An Open Letter to our Members: Should you run for a SASHA officer position?

Welcome to the official MU SASHA daily blog!

First time here? Read this.

Click here to Like our Page on Facebook (or use the sidebar if you’re logged in).
Local to Columbia? Join the Facebook Group, too!

_________________________________________________________________________

So, you may have heard our current officers announce over the last few weeks at meetings that our annual officer elections are coming up for the 2012-2013 school year. You might be thinking, “What does this have to do with me?” I write today to answer this question.

I want to say to you, the person reading this: Consider running for an officer position. Yes, you. Really.

You might be thinking, “I’m not the ‘type’ to be a group officer,” or that you wouldn’t be good at it. Nonsense, I say.

I say to you, I myself never thought about running for an officer position either, until I was nudged into thinking about it. What I want to do right now, with this very blog post, is nudge you into thinking about it, too.

Take a moment. Think about SASHA, and what this group means to you, as you make your way through college. Take a moment to think about what this group can grow into over the next few years, that it is not already, with your help.

We are just going into our third year of being an active student group on campus, and we have barely scratched the surface. You can get in on the ground floor of this. When I started coming to SASHA, there were only about 5 of us regularly attending the meetings. We have easily quadrupled that now, and at our debate last April with Brother Jed, we drew over 200 people. And this is just the beginning! Here are some of the things we’re working on for next year:

• SASHA Book Club (monthly)
• SASHA Volunteer Day (each semester, monthly, or weekly)
• Movie Night (monthly or weekly)
• Game Night (monthly or weekly)
• Field trips to the planetarium, guided tours to local museums or nature trails, and/or to the Science Center or Zoo in St Louis
• Paint ball
• SASHA BBQ
• SASHA Lending Library
• Having professors come and give TED-style talks to us about their research

and that’s not even all of it.

Getting involved with SASHA is one of the best things I have ever done. When I was starting to doubt my religion, when I was the most confused about The Big Questions, when I was searching for answers, when I was just starting to see the light in the distance of rational thinking, SASHA helped me. It helped me connect with other people who are doing the same thing, and who could help me, instead of feeling lost or guilty about asking these questions, feel like I had come home. SASHA has taught me how to be a better person and how to be more comfortable as the person I really am, and as the person I really want to be.

When I first started coming to SASHA meetings, it was a brand-new experience for me. I was still in the closet as an atheist, and no one knew about my atheism except for my girlfriend at the time. SASHA gave me the courage in numbers — and the factual ammunition — necessary to feel confident about why I didn’t believe in a god, about evolution & natural selection, the origin of the Universe, history, about LOTS of topics.

SASHA taught me how to think like a scientist thinks, how to ask questions, and how to be comfortable without always having the answer of “God did it.” But what SASHA also did was give me a place to do that, where I was not judged, where I was not scolded, where I did not have to be afraid of my curiosity about the world.

Whether you identify as a skeptic, an atheist, a secular humanist, an agnostic, or something else, if you go to Mizzou, and you value science, reason, and secular values, SASHA is not only here for you, but we want you to think of SASHA as home. We want SASHA to be where you feel the most comfortable, where you can come to be free from censorship, discrimination, oppression, and closed-mindedness — a place you can come for intellectual stimulation, for challenge, for friendship, for moral support, for camaraderie, to help you through hardship: a place where you can not only be yourself, but celebrate who you are.

Further, we want you to know that SASHA is your group as much as it is ours or anyone else’s. We are not like churches, with top-down, hierarchical dogmas about what you have to believe to be part of SASHA, or how we have to operate. Yes, we have officers who carry out these things, but as a group, we explicitly value rational inquiry and critical thinking. If you have an idea for a better way of doing things, or an idea for something you want our group to do in order to serve us all better, we want you to know that you have the power to help make this happen. If you have ideas for changes in this group, in the activities that we do, in the topics of our talks, in how we function, remember that this is your group, and we want you to get involved.

I think SASHA is a great thing. It’s been a major part of my life these past 3 years, from when I first started attending 3 years ago, to when I became the Co-Director of Public Relations last year, and on to becoming the Vice President this current school year.

