Atheist Nexus Goals for 2009?

Even thou A|N is less then a year old, we are already making an impact in the realm of unbelief. As we approach the new year, I can't help but think (and dream) of what we collectively could accomplish in 2009.

Let's brainstorm. What are your ideas? What would you like to see us achieve this year?

Also, this shouldn't be a place to poo-poo other's ideas. Let's just dream unencumbered, and then worry about the details once we get some decent ideas.

Tags: 2009, dreams, goals, ideas

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Permalink Reply by Buffy on December 27, 2008 at 4:06am
I think that's a great idea!
Permalink Reply by Rosemary LYNDALL WEMM on December 28, 2008 at 2:49am
Lobbying the Vatican. LOL. You have got to be kidding, right?
Permalink Reply by Chrys Stevenson on December 28, 2008 at 4:51am
Just because the Vatican is slow to change, you think no-one should lobby them? The fact is that the Vatican has changed its position in the past and will again. Of course, they would never admit it was due to external lobbying or political pressure but that does not mean lobbying didn't occur or didn't have an impact.

The Catholic Church in recent years has, (admittedly cautiously) endorsed scientific method and evolution. That would not have happened without pressure from the scientific community. The Catholic Church also recently (2005) abandoned limbo - a concept which had inflicted great psychological pain on Catholic mothers whose babies died unbaptised. Now, apparently, limbo is no longer 'in vogue' and the Vatican believes unbaptised babies go straight to heaven. The point is, they WILL change and if enough people speak up, it might help. In 2000 Pope John Paul II publicly asked God's forgiveness for the sins of Roman Catholics through the ages, including wrongs inflicted on Jews, women and minorities - in other words, he admitted the Vatican had been wrong. The Catholic Church is obviously aware that to operate within an international community it must be willing to change unpopular or outdated doctrine.

All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. Whether or not we believe it will have any effect or not, I think we are honour bound to speak out and, yes, lobby, when we see harmful doctrines being endorsed by the church.

I'm sure there were some who thought that Martin Luther King was beating his head against a brick wall - and many who thought that slaves would never be freed - or that women would never get the vote. All lost causes.

So, no, Rosemary, I wasn't kidding. I speak out where I see wrong. If only everyone else would do the same.
Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on December 28, 2008 at 7:28pm
Seems like Kristy's thoughts are at the heart of the definition for "nexus" - prompted me to look up the word in wikipedia "A nexus is a connection or the centre of something." The "Links" button already serves a little of the role that Kristy envisions, and perhaps could be renamed and expanded to meet that need. Maybe a "hover" function so that when the cursor is moved over "Links" a thought balloon comes up stating something like "how to connect to other freethought organizations". Or not - I'm not a big fan of the hover function... ("I'm not indecisive..... am I?")

River Otter's comments also fit into this concept, expressed a little differently. Maybe add an "events" button. Who knows, this could lead to more local support groups as well. A number of people have expressed how isolated they feel, especially in the Bible Belt. As Kristy expresses, "Events" could be local or national, or international.

I've noticed several comments about the white on black screen. Personally, I like the white on black. Somewhere I read that this uses less energy, too. But I understand where they are coming from - does the technology exist to let individuals decide for themselves what color screen, and what size text, they like?
Permalink Reply by Ruth Dickson on January 21, 2009 at 3:49pm
Firefox has a function that allows you to change the size of the font on anything you like, just by a roll of the scroll button on your mouse. It also has an excellent ad blocker that, among other things, asks if you want to block the word 'bible'. (see my post called "I heart Firefox").
Permalink Reply by Cora on January 24, 2009 at 2:17pm
Hold down your Ctrl key and tap + a few times until you get the size of font you like. It's a Mozilla thang but might work elsewhere too.
Permalink Reply by Creature on January 2, 2009 at 12:59am
I really like this idea.
Permalink Reply by Sean the Blogonaut on January 2, 2009 at 9:24am
Kick arse idea. My resolution this year is to focus more on secular/atheist/skeptical issues this year I think we should push this idea as a strong contender.
Permalink Reply by Leslee Love on January 3, 2009 at 9:29pm
Couldn't have said it better myself!
Permalink Reply by Stephanie on January 20, 2009 at 5:49pm
This is exactly what I was going to post! We need find each other and organize so we become a powerful voice in government. We need to come out of the closet. I've been mentioned AN on other blog sites hoping to pull in more traffic.
Permalink Reply by Kozz on January 21, 2009 at 8:58pm
This is, of course, the idea behind all of the disparate Atheist organizations, trying to bring Atheists together to become a force. The problem is that most don't have the structure to really connect with, and unify their members. I think A|N is in a unique position to be that central hub that connects all these groups and their members together in a useful way. Maybe we could start requesting other Atheist organizations to create a page here or that they encourage their members to do so. Also many of these organizations have action alerts, It would be nice if A|N could provide a central point for these alerts from the different groups.
Permalink Reply by Chrys Stevenson on January 21, 2009 at 9:29pm
I think this is probably what Brother Richard did at the recent Heads of Non-theist Organizations meeting in Washington. I understand he hasn't been well since he returned from Washington - he caught the flu from Dan Barker of FFRF! Richard has posted on the main page that he's going to give us a full run-down of the meeting in the next AN newsletter. He also said that the results of attending were better than he could have hoped.

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