Another Church house Rock? Washington Heights Church

Hey everybody,

This one will be a little out of order as I am just being overwhelmed with the things I need to catch up on, this one should be pretty quick. Last Sunday we visited the Washington Heights evangelical church.

http://www.theheightscommunity.org/locations/washington-heights/#.U45eIYm9LCQ

I could just sum it up in a few sentences saying that it was just another Alpine Church or Genesis project but I think it may be appropriate to give it the fair review.

ATMOSPHERE: 6/10

Not a bad feel here. Coffe and cookies were served in the lobby before the service. Everything was pretty much the same old "Rockin' for Jesus" vibe we seen in Alpine Church and the Genesis Project. There was a live band to play the repetitive, redundant, unoriginal Christian rock songs (I tell you, some of these are just bad.... And have some hilarious phrasing that if taken out of context can amuse the dirty mind). 

COMMUNITY: 8/10

Those we spoke to were nice enough. We were greeted warmly and given "first-timer bags" which later we would find out would act like a homing beacon for some of the more tenacious members, eager to answer any questions we may have.

That was one thing I was reading as I was skimming over some of the pamphlets in the goodie bag, they seem to be open to questions, though we didn't test this ourselves, one advertisement for one of their weekly events for a bible study had claimed "we aren't afraid to address the hard stuff. ALL ARE WELCOME and no question is off the table." I had toyed with the notion of taking up the offer but this wasn't the day nor the event advertised so I remained an observant. 

MESSAGE: 1/10

Same ol' same ol'. We are flawed and broken and there is nothing we can do for ourselves to fix it. Only through Jesus, etc etc. The message was very guilt ridden. I acknowledge that no one is perfect but that doesn't mean I'm like to throw my hands up and say "I'm hopeless," if I have a problem I can't solve on my own I seek help from seine I know, love, and trust, not seek comfort in the super natural. 

Something I found extremely disturbing here in this church, that I see so often in other churches is the crosshairs on the children. There was a short clip played on the big screen with a bunch of cute little kids of varying ages between ~4 to 9 who were pleading to be taught the "Truth". Addressing the audience directly they said "please! We need YOU! Not the person next to you, but YOU! Please help us find the way." This was for me a deeply disturbing propaganda film guilting people to arms against the forces that lead your kids astray, I cannot endorse this. 

SERVICE: 3/10 candles

The three candles here were for the coffee, I could have done without the rest of this visit. Essentially the same happy, clappy, Christian experience from Alpine then they upped the anty with the child indoctrination campaign. I won't go there again.

Three Hours Immersed in Thousands of Years of Tradition

Hey Folks,

in this installment  I cover the Habad Jewish Synagogue in Salt Lake City (actually just down the street from our friends at the Church of Scientology!). I want to keep this entry short and sweet because i have a lot to catch up on and so little free time to do it. Taking notes and photos was forbidden so I am going off of memory what I had experienced nearly three or four weeks ago so wish me luck.

I have always been, and continue to be quite inexperienced and unlearned in Judaism, this is really Chad's area of expertise. If you want a better look into our trip, I would recommend taking a quick peek at his blog HERE. So with this in mind, I hope that those who are reading this and are more enlightened with regards to this faith could find it in your hearts to forgive me as I may not do it justice in my descriptions. Fortunately I had both Chad and my friend Jeremy there to help fill me in on some of what was going on. Jeremy is a native Jew and speaker of Hebrew, having grown up in Israel and being born into a Jewish household he was an invaluable source of information and connections. In fact the Synagogue we visited turned out to be the one to which he belonged.


ATMOSPHERE: 5/10

Basically this was an orthodox sect and were very traditional. This being the case, we had a chance to see some cultural relics. such as the covering of hair for women and gender segregation. Chad and I were even given yarmulkes to wear for the service (which lasted an unexpected THREE HOURS!).

