Thanks, US Military: Rock Beyond Belief Canceled

Well, fuck. I’d like to say this is unbelievable, but unfortunately it’s not. Let me lay this one out for you:

1. Fort Bragg hosts Rock the Fort, an Evangelical Christian event meant to convert people. This includes spending $54,490 of government controlled funds on the event.

2. People point out this is a violation of the separation of church and state. Fort Bragg responds that if any other group wants to host a similar event, they’d support it too.

3. Sgt. Justin Griffith and other volunteers decide to put that statement to the test. They organize Rock Beyond Belief, a secular event open to everyone featuring great music and big name speakers (Richard Dawkins, anyone)?

4. Fort Bragg’s Legal Department okays the event and encourages the Garrison Commander to sign off on the event.

5. The Garrison Commander approves the event…but refuses to give it any money, and says all advertisements much include disclaimers that Fort Bragg is not associated with the event. Aka, he’s a lying hypocrite who has no intention of supporting anyone other than Evangelical Christians.

6. Rock Beyond Belief is forced to cancel due to a lack of funds.

I’m obviously disappointed. On a personal note, I was looking forward to speaking, rocking out to the music, and being able to say I was on the same speaking lineup as Richard Dawkins. But I’m mostly disappointed in how dishonest, and not to mention fucking stupid, US military officials are. Don’t they know the shitstorm this is going to cause?

Justin, even though the event is no more, you’ve done so much for this movement. Exposing the hypocrisy and favoritism of US military officials toward Christianity will have a long lasting, significant effect – more so than enjoying some godless talks and music. Though that would have been pretty fabulous, too.

EDIT: The Freedom From Religion Foundation has contact information for various military officials and local newspapers. If you want to help out, voice your disapproval.

I may be busy…

…but you can still get your fix of godlessness if you’re near Seattle!

The Secular Student Union at the University of Washington will be hosting Dr. Valerie Tarico this coming Monday, March 7th in Smith 115 at 5:30pm. Dr. Tarico writes about atheism and religion for the Washington Post and is the author of Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light. She’ll talk for approximately a half hour on Recovering from Religion (getting rid of old embedded messages; dealing with family and friends who believe) and then guide a group discussion.

Everyone is welcome! If I’m going while still losing my mind preparing for my research reports and studying for two exams, you better be there too!

And if you know any UW students who may be interested…especially tell them. We’re trying to get our membership up, and I think this would be a great first meeting.

I’ve found my religion

The Manifesto of Mother Monster:

I love Lady Gaga so much. One, I was raised on Madonna and disco, so I love me some dance music. Two, she’s fucking insane. It’s awesome. I have no idea what I just watched or what sort of drugs went into the creation of it, but I love it.

Though I have to admit…I realized the new video was released because PZ posted about it. I’m lapsing in my haggery! How was I not alerted to this sooner?!

…Alright, time to take a research break to dance around to this song a couple more times.

Initiate Panic Mode

It’s that time of the quarter again, so don’t expect a lot of updates from me this week. This morning I got the lovely surprise that my end of the quarter departmental research presentation was being moved from Tuesday March 15th to Friday March 11th, eliminating four days of preparation that I would have really appreciated. On top of that our professor finally passed out our take home final exam two weeks late…and I have to finish that while scrambling to finish my research. Gah.

At least this means I’m done with the quarter much earlier, so I effectively get two weeks of spring break instead of one. If last quarter is any indication, I will be quite inebriated Friday night.

So yeah. No sleep for me this week, and if I blog at all it’ll probably be while on the bus, which is about the only chance I’ll have to read blogs or write my own. Though, I could use those extra minutes to read more papers… aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Back to work. Yay grad school.

Import awards ceremony tonight!

…What? No, not the Oscars – who cares about those? I mean something much more important – The Bloggies!

Winners will start being announced at 8 pm EST (5pm PST) via their twitter feed and Facebook page. Blag Hag is nominated for Best Weblog about Religion – but I gotta admit, I think Friendly Atheist is the favorite in that category. Oh well, as long as we don’t lose to Norse mythology or the person who thinks they’re talking to their dead child’s ghost.

Unfortunately I’m going to be a grad student recruitment dinner when the awards are announced. Well, I mean, it’s great because I get to meet the prospective students and get free delicious food, but it will also be kind of rude for me to stare at my iPhone the whole time. I’ll have to surreptitiously check it occasionally.

How to make guys like you

Here that, ladies and gentlemen? Nerds = awesome to date.

…Now, if only I knew how to find the cute godless nerds in Seattle – I think we’re all too busy hiding in our apartments reading blogs and playing video games to actually run into each other. What a conundrum.

It’s the little assumptions

Via Geek Feminism Blog:Advertisement: Can you solve one of our puzzles? Can you explain it to your mom? We’re hiring hackers with people skills.
Post It Note: My mom has a PhD in Math

It’s amazing how often science oriented speakers or advertisements will say stuff like “Explain it so mom/grandma can understand.” One of those things you take for granted until someone points it out to you. Does feminism have more important issues to talk about? Sure. But the little assumptions can add up.

It's the little assumptions

Via Geek Feminism Blog:Advertisement: Can you solve one of our puzzles? Can you explain it to your mom? We’re hiring hackers with people skills.
Post It Note: My mom has a PhD in Math

It’s amazing how often science oriented speakers or advertisements will say stuff like “Explain it so mom/grandma can understand.” One of those things you take for granted until someone points it out to you. Does feminism have more important issues to talk about? Sure. But the little assumptions can add up.

I’ve found my new favorite atheist

And she’s a 14 year old girl!

“There’s so much violence that comes with religion. So you know what? Stop giving these things to children. Let them form their own decisions when they’re older and actually have the intelligence and mental capacity to make up their own minds.” This.

I’d say someone needs to tell her to start a Secular Student Alliance at her high school…but she may not even be in high school yet. I freaking love young activists. We are the future of secularism!

I've found my new favorite atheist

And she’s a 14 year old girl!

“There’s so much violence that comes with religion. So you know what? Stop giving these things to children. Let them form their own decisions when they’re older and actually have the intelligence and mental capacity to make up their own minds.” This.

I’d say someone needs to tell her to start a Secular Student Alliance at her high school…but she may not even be in high school yet. I freaking love young activists. We are the future of secularism!