SASHA is, in fact, responsible for me becoming interested in where I see my long-term plans and career heading, since I’ve become an atheist and I no longer can feel at home working as a worship musician. It is through SASHA that I got interested in activism, and started writing about skepticism & history, doing public debates, and doing public speaking, first here at Mizzou and now at other schools as well. And as I mentioned at the meeting tonight, this summer I have an internship where I will have an opportunity to do exactly what I’ve realized I love doing — writing and speaking about atheism topics and representing the secular, skeptical point of view to the world — at a non-profit that specializes in doing exactly that.

I feel like I am finally finding my place in the world, in a way that I haven’t felt since I stopped working for a church. Only the difference is, I no longer have this nagging feeling constantly in the back of my mind that everything I’m doing is rooted in a lie, the way I used to. I feel like what I’m doing now really matters, and that I can effect real change by doing it. I no longer feel like I’m living a lie, and it’s a great feeling, and it’s all because of SASHA.

I hope that you will consider running for an officer position. Positions open now are President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Director of Public Relations. Contact our current president, Tony Lakey, and he will tell you what’s next.

I look forward to working with you next year! Together, we can do great things!

- Dave

mail@davemuscato.com
(573) 424-0420 cell/text

—–

P.S.

If you have abilities that don’t fit into one of these, come and talk to us! We created the Director of Public Relations position because we realized we needed someone in charge of that, and we had someone interested in doing it. If you are a photographer — or are even just interested in photography, and want to get more experience by shooting SASHA events — come talk to us about making a new officer position to emphasize it. If you are a web designer, or want to learn, come talk to us. If you are want to be on the committee to help plan our Fall Conference, come talk to us. We are open to ideas, and want you along for the ride!

——

Dave Muscato is Vice President of MU SASHA. He is a vegetarian, LGBTQ ally, and human- & animal-welfare activist. A junior at Mizzou majoring in economics & anthropology and minoring in philosophy & Latin, Dave posts updates to the SASHA blog every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. His website is http://www.DaveMuscato.com.

Follow Dave on Google+
Follow Dave on Twitter

Helpful resources:

Godisimaginary.com
Iron Chariots Wiki
Skeptics’ Annotated Bible / Skeptics’ Annotated Qur’an
AtheismResource.com
TalkOrigins.org

YouTubers: Evid3nc3, Thunderf00t, TheAmazingAtheist, The Atheist Experience, Edward Current, NonStampCollector, Mr. Deity, Richard Dawkins, QualiaSoup

Blogs: Greta Christina, PZ Myers, The Friendly Atheist, WWJTD?, Debunking Christianity, SkepChick

and don’t forget… other SASHA members! We are here for you, too!

SASHA now has a video camera!

Welcome to the official MU SASHA daily blog!

First time here? Read this.

Click here to Like our Page on Facebook (or use the sidebar if you’re logged in).
Local to Columbia? Join the Facebook Group, too!

_________________________________________________________________________

Hey folks!

I’m really excited to announce that I got an actually decent video camera that we can now use for SASHA events. Expect lots more video coverage of our meetings/talks, tabling events, and other stuff in the future!

Here are two fun videos to get you started. The first is a talk by Alex Papulis, one of our members, about Sam Harris’s newest book, “Free Will,” from our last weekly meeting. The second video is some outdoor fun with street preachers on the Mizzou campus, Brother Jed among them. Enjoy!

For now we are using my own personal YouTube channel, but soon we will have a SASHA channel set up. You can subscribe to mine if you’d like, but FYI that is my personal channel, not the official SASHA channel, which is coming soon.

First video:

Second video:

Until next time!

- Dave

mail@davemuscato.com

(573) 424-0420 cell/text

Dave Muscato is Vice President of MU SASHA. He is a vegetarian, LGBTQ ally, and human- & animal-welfare activist. A junior at Mizzou majoring in economics & anthropology and minoring in philosophy & Latin, Dave posts updates to the SASHA blog every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. His website is http://www.DaveMuscato.com.

Follow Dave on Google+
Follow Dave on Twitter

Helpful resources:

Godisimaginary.com
Iron Chariots Wiki
Skeptics’ Annotated Bible / Skeptics’ Annotated Qur’an
AtheismResource.com
TalkOrigins.org

YouTubers: Evid3nc3, Thunderf00t, TheAmazingAtheist, The Atheist Experience, Edward Current, NonStampCollector, Mr. Deity, Richard Dawkins, QualiaSoup

Blogs: Greta Christina, PZ Myers, The Friendly Atheist, WWJTD?, Debunking Christianity, SkepChick

and don’t forget… other SASHA members! We are here for you, too!