I felt a little awkward when I learned that men and women sat separately and were separated by a partition. It didn't really shock me, but it was different to see. I could tell that it was making Chad a bit uncomfortable though. I know it is a religious and cultural thing, but having grown up in an individualistic western society with a prominent feminist presence and what not, it is totally reasonable that I should have been a little aback to see gender segregation.

Decorations were pretty simple, according to Chad it was not as ornate as the reformed Jewish synagogue in Ogden. Tables were placed in the back of the room where members could sit with their books, etc. This is where we sat for the service rising and sitting as required.


COMMUNITY: 9/10

Very nice folks. They were open to questions and were helpful in helping us follow along and stay on track. They did their best to help us understand what was going on.


SERVICE: 5/10 candles

Jeremy kind of gave us the run down of what we could expect from the service as well as some of the do's and don'ts. Notes and photos were forbidden, yarmulkes must be worn at all times withing the place of the service and in the area where the brunch and post service was offered.  However, the proper orientation of the leather-bound hardcover copies of the Torah I had to learn on my own the hard way. When, after the read along in the service was finished for a time, I had placed the book cover-down on the table, the rabbi walked by our table (still chanting prayers in Hebrew) and flipped the book upright to its proper orientation. I found this interesting.


Most of the rating was due to the amazing new experience of hearing the Hebrew tongue in action. I thought it was cool as hell to hear the recitations from the huge Torah scroll, which I came to learn was all written by hand! There is one of these scrolls in almost every synagogue and they are all supposed to be written by hand with no mistakes... none. In the event of which, the scroll must be burned and then written all over again! Talk about devotion! The reading was done with a rhythm and in a sort of sing-song style sounding almost like a song or chant. It had a delightful musical quality to it and one in particular I was quite taken with and will have to somehow find out which one it was, it sounded "folky" and festive.

Something also of note was that the scroll reading was to be done in parts by each of several men. There was a certain number of qualified male members that must be present in order for this to take place. there were also family prayers that were offered up for each of the members that went up. For those who were not as well versed in Hebrew, the Rabbi would read for them in short bits and allow them to repeat after him. The whole service was focused on ceremony and protocol. Everything seemed to have a purpose and an order. this was a very disciplined lot.

Where it lost points for me was the length and monotony. It really was an interesting experience, presenting new sounds and sights I have never had before, the novelty did wear down after a while. I suppose that this was to e expected because after the service, the Rabbi made a lighthearted comment of praise by saying "Hey you made it all the way through!". I liked the people here, they were friendly and helpful, you could see the pride they take in their identity and feel the sense of community here.


MESSAGE:  9/10 candles

There can be good in everything and everyone. There is wisdom even negative traits and you can take those positive aspects and use them for yourself. The example here was to learn from the thief, though not a noble profession there is much you can learn from the thief. Attention to detail was one such trait as well as persistence, innovation, improvement, discipline, and foresight. I thought this was a good message and I will seek to apply it to my own life


OVERALL: 7/10

Not the most entertaining service but there was a good takeaway message and the people were friendly. Would I do it again? maybe not in the near future but I am glad I went. The length of the service was the big turn off, I can't believe people do it every week, that is a bit much for me.



***************

COMING UP...

My Visit to the Genesis Project! Faith meets rock'n roll! We have heard it described as a Christian rave, but did it put out?

Dianetics, E-meters, and Thetans Oh My! Reviewing theChurchofScientology

Okay now I know all of you are curious, don't deny it! 

Everyone who has ever heard of the church of Scientology has wondered what it is all about. There was much more to Scientology than I had realized. I have seen a few documentaries on it as well as their occasional appearances in popular television such as Comedy Central's South Park. We have all heard about them at some point and the same question in your minds is likely what is on mine, "how much of this is really true?” That is what we set to find out! Though I'll admit, the people we spoke with weren't very helpful so in the future we might try something else. While I am not exactly the authority on it, I can at the very least share with you the experience I had with this very... er.... shall we say, interesting religion. 

