The World’s Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities!

Essay Contest

The United Coalition of Reason is delighted to announce an essay contest as part of our upcoming Good Without God campaign tied not only to a social movement but to a book that’s being published in the fall. Please forward this message as widely as possible and help us unite the millions of voices of reason across the country.

The contest is simple. Please tell us your personal story, in 500 words or less: what does it mean for you to be Good Without God? How do you live out your positive values as a Humanist, atheist, agnostic, secularist, or freethinker? Please write in the first person.

We highly encourage you to share specific examples about your god-free involvement in service to country or community; how your non-religious approach to life helped you to get through a difficult time; or how it transformed your relationships with your family and the people you care about.

The author of the first-prize essay will receive a prize of $1,000, courtesy of the United Coalition of Reason. The first twenty five submissions will receive a signed copy of the upcoming book by Greg Epstein, Humanist Chaplain of Harvard University, entitled Good Without God: What a Billion Non-Religious People Do Believe, when the book is released in October courtesy of William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers. Many entries will be published by the UnitedCoalition of Reason as part of our upcoming nationwide Good Without God Campaign. For more information about the UnitedCoR, please see this recent article from the New York Times front page:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/us/27atheist.html

Along with your essay we require that you send a high-resolution photo of yourself that represents you. (Let us know who took the photo so we can credit them if we publish it.)

Please also include your:

*Email Address
*Phone number
*Mailing address

Essays must be submitted by June 23, 2009 to be considered for the $1,000 prize. Essays submitted after June 23 will not be eligible for the prize, but may still be eligible to be included in our national Good Without Campaign coming this fall.

Please send your essay, photo and details, by email to:

UnitedCoRGoodWithoutGod@gmail.com

Thank you in advance for joining us and for working to make your community a better place!

Warmly,

The United Coalition of Reason
http://unitedcor.org

Legal Notice

By submitting information to the United Coalition of Reason (UnitedCoR), you grant UnitedCoR a perpetual, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, distribute, and otherwise exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to that information at its sole discretion, including storing it on UnitedCoR servers and incorporating it in other works in any media now known or later developed including without limitation published books. If you do not wish to grant UnitedCoR these rights, it is suggested that you do not submit information to this website. UnitedCoR reserves the right to select, edit and arrange submissions, and to remove information from the UnitedCoR website at any time at its sole discretion. No image from this site may be used for any purpose without expressed written authorization, with one exception; you may post one image as a link to this site.

Margaret Downey
UnitedCoR Member

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mel on May 31, 2009 at 5:28pm

Hey, I don't mean to be obnoxious, but is this open to people of all nationalities? We're a pretty diverse group here, and you didn't mention which country, only to spread across the country.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Ned Kelly on June 1, 2009 at 4:54am

I mean to be plainly obnoxious so you can hear my message: we don't need a new religion, and $1,000 isn't enough to make me prostitute myself for Chaplain Epstein and the promotion of his book and ministry.

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Permalink Reply by Kylee on June 1, 2009 at 7:19pm

Please don't say 'we' when you have no idea who each of the 'we' are or what each of the 'we' need!

Speak for yourself with such obnoxiousness!

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Ned Kelly on June 1, 2009 at 11:37pm

The word 'we' can mean a number of others and myself, but not necessarily everybody in the universe.

Visit the following links for additional help:

http://www.brainyquote.com/words/we/we238986.html

http://www.onlinepsychotherapy.com/

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Permalink Reply by Kylee on June 2, 2009 at 10:43am

My point exactly!

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Permalink Reply by Aiden on June 3, 2009 at 12:34pm

$1,000 isn't enough to make me prostitute myself

If the fishnet stockings fit...

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Permalink Reply by Gecko, Seth...brother of Richie! on June 5, 2009 at 7:58pm

OK Ned fill me in who is this guy Epstein, whats his racket?

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Permalink Reply by Marvin Allyn Monier on June 7, 2009 at 4:01am

I don't get it, please explain this further,..really!

:) Marv Monier, BS, BA

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Permalink Reply by Angie Jackson on June 5, 2009 at 8:09pm

I think this is posted in the wrong section of the discussion forum :)
This is for site suggestions - as in the Atheist Nexus site. There's another area for "All Things Atheism" where this might be more appropriate.

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Darwin on June 5, 2009 at 9:23pm

I think the point of posting here was to get Atheist|Nexus members involved. The Atheism board is more for talk related to atheism/anti-theism/non-theism, though it could also be posted there as well as your new writers group! :)

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Permalink Reply by Marvin Allyn Monier on June 7, 2009 at 3:59am

Would like to begin to share information with you, Margaret Downey.

I am just beginning, the following:

http://www.meetup.com/the-brights-Meetup-Group-Oklahoma-City/

There is a Meetup Group in Norman, Oklahoma of:

http://naturalism.meetup.com/6/calendar/10371127/

Activism? Don't know for sure at the naturalism group...I would certainly welcome that kind of activity for the Oklahoma City area. Who to contact and network with?! Don't know...

I am a Disabled Veteran...have lots 'n loads of time and interest in assisting any forms of the movement.

Any recommendations will be most welcomed!

:) Marv Monier, BS, BA

(i.e. bright skeptic, buddhist atheist...)

marvmonier@sbcglobal.net

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Permalink Reply by Reality Activist on June 10, 2009 at 9:47pm

"you grant UnitedCoR a perpetual, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, distribute, and otherwise exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to that information at its sole discretion"

The world in which we live is inundated with beliefs. Human culture has cultivated this obsession with beliefs since we became self aware. Unfortunately, very few people are aware of this culprit to rational thinking because it has become such an integral part of our cultures. Consequently, these beliefs are expressed through our languages which creates a blindness because of the lack of rational premises that such beliefs exhibit.

That being exposed, one should be very careful when submitting what one believes to an organization who already has a belief. In this case, a belief in ethics that tends to ignore the totality of all living creatures because it focuses solely on the human condition. Since the human race is a small part of a much larger ecosystem, such a belief smacks of the same egocentricity of deity-based beliefs where a god takes on human form.

The portion of the legal notice that I quoted at the beginning of this reply states that they can modify what you have given them. Very unethical for such an ethical organization. It seems that ethics can be defined based on the purpose of the endeavor, just like the goodness of a god can be defined based on the purpose of the endeavor.

Don't get me wrong. I do think that this Essay proposal is well intended, but so is the simple concept of deity-based religions. The problem is the self destructive human factor created by this obsession with one's personal beliefs. Giving such an organization the right to alter your essay may not be what you want.

Of course, if one is going to take a chance, this organization is probably one of the better ones.