Have you purchased your tickets yet?  The Heretic’s Barbecue is right around the corner!

• Date:  September 5, 2010
• Time:  11am – 9pm
• Place:  Letterman Park – 908 Villa Ave Clovis, CA 93612  (see map)
• Tickets:  $12 adults, $5 children (under 12)

Get your tickets in the CVAAS store!

See the Heretic’s Barbecue Page for more information!

“It’s not what he’s preaching,” says the campus security guard, “it’s how he’s preaching it.“

When a Christian evangelist spouts off about how women should be subservient to men based on what is written in the Bible, onlookers see it a different way. The students at McMicken College of Arts & Sciences that gather around this demonstrator try to engage him with different tactics, nearly causing another boobquake in the process. The content of his message may not be the concern of campus police when keeping the peace, but clearly that is to what these students are responding.

Witness what happens when a Christian protester and cleavage meet at the University of Cincinnati’s McMicken Commons.

The Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics is now on Skype every Tuesday evening!

Join us on Tuesdays from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM as we gather to chat about whatever we like.

Skype allows users to make free voice calls and to instant message other Skype users.  A Skype audio conference currently supports up to 25 people at a time – so it’s possible to have a pretty good online meeting!

Here is what you need to do to participate.

First, you need to go here and get Skype from the Skype website.  Follow the instructions to download and install it.

Next follow the instructions to sign up for Skype and create a Skype profile for yourself.

Finally, you’ll see the Skype application to the right.  Click on the “New” button and choose, “New Contact” from the drop down menu.  Write “CVAAS1″ in the “Add a Contact” window and click on the “Find” button.  Then choose “Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics” from the resulting list.

When CVAAS accepts your request to be a contact, you will be able to call when CVAAS1 appears online in Skype.  Call on Tuesday nights at 7:30pm, and CVAAS will answer.

This is new to us, so there will probably be some sort of adjustment as we learn what is possible here.  Hopefully it will be a place where we can chat and have some fun.

Ramadan is the Islamic month of fasting. Muslims during this month refrain from eating or drinking from dawn until sunset for their faith.

The month of Ramadan is based upon the lunar calendar – not the solar calendar. So the date of Ramadan varies – every year the date is about eleven days earlier than the previous year.

The end of Ramadan is celebrated on the first day of the next lunar month with the holiday of Eid ul-Fitr – also called, “The Festival of Breaking the Fast” or “Eid”.

On the morning of Eid, Muslims wake up early, dress in their best clothing, have a light breakfast, go to the mosque to pray, and then they visit family and friends and celebrate with a family meal, sweets, and gift giving.

Family, faith, food is a very American sort of holiday. And the Fresno Islamic Cultural Center on Shaw Avenue in Fresno would be a great place to celebrate Eid, the end of Ramadan. They even plan to hold a carnival.

Except this year, the Fresno Islamic Cultural Center canceled their celebration.

Since the date of Ramadan varies every year, this year Eid ul-Fitr falls on September 11, 2010. This has made many Islamic people very concerned – they are worried at being seen as being insensitive. They are worried that Americans could misunderstand their reason for celebrating. The overblown American backlash over the oxymoronically labeled “Ground Zero Mosque” concerns Islamic leaders who fear anti-Islamic sentiment.

CVAAS condemns the actions of those people who paint all followers of Islam with a broad brush. This is the time to point out that impeding the free exercise of religion – even by majority consent – is merely another way to deny a basic right to a minority.

We agree that terrorist leaders often use religious fundamentalism in order to fuel terrorist acts. Such acts have been seen not only by Islamic fundamentalists, but also by Christian fundamentalists – such as those in North Ireland, or those who believe in white supremacy, or who are part of the Christian Identity movement.

To blame all members of a religion for the actions of its radical adherents is wrong. To pressure Americans to give up their First Amendment right is unfair and unethical, regardless of which religion is singled out.

CVAAS would like to encourage local religious and political leaders to speak out in support of everyone’s First Amendment rights while condemning this climate of fear.

Eid ul-Fitr is a moving holiday. It will fall on September 11 again in 2016.

To celebrate rational thought, CVAAS invites rational thinkers, skeptics, and secular people of all types to have some great food and to participate in our Superstition Gauntlet. Bring your family and friends!

Join us as we break a mirror, walk under a ladder, and learn about superstitions. Do you have what it takes to earn 70 years of bad luck in 7 minutes or less? We will also have “voodoo doll kits” available just to see if they really work!

• Date: September 5, 2010
• Time: 11am – 9pm
• Place: Letterman Park – 908 Villa Ave Clovis, CA 93612 (see map)
• Tickets: $12 adults, $5 children (under 12)

Get your tickets here, or in the CVAAS store!

There will be an auction of used books (some of which are autographed!) and other items of interest to skeptics and secular people. If you have a secular or skeptical book you would like to donate to the auction, please bring it!

We have a guest speaker this year. Our own local celebrity Scott Hatfield will give a presentation about his trip to the Galapagos islands.

As always, there is a lot of great food. The menu for this year is shish kebab, red beans and rice, corn on the cob, and a mysteriously superstitious cake for desert. Beverages and munchies are also provided.

Don’t be afraid! Join us for some fun!

Join us as we explore the sky at the Downing Planetarium!.

This month, Movie Night at the Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics will be held at the Downing Planetarium.

We will be seeing two shows.

First is Phil Plait’s “Bad Astronomy”, a show that explores and debunks astronomical myths like the moon landing “hoax”, and alien visitors to Earth in UFOs.  Dr. Plait will also explain several astronomical errors found in movies.

“Bad Astronomy” is based upon the book “Bad Astronomy” also by Phil Plait.  This is an excellent book for any rational thinker to read and understand why some fringe claims about astronomy just don’t make sense.

The second show is called “The Planets”.  This is a tour of the planets of the Solar System, based on the best data astronomers have currently gathered on our neighbors.  Find out how our solar system was formed, learn about hurricanes on other planets.  Also, we will learn about the extrasolar planets, planets that are orbiting other stars.

We will be attending the Friday, May 21st showing, which starts at 7pm.

To join us, you must call the planetarium to reserve your tickets.  Call the planetarium at 559-278-4071.

The Downing Planetarium is located on the California State University, Fresno campus.  The best way to get there is from Cedar and Barstow, drive to Maple and Barstow, and park in the Green parking area.  (Google map of location)  (Campus map for parking).

For more information, see the Downing Planetarium schedule.

We’re looking forward to seeing you there!