Secular Sunday #31 – Making a Difference

It’s Secular Sunday time!

In this issue:

• News
• Upcoming Events
• Bloggage

News

• Today Atheist Ireland held its first planning meeting for a community outreach and charity project, tentatively titled “Good without Gods”. It was a very positive meeting and lots of good ideas came out of it. We hope to be able to make a real difference in people’s lives and inspire our members to help others.
  One of the first ideas to come out of it is a Kiva group. Kiva is a micro-lending site that provides small loans to low-income individuals or groups. It’s a great idea because when all goes well (as it usually does) you can get your money back – or, better yet, lend it to someone else. Kiva is currently running a sponsored trial so you can make your first loan for free! If you’re not already a member, click here to get started. We’ve created an Atheist Ireland team so we can see the difference we make as a group.
  (Note: Some of Kiva’s partners are religious charities and it’s not always obvious which ones. There’s a pretty comprehensive list here.
  There are several other proposals under way and we’ll be discussing and implementing them in the coming weeks and months.
• The first committee meeting has also taken place for next year’s Women in Secularism conference. We’ll have more details soon.
• Our Annual General Meeting was scheduled for 18 August but has been postponed until mid-September to accommadate Sanal Edamaruku who’ll be our guest speaker. We will have more news on that including a firm date very soon.
  

Upcoming Events

• Monday 30 July, 8:30 pm, McSwiggans Bar and Restaurant, Woodquay, Galway (map)
  Galway Skeptics in the Pub are meeting to discuss concrete, apparently. Facebook event page
• Sunday 5 August, 4:00 pm, Buswell’s Hotel, Dublin 2 (map)
  The Humanist Association of Ireland meet on the first Sunday of every month. All are welcome.
• Wednesday 15 August, 8:00 pm, Absolute Hotel, Sir Harrys Mall, Limerick (map)
  The Mid-West Humanists will be meeting to discuss their campaign for a secular constitution.
• 31 August – 2 September, Carlingford Heritage Centre, Co. Louth
  All-Ireland Humanist Summer School, organised jointly by the Humanist Association of Ireland and the Humanist Association of Northern Ireland. Facebook event page

Bloggage

• “Why atheist and skeptic groups should be inclusive, caring and supportive, and 25 ways to discuss this reasonably” – Michael Nugent provides a sensible opinion on the escalating conflict within the online atheist and skeptic communities.
• “I suppose, if I were to list them, there would be many separate and distinct reasons why I do not believe in the existence of any deities.” – John Manning tells us why he is an atheist.

That’s it for this week. If you want to contribute or help out in any way, send us an email. Or join the discussions in our forum, on Facebook and Twitter.

Till next time,

Derek Walsh
Editor, Secular Sunday
Atheist Ireland