It was founded by science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard. Yes, already off to a great start here. Maybe Mr. George R.R. Martin has fodder enough to assemble the Holy Faith of the 7-faced god of Weteros. 

So what is Scientology? Well for starters a horrible chimera of redundant terminology that bastardized two words for knowledge while the organization ironically is anti psychology. Scientology comes from two words from two languages meaning the same thing. Science as we know it in English comes from the Latin word "Scientia", meaning knowledge coupled with the Greek suffix "logy" (stemming from logos, where we also get our word 'logic'), meaning "study of". So they say the word means the study of knowing... Uh I think there is already a word for that... Oh yes, EPISTEMOLOGY! But that word was taken so Mr. Hubbard had to make something up that almost sounded legitimate enough for people to buy into, I guess.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology

" Epistemology (I/ɨˌpɪstɨˈmɒlədʒi/ from Greekἐπιστήμη, epistēmē, meaning 'knowledge, understanding', and λόγος, logos, meaning "study of") is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge^[1][2] and is also referred to as 'theory of knowledge'"

If you see this van.... RUN!

This is a mysterious group, only those in the higher levels of the organization are permitted to access the entirety of their true... for lack of a better word... doctrines. Scientology is broken up into divisions, almost like rungs on a latter. Each member has to level up before they are allowed to have access to certain information and perform specific duties. This being the case it is little wonder that the representatives we were able to talk to were either unable or unwilling to help us.

COMMUNITY: 3/10 candles

They got away with 3/10 candles here mainly because they were polite and because the non members made it more enlightening with their questions and input. Most of the people there for the service as it turns out weren't even Scientologists. There were two or three members, the rest were people who were curious to see what it was all about. This became more apparent during the Q&A. The other people were asking questions similar to mine, in fact it took me a while before I decided to step in and ask what was on my mind (see SERVICE section).

The members though were welcoming enough I suppose, just not very helpful. It seemed like they were just there to sell stuff. There really isn't much else to say.

After the questions I asked to see an E-meter demonstration as was mentioned in some of their literature and free DVDs (again, see SERVICE section)

SERVICE: 1/10 candles

Didn't really care for the service, it felt like one of those meetings your friends or relative tricked you into attending, where someone is trying to sell you a time share. It was a sales pitch with few to no questions answered. The experience was frustrating, it was like when we visited the Christian Scientist Church all over again.

The actual service consisted of a 15 minute reading from a thick book led by a woman at a podium and after that became an hour of Q&A then at my request an E-meter demonstration, which turned out to be yet another very vague disappointment. They also spent a great deal of time talking about the church founder, L. Ron Hubbard and bragging about what a great person and author he was. Boasting that he was THE most widely published author in the world and that his book Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health was one of the most published in the world! So Chad and I did a little fact checking later and found that the Harry Potter had sold more copies than this masterpiece by Mr. Hubbard since both their publishing, even with the former's 40 year head start! So here is a list of bestselling authors if anyone cares to take a look:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_fiction_authors

You may all have noticed that Mr. Hubbard is not on that list. So we see here that it is a list of fiction authors.... let's try the non-fiction category because surely Dianetics must be NON-fiction right?

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/12719.Time_Magazine_s_All_TIME_100_Best_Non_Fiction_Books

Well, he doesn't seem to be on any of these lists...  strange.

I didn't get much of an answer when I asked what some of the standardized theological beliefs of scientologists were. I thought perhaps she (the woman that led the service) didn't understand the question so I rephrased it by asking what do all scientologists believe? Is it a theistic religion? Do the scientologists worship a specific god or gods? Still didn't get a concise answer and this bothered me.

The people we talked to at the Church described it as an all-denominational religion, meaning people of all faiths can be scientologists. There can me Mormon scientologists, Jewish, catholic, or even atheist scientologists. She went on to add that eventually as a scientologist you will learn that there is a higher power. So basically take in anyone who will later conform.

