Atheist Nexus Goals for 2009?

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Permalink Reply by Chrys Stevenson on December 26, 2008 at 5:59pm

I'd like to see all the major (and minor!) atheist, freethinkers, humanist, rationalist, secularist and skeptics organisations invited to join Nexus so that they can use this site as a place to network with each other and combine forces on specific projects where appropriate.

I'd like to see, for instance, all the atheist etc. organisations in a particular state being able to plan a campaign and combine to fight an injustice, start an atheist advertising campaign, or protest or even to participate in some charitable cause or event.

Further, I'd like to see the same co-operation exist between countries to make recommendations to the UN, lobby the Vatican or fundraise for secular aid organisations.

I'd like to see Nexus become the meeting point for atheists and atheistic organisations throughout the world.

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Permalink Reply by Loren on December 26, 2008 at 6:37pm

I really like this kind of thinking. Although I'm reminded of what someone said about trying to herd cats, still, folks who do want to make use of something can't do so if it doesn't exist.

I particularly like what you said about co-operation between countries.

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Permalink Reply by Buffy on December 27, 2008 at 4:06am

I think that's a great idea!

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Permalink Reply by Rosemary LYNDALL WEMM on December 28, 2008 at 2:49am

Lobbying the Vatican. LOL. You have got to be kidding, right?

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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.

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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?

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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").

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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.

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Permalink Reply by Creature on January 2, 2009 at 12:59am

I really like this idea.

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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.

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Permalink Reply by Leslee Love on January 3, 2009 at 9:29pm

Couldn't have said it better myself!

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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.

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