AOF Activities & Events
Sacred Cows: a Lighthearted Look at Belief and Tradition Around the World
(for free tickets, click here)
Here at AOF, our goal is to entertain and educate you while sucking the mysticism and illusion from reality like cream from a twinkie, leaving the stale, dry, crumbled cake of reality. It can be a challenge. But sometimes the perfect speaker emerges to make this worldview sing. Seth Andrews, the Thinking Atheist, is such a one.
Seth is from Oklahoma, a place, so he says, known for two things, tornadoes and churches, the tornadoes being somewhat easier to escape. Born into a family of six children, his devout parents lived and taught a literal Bible, hammering into their malleable young minds the nails of Pentecostal fervor, even the “speaking in tongues” bit. Life was packed like star-core neutronium with fear and faith, but not much critical thought. Seth breathed it in, thrived in it, and grew up to be a noted evangelical video producer and broadcaster. Then ... something happened.
In 1997, an admired Christian songwriter died in a freakish, bloody freeway accident. This planted the first seeds of doubt. And as seeds sometimes do, they sprouted, they grew.
Today Seth hosts The Thinking Atheist, one of the most popular online communities for deconstructing dogmatism, a site that encourages us to inspect faith and to embrace curiosity, from pop to politics to religious culture. In his weekly podcast downloaded 1.5 million times a month, Seth takes a humorous and revealing look at belief, cherished heroes, and the truth hidden beneath the legends. The truth can be sobering. And funny.
He also speaks around the country about his former faith, his rise to reason, and why we should all pursue a personal relationship with reality.
For example, did you know God forbids the tying of shoelaces on Saturday? Or that humans emit a color aura which can only be discerned with a third eye? That a bountiful harvest requires flinging of a live goat from a church bell tower? That instead of wishing upon a star, we can wish upon a...cow? That's just the start of it. Join Seth and AOF for a cheerful romp across the planet...and a humorous look at some of humanity's most sacred bovines.
Seth's autobiography, Deconverted: a Journey from Religion to Reason, chronicles his transition from believer to atheist. His second book, Sacred Cows: a Lighthearted Look at Belief and Tradition Around the World, will be out any day now. Be prepared, he just might have advance copies with him. Or bring your copy of "Deconverted" from home. He'll sign it for you! We just know he'll sign it!
And if you Tweet, enjoy Tweets, or are Tweet-curious, do visit Seth's Twitter page here. It'll give you a taste.
We expect a packed hall for this event of the AOF Speaker Series, so TICKETS REQUIRED. Wait, what? Don't worry, it's a formality, tickets are free -- just click here to get yours. (And if you join AOF, we can bring you more speakers like Seth.)