I tried not to bring up the issue of the intergalactic warlord, Zenu (Xenu), which many of us have probably heard about in popular media. For those of you who don't know, there is this notion that parts of the beliefs of Scientology include evil alien souls from outer space that stick to our bodies and are responsible for things like confusion, depression, and negativity. Through Scientology you learn how to remove them and become what they call, "clear".

They also believe in what they call Thetans. Derived from the Greek letter Theta, they believe it to be what other religions might call a soul. It is the invisible force that moves the body, not the central nervous system (CNS). We can see here, based on their views on thoughts, emotions, and the CNS why they disapprove of psychology. Everything seems to be controlled either by outside sources or something more mysterious. If this is truly what they believe then I wonder how they reconcile this with what the last century of neurological studies has told us about the brain and the mind with the image they try to perpetuate as a progressive, growing, free thinking church. It baffles me...

The woman kept talking about how Scientology was the tool to achieve the ultimate goal. She had said this several times before during some of her commentary during the presentation so I decided to ask what she meant by that, and "what is the ultimate goal?"

"Sanity" she replied matter-of-factly. Anyone else seeing the irony here? She had earlier told us how Scientology helped her overcome her paranoid schizophrenia. She shared some stories of how she used to think there was someone after her and so on. Things got uncomfortable when she turned to Chad and asked "do I look crazy to you?"

There was an awkward pause and then Chad finally said, “I have a friend who is a schizophrenic. There are days when she seems perfectly okay but she has moments where she is not the same person."

So what we gathered here is that through Scientology we have people who are untreated schizophrenics and are not encouraged to seek help for it.

On to the E-meter...

The E-meter, they claim, is a special tool used to help identify negative energies and to see if your emotional responses are appropriate for what you see, think, or experience. The process is called auditing and is carried out by members who are qualified to do the reading, called auditors. Once you reach a high enough level you can purchase your own E-meter and audit yourself. 

So the demonstration was simple, the person being audited would hold in to two metal cans and the auditor would ask questions and look at a needle on some sort of meter on the face of the machine. At one point the auditor would pinch the person holding the cans and have them observe the needle on the machine. Then he would wait a moment and tell the person to recall the moment of the pinch. Observing the needle, it was supposed to have moved in the same direction as when the person had been pinched. When I had done it the needle moved in the opposite direction. He said,"Good, that's what we're looking for." What exactly he was looking for I had no idea, I would have assumed the needle would have had to move in the same direction when we thought of the discomfort as when we had experienced it, that's how he explained it anyway...

Chad was up next, his needle went opposite as mine, in same direction as the pinch. "Good, that's what we're looking for." So no matter what the needle did it was "what he was looking for". The needle really only moved when the auditor touched the machine, you can take that as you will, but the whole thing seemed suspicious and pretentious. Maybe it wasn't working properly with me or I wasn't doing it right. The needle was all over the place for everyone who went up there for the demonstration.

This thing was a joke. There was even a psychologist in the audience who called it out and asked if it was like a biofeedback machine. They had no idea what it was and honestly neither did I but when the auditor explained how it worked, the man said that it basically was a biofeedback machine and those had no merit to them either, they sense currents that run through you but that's it. go on a Google search and you might find something, but if you would rather I write a rant and include that please let me know in the comment section. 

MESSAGE: 1/10 candles

There really wasn't one. At least none that I could gather from the service we attended. The two hour introductory promotional video on the other hand is another matter. That had too numerous messages to cover but I may touch on those in a rant or a video, I'll leave it for you to decide. Leave me some comments if you wish to hear more about these high production valued pieces of propaganda.

"Scientology provides you with the tools to live a happy life"

"Scientology is the way to achieve sanity"

OVERALL: 1/10 candles

Probably one of my least favorite visits. Not as boring as the Mormon Sacrament service, and not as frustrating as the church of Christian Science, but still not a positive experience overall. However I will say that if you are curious, feel free to give it a visit. You may not learn much from the members but their materials have very high production value, then again there are and were quite a few Hollywood stars as members. Grab some if the free DVDs, sit down and watch their orientation video (which has an AWESOME sound track by the way) under their top of the line surveillance. Also help yourself to any of their over 50 different pamphlets regarding the L.R. Hubbard books in their book store and why you can't live without them! And for the low low price of $5 you can have a copy of their time scale that shows which emotions are good and which ones are bad! 

