quest’, as Ian Robinson put it, whose logical conclusion is Atheism.

I can safely indicate that this is an event not to be missed in the future. The opportunity to meet people, both famous and otherwise and to have discussions with them on topics of importance to secular society was amazing all on its own. Every speaker was well worth hearing, far and away exceeding expectations. There was mention of a DVD being made and I encourage any who did not attend the convention to purchase it when it is available. While I have chosen some of my personal stand-outs, I must stress that the entire panel of speakers was excellent.

The event was amazing and I will never forget it.