Secular Sunday #29
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Upcoming Events
- Today, Sunday 15 July, 8:00 pm, The Exchange, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 (map)
Skeptics in the Pub will be hosting Martin Robbins, a Berkshire-based researcher and science writer. His talk will centre around the work he did last year tracking down homeopaths in East Africa for a documentary that’s currently in production. - Videos of some of our recent Atheists in the Pub events are now available online. Jen McCreight spoke last month on feminism and atheism (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Last week we had a last-minute addition to our lineup in the form of Sinead Redmond, founder of the Facebook page ‘Unlike Youth Defence, I trust women to decide their lives for themselves’ talking about how she organised a protest at Leinster House against misleading advertisements about the impact of abortion on women. Watch it here.
We should have video of Aoife McLysaght’s talk soon.
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6 Comments
Is Atheist Ireland taking sides in the whole radical feminism debate that’s currently plaguing the internets?
Why was one of these rad-fems invited to an atheist in the pub meeting?
No, we’re not taking sides. Individual members undoubtedly have a range of different opinions on the matter.
One of those “rad-fems”(!) Jen McCreight was invited to Atheists in the Pub because she was available and we believed (correctly) that a lot of people would be interested in hearing her speak.
So can we expect a future event with Paula Kirby, Thunderfoot, The Amazing Atheist or the Metamagician for balance?
Certainly, if they were available and willing, with the probable exception of the “Amazing Atheist”. We’re not so neutral that we would feel the need to balance a speech by someone who thinks threats of rape are bad, with someone who seems to think the opposite.
He’s not my cup of tea, but it’s a caricature to suggest he thinks rape threats are a good thing. The guy made some stupid remarks and apologised for them. McCreight even states as much in her biased talk.
Whatever he thinks of rape threats, it certainly seems that he made them. It’s good that he apologised, but I have trouble imagining he’d be any more interesting or pleasant in person than on the Internet so personally I wouldn’t be inclined to invite him. Other committee members may feel differently.
It’s neither expected nor desired at Atheist Ireland events for all audience members to agree with all the opinions of speakers or of each other. Respectful disagreement is positively encouraged.