Honestly folks I don’t know where to begin and I feel I don't know where to place these guys as a religion. I've heard some from other sources describe it more like an alternative to psychology, some stick to calling it a religion proper, while others call it a flat out cult. I have come to learn that that word is somewhat a taboo to the organization and a very touchy subject so I would recommend abstaining from using it around them to avoid confrontation.

Personally I would lean more towards the later seeing as how I could not really get any answers out of the people we tried speaking to. They are very evasive when you ask them any questions about what they believe; to be honest I don't think they even know what they believe. At least those who find themselves lower in the hierarchy. In addition, this hierarchy is very expensive to climb. They offer "workshops and courses" for a fee that will help you rise your Thetan level.

 From what I saw and experienced, it seemed to me more like a very extensive, very EXPENSIVE, self-help pyramid scheme. They were CONSTANTLY pushing their product at every possible opportunity

Instead of answering questions visitors have, they suggest we visit their book store and purchase expensive books and literature to investigate for ourselves… yeah right! Either answer my simple question admit you don’t know. I am not interested in buying your pretentious, convoluted, vague, logically fallacious, illusionary mumbo jumbo! The lady said that Scientology supports and encourages free thinking and to question, but based on what I have seen here, that is not what they practice. 

For more information I recommend watching the BBC documentary, Scientology and Me. 

 and... here are a few more thoughts from us...

http://youtu.be/LXr69b2aWYc

*****COMING UP *******

Thanks for waiting patiently and tuning in!  Chad and I have something in the works now that may be of interest. Details to come. 

Next entry I will cover my experience at Habad Jewish Synagogue in SLC (actually just down the street from the Sci-Ties!) 

Also to come: I will rant about a very obnoxious ebay experience! This one will be fun!

Cheers, all !!

My Godless Easter Weekend: 3 days at the AmericanAtheistNationalconference

Hello again!

Ok so I am a couple weeks late on this one. This is partly because this is the SECOND time writing the damned thing because somehow, Bloggr didn’t save my progress and when I left the page to check some sources the type was GONE! Needless to say it took a while for me to muster up the motivation to write it again… There was a lot to cover here with three days of activities and material so I can't cover everything but I'll touch on some fun highlights.

I had been planning to attend this event since the summer of 2013, before I started this blog project. I figured it would work in well with what I am doing here and cover the taboo subject of disbelief and non-religion. I had purchased a ticket some months prior to the event; however in February I won a video contest and received free admission. Being that I now had two admissions I went ahead and gave one to Chad so that he might attend as well, so everything worked out great! Unfortunately Chad was only able to join me on Sunday as everything was winding down, as he was being held captive at Comic Con across the street. However, I was able to participate for three fun-filled days! I’ll try to touch on as many points as I can.

In this entry I want to review my experience at the convention and then later in a second entry, cover atheism in general; what it is, some of the misconceptions and stigma surrounding it, etc. Now, I realize that Atheism isn't technically a religion (depending on some people’s own definition) but it is a very important topic to cover when addressing religion because it is a rapidly growing movement and becoming more prominent in the media, politics, and in the public arena. To understand why it is important, one must know what it is; what it really is, not what they are told in Church on Sunday mornings or what they hear on Fox News or the media.

So here's the breakdown for the Atheists...

ATMOSPHERE: 10/10 candles

I felt very welcome here, I had a name tag and everything!The event was held at the Hilton hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. It was classy, clean and comfortable, although the air conditioner was cranked up the whole time making it a little cool in the event room. The feeling here was different, it wasn’t like being in a church of course, but I have never really been to conventions as a visitor before. I had done some volunteer work at science conventions before and even presented a research paper but being in the crowd (though small as it was) was a different feel.

