| Campus Inquirer | February 2008 |
Update: Richard Dawkins University Tour The Center for Inquiry is pleased to announce a series of upcoming campus events featuring Richard Dawkins, renowned scientist and public intellectual, discussing The God Delusion and the state of science education. These appearances are hosted and organized by various local and national organizations. All events are free, but tickets and pre-registration are required at many of the venues. Events are being held at the locations below: March 6, 6:30 p.m., at Arizona State University
Sponsored by BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science
Gammage Auditorium, Tempe, AZ
Reservations required; go to http://beyondcenter.asu.edu/register for registration information. March 8, 7:00 p.m., at University of California – Berkeley
Hosted by Students for a Non-Religious Ethos (SANE)
Wheeler Auditorium, Berkeley, CA
Tickets are first-come, first-serve at the event. March 9, 2:00 p.m., at Stanford University
“Against Ignorance: Science Education in the 21st Century”: a conversation with Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss
Hosted by the Aurora Forum
Memorial Auditorium, Palo Alto, CA
Tickets are available through the Stanford Ticket Office and can be picked up in the Tresidder Memorial Union. Call (650) 725-2787 for more information. March 11, 7:30 p.m., at University of Wisconsin – Madison
Hosted by the Distinguished Lecture Series
Memorial Union – Wisconsin Union Theater, Madison, WI
Tickets available at the Union Box Office on March 4 for students, staff and faculty, and on March 7 to the general public. March 14, 7:00 p.m. at the Barnes and Noble Tribeca
97 Warren Street, New York, NY March 15, 7:00 p.m., in New York City
Hosted by CFI NYC, New York Society for Ethical Culture, Columbia Atheists & Agnostics, and Atheists, Agnostics, & Freethinkers at NYU
New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64th Street at Central Park West, New York, NY
Tickets are first-come, first-serve at the event. March 19, 7:00 p.m., at the University of Texas – Austin
Hosted by Atheist Longhorns and the Secular Longhorn Alliance
Hogg Memorial Auditorium, Austin, TX
Tickets are first-come, first-serve at the event. Student freethought and skeptic groups are invited to attend and help with book sales and event promotion. If you are a student and would like to get involved by volunteering at one of these events, please contact Lauren Becker at lbecker@centerforinquiry.net.
Coming This August: CFI Student Leadership Conference 2008 The Center for Inquiry is pleased to announce our 2008 Student Leadership Conference, to be held August 8-10 at CFI headquarters in Amherst, NY. The conference marks the 12th anniversary of our campus outreach program and will coincide with the closing weekend of the CFI Institute Summer Session and our annual CFI Community Leaders training weekend. The event brings together student and community activists from around North America for a blowout weekend of workshops, networking, lectures, and top-notch entertainment featuring some of the leading minds in the humanist and skeptic movements. Specific details regarding the program will be announced in the coming weeks. You will not be disappointed! We encourage every campus group to send at least one representative (if not more!) and we are keeping the costs down to make sure this is possible. Registration, room, and board for the entire three-day event cost only $35 for interested students. A limited number of travel and registration grants are available, based on need, to make sure every group can send a representative even if it lacks the resources to do so. So, mark your calendar today, and watch for event details and registration information in future issues of Campus Inquirer!
Featured Book and Book Tour:
The Secular Conscience: Why Belief Belongs in Public Life Who holds the monopoly on morality? Cultural conservatives from the Vatican to Washington tell us that ethics presupposes religion, and so religion belongs in public life. Secular liberals counter that conscience is a private matter, a personal choice free from shared standards of truth or right. Conservatives charge that conscience without standards is relativism. Liberals didn’t lose their moral compass—they gave it away. In his incisive new book, The Secular Conscience (Prometheus Books, March 2008), philosopher Austin Dacey breaks this ideological deadlock by boldly rethinking the nature of conscience and its role in public life. Inspired by an earlier tradition he traces to Spinoza and John Stuart Mill, Dacey urges secular liberals to reclaim the language of objective values. Dacey seeks nothing less than to interrupt a suicide, and he has written a beautiful primer on how our secular tradition can be rescued from self-defeat. The Secular Conscience reveals how simplistic notions of privacy, tolerance, and freedom keep dangerous ideas sheltered from public debate. This is an extraordinarily useful and lucid book.
– Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation Book tour events include: March 6, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Atheists, Agnostics and Freethinkers at Waterloo
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON 
March 7, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Scarborough Secular Alliance
University of Toronto at Scarborough, Toronto, ON March 7, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
CFI Ontario, 216 Beverley Street, Toronto, ON March 17, 7:00 p.m.
Book Revue, Huntington, NY March 18, 8:00 p.m.
Book launch party, People, New York, NY March 24, 7:00 p.m.
The Half King, New York, NY March 28, 6:30 p.m.
