Weekly update! God in pop culture, science and faith, dolphins!

We have a meeting tomorrow, February 28st, at 5:45, in the Uncommon Room as always. Our own Brian Green is going to talk about depictions of god and gods in pop culture, especially comic books and graphic novels, so that's going to be awesome. We can talk about what god we'd design if we has free artistic reign and what gods are or should be. Like, what if you have something called a god but he or she is super lame? Exactly.

So I'll bring snacks and you should bring yourselves.

Announcements/Upcoming events:

• A Discussion on Science and Faith, TODAY: South Lounge of Reynolds Club at 4pm. Dr. Jennifer Wiseman will be speaking. Dr. Wiseman is an astronomer and Director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the Senior Project Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. I'll probably go and live tweet.
• Screwing with Norms: Not strictly related to secularism, but Tea Time and Sex Chats is a cool organization doing instructional talks/discussions about sex. In this talk, they're talking about sexual norms, defaults and scripts that we may have believed or still believe in. Skepticism applied to everything! Harper 140, 7pm, with snacks.
• Skepticamp is this Saturday! If you want to go to a free gathering of skeptics and hear 18 cool 20 minute talks, join me and some other SA members at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630, March 2, 11am to 6pm. Their facebook group is here.
• Tenth week study break! Instead of our normal meeting, we're going to be screening two god/religion related episodes of Star Trek and buying pizza on Wednesday, March 13. Time and location TBD.

Links: 

• How to become pope. 
• So these frat brothers are totally awesome.
• Holy shit, dolphins call each other by name.
• Vaccines are awesome, as proven by this infographic

See you guys tomorrow!

A Discussion on Science and Faith

Date: Wednesday, February 27
Time: 4pm
Location: South Lounge of Reynolds Club

Info:
Dr. Jennifer Wiseman will be speaking. Dr. Wiseman is an astronomer and Director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the Senior Project Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

7th Week Update! Bruce Lincoln and Pizza!

Seven is a lucky number, which means seventh week must be going awesomely for everyone, right? No? Am I fired from atheism for being superstitious?

Either way, we have a really exciting and important upcoming meeting tomorrow, February 21st, at 5:45, in the Uncommon Room as always. Bruce Lincoln, a professor from the Div School is coming to talk to us, so it's important that we come and give him all our support. Also, we're having pizza!! Check out his website here and wikipedia page here (if someone has a wikipedia page that means they're legit). 

Here's what we know about him:

"Bruce Lincoln emphasizes critical approaches to the study of religion. He is particularly interested in issues of discourse, practice, power, conflict, and the violent reconstruction of social borders. His research tends to focus on the religions of pre-Christian Europe and pre-Islamic Iran, but he has a notoriously short attention span and has also written on a bewildering variety of topics, including Guatemalan curanderismo, Lakota sun dances, Melanesian funerary rituals, Swazi kingship, the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre, Marco Polo, professional wrestling, Persian imperialism, the theology of George W. Bush, and comparative demonology. "

So come with questions, open ears and empty stomachs.

Announcements/Upcoming events: 

• Bible Study for Atheists Today! 6pm, Hutch. There will be snacks. Study Mark 3 with cool people!
• A Discussion on Science and Faith, February 27th, South Lounge of Reynolds Club at 4pm. Dr. Jennifer Wiseman will be speaking. Dr. Wiseman is an astronomer and Director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the Senior Project Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
• Interested in cool talks about skepticism? Skepticamp is a free event/gathering of skeptics taking place March 2, from 11am to 6pm, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630 (more information in the facebook group)

Links: 

• The Fermi Paradox Song! Where are all the aliens??
• Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Read it. Please. Just try it. 
• In the same vein, check out Luminosity, a rationalist fic, of, get this, Twilight. It's awesome, I promise.

See you guys tomorrow!

Fifth Weekly Update: Time Travel, Asking Religious Advisers about Sex, and Defections from the Westboro Baptist Church

Iiiiit's fifth week! How are the midterms going? Everyone staying warm? Ready for Sex Week? 

We have a meeting tomorrow, Thursday, February 7th, 5:45 pm, in the UnCommon Room! (Remember: down the hall and to the left in the Rockefeller Chapel basement.) We're going to talk about Time Travel.

Announcements/Upcoming events (Mostly sex week related): 

• Sex Week is next week! It's going to be a whole amazing week of great events, which you can find out about through the website (www.sexweekuchicago.com) and by signing up for the listhost, which you can do through the website. 
• There is going to be an event where you get to ask four religious advisors any questions you want about religion and sexuality. Have a challenge? Is there something you always wanted to know? Want to learn about the varieties of religious opinion on sexuality? Want to talk to other students about their experiences with religion and sexuality? This event's for you! 4pm Thursday, February 14.
• There will be THREE amazing atheist speakers: Greta Christina, talking about Atheism and Sexuality; Cliff Pervocracy, talking about consciousamory, an approach to sex and relationships, and Natalie Reed, talking about fourth wave, or trans-feminism. 
• My sister, Giuliana Serena, is going to be talking about body-positive approaches to menstruation, for both men and women. It's going to be awesome. Finally, Jay Feldman and I are going to be leading a workshop on what sex ed should look like. 
• Interested in cool talks about skepticism? Skepticamp is a free event/gathering of skeptics taking place March 2, from 11am to 6pm, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago, IL 60630 (more information in the facebook group)

Links: 

• What do you guys think about religious arguments for gay marriage? Useful for making political arguments? Or making everything worse? 
• Megan Phelps-Roper and Libby Phelps-Alvarez have left the Westboro Baptist Church! I guess no one is beyond questioning, and thank goodness. 
• Oh Texas education and your tenuous relationship with science, evidence and reality. The anti-evolution fight continues!
• Look, atheist church! 300 people! Isn't that amazing?

See you guys tomorrow!