There was a book store where I happened to purchase Deconverted by Seth Andrews, creator of the Thinking Atheist Radio Podcast and one of my favorite podcasters, and The Heathen’s Guide to Western Religions: the Mormons by David Fitzgerald. Adjacent to the bookstore was the grab ag area, where for $25 I was able to purchase a small cloth bag and fill it up with as much merchandise in the grab bag room as I could and the best part? Free refills! I went to town here, grabbing one of everything, T-shirts, books, pins, literature, tons of fun stuff!

Here we are with Seth Andrews, my white tank too was the last clean shirt I had in my car so I had to wear that until I could get to the Grab Bag Room and snag another t-shirt.

There were also various retailers and vendors of secular memorabilia attending the event. Atheist groups and local secular organizations came and set up booths with pamphlets, pens, and kind words of encouragement, and offering support to those who have left or are leaving their religion. It can be difficult letting go of your faith and these groups are there to give people emotional support and direction when you feel lost.

If any of my readers are having doubts, just know that you are not alone and there is a host of communities that can offer help and support. You are not a freak, you are not evil or wicked, you are all capable of greatness and you can be good without God. If you feel you are in need of advice or direction, you can Google an Atheist group near you, most have Facebook pages. You can also contact a number of national organizations such as

Recovering from Religion

American Atheists

Utah residents may consider checking out 

Atheists of Utah

Help is out there, you just need to know where to look. I urge all who are so inclined to even start their own Facebook group because you never know who is out there and looking, if you are already out and active, you can be a beacon and bring people together. We live in the golden age if information and the internet has been a powerful driving force for societal change, use it.

COMMUNITY: 10/10

Honestly, I have to say that the people made the event! If it weren't for the great new circle of friends and the kind people I came to know I would not have enjoyed myself near as much! The people were very nice and open.

Here I am with David Silverman, president of American Atheists. He has been a regular guest on Fox News to represent the non-believer's point of view on various issues. He does a lot of fine work for American Atheists.

This was a gathering of people with different views and walks of life, most were of course atheist, others agnostic, and there were even a few Chistians there I came to find. I was nervous at first, being that this was my first atheist convention, but as the event progressed I warmed up more and the anxiety settled a bit by the second day. I met and befriended a small group of people who then helped introduce me to others.

I met a wonderful young woman from Canada during an hour long intermission between scheduled talks, as I was talking to prominent atheist youtuber, AronRa. I was meeting new people left and right! No sooner was I taking shameless fanboy selfies for the blog did I meet someone who would later be a key contact and dear freind throughout the rest of the event. She was going with a group of her friends to walk around temple square and invited me to tag along then introduced me.

Me with AronRa. A brilliant YouTuber and activist. He posts videos on his channel that use sound science to address arguments by creationists. I also came to find out he also has an encyclopedic knowledge of monitor lizards!

So I gave a private tour of the facility of a local reptile collector. He and Matt were quite versed in herpetology.

Matt and his wife. Both gave talks at the convention (see Service section)

Here I am with Mr. Deity

Aron Ra debating a street preacher outside the hotel. see the video HERE

A fellow Utah local, who lived in Salt Lake,  guided us around temple square and provided us commentary and interesting facts about the buildings and monuments as well as a bit of history about the Mormon church between sips at his hidden bottle of vodka! Very knowledgable fellow who knew all the best places to eat and drink.

On this tour I had the pleasure to walk with host of the popular public access television show "the Atheist Experience," Matt Dillahunty and his wife Beth. All these folks helped to make this a fantastic and memorable experience for me. I got to meet Seth Andrews, host of "The Thinking Atheist" radio podcast, my first and favorite podcast radio show; he even signed the book I bought. Author David Fitzgerald gave a talk on the Mormons. Later he too signed a book that I bought.