CFI San Francisco
World Affairs Council Auditorium, 312 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA March 30
11:00 a.m. at CFI Los Angeles, CA
4:30 p.m. in Costa Mesa, CA April 2
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ April 3, 6:30 p.m.
CFI Community of Southern Arizona, Tucson, AZ April 7, 7:30 p.m.
Reed College, Portland, OR April 8
Portland State University, OR April 9
Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA April 11
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH April 13
CFI DC, Washington, DC April 14
University of Delaware Secular Student Alliance, Newark, DE April 15
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA April 20, 2:00 p.m.
Common Good Books, St. Paul, MN April 23
CFI Michigan, Grand Rapids, MI April 25
CFI Indiana and IUPUI Freethinkers, Indianapolis, IN April 30
Trinity College, Hartford, CT May 1–4
CFI European Congress, Utrecht, Netherlands May 18
Atlanta Freethought Society, GA May 20
The Regulator Bookshop, Raleigh, NC New dates are being added to the schedule. If you would like to work with CFI to bring Dr. Dacey to your campus, or for more information about these events, please contact Debbie Goddard at dgoddard@centerforinquiry.net.  Austin Dacey is a representative to the United Nations for the Center for Inquiry in New York City, where he works on issues of secular values, science, and ethics. He is the author of articles in numerous publications including the New York Times. He holds a doctorate in applied ethics and social philosophy. His website is www.austindacey.com.
Additional Upcoming Events February 22–23
CFI Florida Statewide Conference
Holiday Inn UCF (University of Central Florida), Orlando, FL February 22–25
Civic Days at the Capital
CFI DC, Washington, DC March 8, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
CFI Indiana and IUPUI Freethinkers:
Third Annual Darwin Day Conference
Indiana University/Purdue University–Indianapolis, IN March 9, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Panel: African American Atheists and Political Liberation
Featuring Norm Allen (African Americans for Humanism) and Sibanye (CFI Harlem Discussion Group)
Sponsored by CFI Chicago and Rationalists and Freethinkers at UIC
University of Illinois – Chicago, Student Center Room 613, 750 S. Halsted Street, Chicago, IL March 14
Nica Lalli: "Nothing: Something to Believe In"
CFI Austin, TX March 16
Nica Lalli: "Nothing: Something to Believe In"
CFI Southern Arizona, Tucson, AZ March 19
Eddie Tabash and David Moshinsky (Author of Things You Know That Are Not So) debate Intelligent Design
Campus Freethought Alliance at the University of Central Florida
Student Union, Pegasus Ballroom, Orlando, FL April 7
Barbara Forrest: "Inside Creationism's Trojan Horse"
Tufts Freethought Society at Tufts University, Medford/Somerville, MA April 14
Victor Stenger: "God: The Failed Hypothesis"
Campus Freethought Alliance at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL April 15
Victor Stenger: "The Misuse of Quantum Mechanics"
Campus Freethought Alliance at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL April 17, 12:00 p.m.
Victor Stenger: "God: The Failed Hypothesis"
CFI Miami
Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus, 11011 SW 104 ST, Miami, FL April 18, 6:30 p.m.
Ibn Warraq on Islam and the Qur'an
CFI San Francisco
World Affairs Council Auditorium, 312 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA April 20, 11:00 a.m.
Ibn Warraq on Islam and the Qur'an
CFI Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA April 20, 4:30 p.m.
Ibn Warraq on Islam and the Qur'an
CFI Los Angeles, Costa Mesa, CA April 27
Ibn Warraq on Islam and the Qur'an
CFI Southern Arizona, Tucson, AZ
The Center for Inquiry is Hiring! The Center for Inquiry is looking for an additional field organizer, so please help us spread the word. Salary and benefits are competitive, and the job provides intellectually stimulating work with opportunities for travel, writing, and media appearances. Position:
Field Organizer Description:
The Field Organizer will assist in the development of the Center for Inquiry's campus and community outreach initiatives, working in coordination with a staff of five other field organizers. Duties may include event planning, community outreach, print and online newsletter publishing, public relations, supervising support staff and volunteers, website maintenance, and visits to campuses and other speaking venues throughout North America. This position provides competitive salary and health benefits and provides intellectually stimulating work with opportunities for travel, writing, and media appearances. Required Qualifications:
Creative, flexible, and self-directed. Interest in critical thinking and the scientific outlook. Preferred Qualifications:
Background in history of science, science journalism, philosophy, religious studies, or related discipline; Non-profit management experience and/or grassroots or campus organizing experience; Public speaking/debate experience; Familiarity/Proficiency with HTML and other programming languages. How to Apply:
Email cover letter, resume/CV, and writing sample as a text, MS Word, or PDF attachment to djgrothe@centerforinquiry.net or mail to: Center for Inquiry
Attn: D.J. Grothe
PO Box 741
Amherst, NY 14226
 Notes from the Field: My Outreach Trip to Vancouver
by Justin Trottier, Executive Director of CFI Ontario
