Minnesota Atheists’ monthly meetings will begin again starting on Sunday, September 16. The much anticipated book, Atheist Voices of Minnesota (published by Freethought House), was just officially released late last month! To celebrate this very special occasion, 16 of the 36 contributors will briefly present their own personal stories by reading excerpts of their writings from the book.
Here is a list of the 16 presenting authors in alphabetical order: Norman Barrett Wiik, Beth Becker, Ryan Benson, August Berkshire, Jill Carlson, Justin Chase, Kori Hennessy, Michelle Huber, Eric Jayne, PZ Myers, Robin Raianiemi, Elizabeth Stiras, Todd Torkelson, James Zimmerman, and Stephanie Zvan.
.
Read more: September 16: A Date with the Authors
By Eric Jayne
After months and months of planning, the Minnesota Atheists successfully pulled out big win for atheist outreach by sponsoring a professional baseball game in St. Paul.
The St. Paul Saints—one of 13 teams in the league of American Association of Independent Baseball—became the Mr. Paul Aints on Friday, August 10. Every player on the team wore specially designed jerseys that closely resembled their usual jerseys except for the slight adjustment in the logo. Instead of “St. Paul” the jerseys read “Mr. Paul” and instead of “Saints” the special jerseys read “Aints” spelled with the atheist scarlet “A” but in team color blue.
.
Read more: Minnesota Atheists Hit a Home Run!
By Nathan Curland
When I was first offered a copy of Atheist Voices of Minnesota to review I was less than intrigued. After all, I knew plenty of atheists and had heard many stories of miserable childhoods and escape from religion, so reading 36 variations on this theme seemed a bit less than stimulating.
Boy was I wrong.
From the moment I started reading, I was totally absorbed by the 36 individual narratives of the backgrounds and journeys of these people, some that I knew, many that I have heard of, and others that are (regrettably) still strangers. Their stories are unique and compelling. Many, you will find, hit close to your ‘home’. Did you ever have to fib to be able to do something at your church/synagogue? Or realize that your parents were just going through the motions and you were following in their footsteps? Or maybe just going to a university opened your eyes? Maybe you are gay and religion was not helping you. It’s all here.
.
Read more: Book Review: Atheist Voices of Minnesota
By Eric Jayne
Thank you for visiting our website and taking an interest in us. If you’re reading this you likely know about our upcoming sponsored St. Paul Saints baseball game. As a way to celebrate our identity and extend our fun to others, the St. Paul Saints agreed to an atheist sponsored game in which the team name will be changed for one night. While the reaction from the freethinking community has been very positive, it’s been a mix of positive and negative from everyone else. Most of the negative feedback has come from misconceptions (often perpetrated by bloggers and some media outlets) about our purpose for holding the “Night of Unbelievable Fun”. Because of that I thought that I would address some of the most common accusations permeating in the media and blogosphere:
.
Read more: Atheists Just Want to Have Fun
By George Kane
Everyone is looking forward to the Regional Conference that we are co-sponsoring with American Atheists in St. Paul on August 11. It prompted one of our members to write to our board on a very serious matter, however. She noted that it is becoming standard for atheist and skeptic organizations to adopt anti-harassment policies for their conventions.
.
Read more: Board Adopts a New Anti-Harassment Policy
