So everyone’s probably heard about the recent Cee-Lo debacle in which, while singing John Lennon’s secular anthem Imagine, the hapless boob decided that Lennon needed a quick re-write. Instead of “…and no religion too”, as is befitting the rest of the verse, Cee-Lo decided to swap in “…and all religion’s true”, which is a profound statement that he has absolutely no idea why that’s logically impossible.
While the blunder was incredibly stupid and arrogant, it does have the inadvertent effect of bringing two important topics to light. One: that religion is still trying to bully secularism, despite their repeated assertions of ‘persecution’ (which, to them, means not being able to do whatever they want). Two: that Kamloops, BC will once again be hosting the Imagine No Religion conference this May.
The list of speakers includes:
- Physicist Lawrence Krauss;
- Atheist Experience co-host Matt Dillahunty;
- Author and activist Maryam Namazie;
- Skeptically Speaking host Desiree Schell;
- Some bearded guy named PZ Myers;
- and many others
There’s free daycare, and Sam Singleton will be doing his now-legendary Atheist Revival service. I’ve never been to a skeptic/atheist conference before, but I’ll definitely be attending this one. How can I not? It will be my first chance to meet fellow FTBorgs Matt and Maryam, to catch up/compare beards with PZ, and to hang out with Chris DiCarlo again.
The early-bird deadline is coming up real soon (Feb 1st), so get your tickets NOW!
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Crommunist 
Hrm, that’s only a 5 hour drive from Seattle. What sort of special requirements are there for driving across the border these days?
Might have to see if I can talk the wife in to going there for my bday.
AFAIK, just a passport.
Why the beard haters? Keep your head up PZ!
Who’s hating? I have a beard!
Well PZ’s now been nominated for the “Most influential female atheist” and I’m pretty sure contempt for his beard somewhere. It hurts.
I want in on this beard contest. I will take you guys down.
Just a few hours ago, as Imagine started playing at the closing ceremonies of the London Olympics, I pleaded out loud, “Please don’t change the lyrics, please don’t change the lyrics.” As John’s Lennon’s video showed him singing, “…and no religion too,” I saw the word “NO” on his lips but did not hear it in the audio. Am I the only one who noticed this? Did the Olympic planners lose their nerve and enhance the audio track? What did you see?