I recently took a CFI fieldwork trip to the Canadian west coast to conduct outreach on the campuses of the University of British Columbia (UBC), Simon Fraser University (SFU), and the University of Victoria. Though undertaken for a variety of reasons, the focal point of this excursion was a major "Does God Exist?" debate organized by Campus for Christ at UBC on January 29th. As soon as I heard that Dr. John Shook, CFI’s Vice President of Research, had agreed to represent the negative position in this debate, I knew this would be a great opportunity for CFI to expand our campus outreach efforts to Vancouver. The UBC Campus for Christ certainly outdid themselves in organizing such a massive event. Despite the unusually snowy weather in Vancouver, over 1200 people attended the debate between Dr. John Shook and William Lane Craig, the famous philosopher from the Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. In addition to the 1200 in the auditorium, some 500 others, including my uncle and eager young nephew, were unable to gain admission, even to the overflow room that had been set up. CFI was able to promote its campus outreach initiative at the debate, as I set up a display table at the crossroads of the large crowd they attracted. Here I gathered with the leaders of the UBC Freethinkers (now getting established) and their sibling group at Simon Fraser University, the SFU Freethinkers, and with the leader of a local allied group, the British Columbia Humanist Association. Many enthusiastic people came to our table to thank us for finally coordinating the emergence of such an important group on campus. As it turned out, CFI merely had to light the spark for an explosion to take off, since the people and interest had been lying dormant on Vancouver campuses for so long. The reports on the debate from the students were similar to those I had heard when Dr. Shook debated Kirk Durston in Montreal last year, which likely points to shared training seminars for Campus for Christ debaters. Students’ eyebrows rose when Craig suddenly veered his arguments away from supporting the existence of God towards supporting his own favorite pick, Jesus Christ. Students also seemed upset that so much of the debate focused on the old ridiculous issue of the impossibility of morals without religion, as if that was somehow relevant to the discussion at hand. "I found it kind of frustrating," said Elan Dubrosfky, the leader of the new UBC Freethinkers. "[Craig] said a bunch of things that were not really logical...[yet] you don’t get to have all the points made that you want." One classic example of this was a statement for the historical non-biblical evidence for the empty tomb, to which Dr. Shook replied that historicity needs confirmation by more than one book.  
A view of the packed auditorium; students speak with Dr. John Shook after the debate
Our student leader at SFU, Blake Rieger, recalled Dr. Shook expressing his belief that no one really wins these debates. That possibly being true, there were still many losing arguments made by Craig. One of his most astounding remarks was even derisively repeated by the moderator of the event, who also happened to be the president of the UBC debate society. What did Craig say? "If you believe that raping babies is wrong then you must believe in God." Over 70 people signed up with our new campus group, and, with less than 24 hours notice, 25 of them attended my talk the next day on "The New Atheism and Canada." At the conclusion of the meeting, when I finally asked how many people would be interested in being involved in the leadership of the group, at least two thirds of those present proudly raised their hands. The SFU Freethinkers, which had filed for ratification and recognition from the university in the week preceding my trip, also benefited from an influx of new members. I also took a side trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island, off the coast. There I met with CFI student groups at the University of Victoria and at Camosun College, which together go by the name of the Carpe Diem Society of BC. Here a slightly unusual approach is followed, in which revenue-generating entertainment and social activities (such as ballroom dancing and ski trips) finance humanist public education and outreach. The President of Carpe Diem, Derek Madson, is a frequent publisher of eloquent and controversial editorials in the school newspaper at the University of Victoria. We had an exciting discussion with members of his group following a talk I gave there called "Extremism & Moderation: Religion, Terror and the New Atheism in Canada." So the general lesson I discovered is that CFI's investment in field work really cannot be replaced—and it’s rewarding and inspiring to connect with people who really support freethought campus outreach and understand that campuses are where the real battle for science, reason, and most importantly in Canada, free inquiry, are really taking place. Justin Trottier, formerly a student freethought activist, is the Executive Director of the Centre for Inquiry Ontario. You can reach him at jtrottier@centerforinquiry.net.
New CFI Campus Groups We would like to welcome thirteen new affiliate and prospective CFI campus groups that have joined CFI since January: Canada Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia  United States (alphabetical by state) California State University – Long Beach, CA
California State University – Northridge, CA
University of Colorado at Boulder, CO
University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA
Roosevelt University, Schaumburg, IL
Bates College, Lewiston, ME
Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, MI
SUNY at Buffalo, Amherst, NY
Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
University of Texas – Austin, TX
College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
George Washington University, Washington, DC To get involved with a group, e-mail dgoddard@centerforinquiry.net, or go to www.campusinquirer.org to help start one on your campus.
News of Note News items featuring CFI campus groups: Articles of Note: |
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