SERVICE: 10/10

Well, it wasn't so much a service as an event. It was the annual convention of American Atheists. It boasted around 37 secular vendors and merchants, among them was Evolvefish.com who had a booth where I was able to purchase a few humorous bumper stickers, ties, and comical evolve fish bumper magnets! If you are looking for a way to creatively represent yourself Evolvefish.com has something for you, t-shirts, games, toys, you name it' loads of fun stuff! I may have spent too much money here but I think it was worth it.

Each day there were a host of different speakers and their talks were on various subjects from activism to politics to overcoming challenges and discrimination as an atheist. All the talks that I attended were great, each spoke to me in a different way and hit home somewhere. Relatable stories as well as some so powerful they moved me to the fringe of tears. Some funny and others serious.

One talk that really touched me was done by Beth Presswood on coming out Atheist. She shared her story and gave advise to those who whished to be open about there disbelief in God to their families. She covered the potential risks that arise when you become open about being an atheist;  believe me, they are real! She also gave some tips and advice on how to approach the topic with your family and friends. Big thanks to Beth for the tips and advice and for sharing her journey. If you are reading this, know that you are awesome and you have a family here, big hugs!

Other talks such as the one by the one and only Mr. Deity were lighthearted and funny. For those who are not acquainted with his work I recommend visiting his YouTube channel. He does good natured parodies about biblical flaws and inconsistencies. Don't worry, for many they are even considered Christian friendly, non antagonistic, and just fun.

Check out his work HERE

There was a brilliant talk done by Matt Dillahunty focusing on debate. I have always liked hearing Matt speak, he is one of the hosts for the public access television show, The Atheist Experience. It is a live call-in show where they have discussions with viewers (often Christian but not always) about their beliefs and why they believe. They also archive their episodes on a podcast and have a YouTube channel. You can access their website here The Atheist Experience

Matt's Talk

This is a great source of debate material and familiarizing yourself with topics that often arise between believers and non believers.

I was really looking forward to the final talk on Sunday but the daily events started late so unfortunately I had to walk out early on Seth Andrew's talk on Christian alternatives to pop culture. See the Christian alternative to 80's hair metal here!!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c8zSulQIroI

Many very good musicians but are mirrors of successful non Christian artists. They provided Christian alternatives to music that was "ungodly" so that youth could still rock out, only now they head bang for Jesus.

Seth is an excellent speaker and has an interesting story himself. He was once a radio host for a Christian Talk Show and devout Christian. He has a lot of experience with video production, a gift for storytelling, and his work is top notch! I recommend his video on the Noah Story as an introduction to the kind of work he does.

You can find Mr. Andrews' YouTube channel here: The Thinking Atheist

I also HIGHLY recommend his podcast: http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/podcast

MESSAGE: 10/10

You are not alone, it is ok to ask questions, I'm fact question everything! You do not need to be live in a god to be a good person. All the messages in the talks I attended were positive messages of encouragement, empowerment, and reassurance.

This is of course referencing the talks and presentations. I can't say that all exchanges among the attendees were positive in nature,  some people shared there resentment over some religious positions, policies, etc. however these were private exchanges between individuals and weren't taken into account in my survey.

This has always been the case in my blog, the words that matter to me are the ones addressed to me or the audience as a whole from the podium or pulpit. I am doing my best to be fair and honest.

Messages did vary from speaker to speaker based of course on their topics. They were overall quite positive. A few jests and jabs at the validity of Utah's State religion but nothing notably harsh, vulgar or baligerant. It was all tactful, addressing points, and calling out falsehoods. Personally I don't consider pointing out fallacies as discriminatory. If you feel I am in error, please leave comment in the comment section.

OVERALL: 10/10

There were workshops, activities, a comedy show, a movie screening, and many other fun little bonuses that I was unfortunately unable to attend. In spit of that I made many memories with great people, building what I hope to be lasting friendships. It is reassuring to see that there are many more people in my shoes and that I have a wonderful community full of support.

Next year the national convention will be in Memphis Tennessee, I will have to make an effort to get out there and check it out!