Speaking tonight at KU in Lawrence, KS

Welcome to the official MU SASHA daily blog!
First time here? Read this.

Click here to Like our Page on Facebook (or use the sidebar if you’re logged in).
Local to Columbia? Join the Facebook Group, too!

Hello all!

Dave here. I’ll be speaking tonight at the University of Kansas in Lawrence for SOMA about the topic, “Is the New Testament Historically Reliable?” If you’re in the area, I’d love to see you there. If you’re in Columbia and would like to carpool with me, please feel free to call or text me – my cell number is below. I’m leaving around 3:30 PM.

Have a great day everyone, and I’ll see you at the weekly SASHA meeting tomorrow at 5:30 PM in the Agriculture Building, room 2-16!

- Dave

mail@davemuscato.com

(573) 424-0420 cell/text

Dave Muscato is Vice President of MU SASHA. He is a vegetarian, LGBTQ ally, and human- & animal-welfare activist. A junior at Mizzou majoring in economics & anthropology and minoring in philosophy & Latin, Dave posts updates to the SASHA blog every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. His website is http://www.DaveMuscato.com.

Follow Dave on Google+
Follow Dave on Twitter

Helpful resources:

Godisimaginary.com
Iron Chariots Wiki
Skeptics’ Annotated Bible / Skeptics’ Annotated Qur’an
AtheismResource.com
TalkOrigins.org

YouTubers: Evid3nc3, Thunderf00t, TheAmazingAtheist, The Atheist Experience, Edward Current,NonStampCollector, Mr. Deity, Richard Dawkins, QualiaSoup

Blogs: Greta Christina, PZ Myers, The Friendly Atheist, WWJTD?, Debunking Christianity, SkepChick

and don’t forget… other SASHA members! We are here for you, too! 

Fall Activities Mart, and SASHAtalk today!

Welcome to the official MU SASHA daily blog!
First time here? Read this.

Click here to Like our Page on Facebook (or use the sidebar if you’re logged in).
Local to Columbia? Join the Facebook Group, too!

Hello everybody!

I’m very excited about the Activities Mart today. This is the day when 125 of the most-active Mizzou student organizations get to set up tables at Lowry Mall (in front of Ellis Library) and show off their groups to new & returning students. We will have a lot of fun stuff at our table – we’re exchanging “A Cookie for Your Soul,” and 4 winners will receive their choice of a copy of The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins), God is not Great (Christopher Hitchens), Breaking the Spell (Daniel Dennett), The End of Faith (Sam Harris), Letter to a Christian Nation (Sam Harris), or The Greatest Show on Earth (Richard Dawkins). We will also be giving away some bumper stickers and answering people’s questions about atheism, skepticism, and critical thinking.

The Activities Mart officially runs from 10 AM to 2 PM, and we would love for you to stop by and say hello, get a cookie, and sign up for our drawings!

HALF the cookies!

Then, tonight at 5:30 in the Student Center room 2213-A (the building with the bookstore), we will have our weekly meeting. SASHA member & Mizzou law student Maggie Ahrens will be giving a SASHAtalk about the World Trade Center “Cross” lawsuit, followed by discussion (and leftover cookies, if there are any!). Check out the Facebook event here. We will also be announcing an event to commemorate 9/11 on Sunday that we’re working on together with the Columbia Peace Coalition.

If you need directions to the room, or have questions, feel free to call/text me at 573-424-0420 cell.

See you today/tonight!

- Dave

(573) 424-0420 cell/text

Dave Muscato is Vice President of MU SASHA. He is a vegetarian, LGBTQ ally, and human- & animal-welfare activist. A junior at Mizzou majoring in economics & anthropology and minoring in philosophy & Latin, he posts updates to the SASHA blog every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. His website is http://www.DaveMuscato.com.

Follow Dave on Google+
Follow Dave on Twitter

Helpful resources:

Godisimaginary.com
Iron Chariots Wiki
Skeptics’ Annotated Bible / Skeptics’ Annotated Qur’an
AtheismResource.com
TalkOrigins.org

YouTubers: Evid3nc3, Thunderf00t, TheAmazingAtheist, The Atheist Experience, Edward Current, NonStampCollector, Mr. Deity, Richard Dawkins, QualiaSoup

Blogs: Greta Christina, PZ Myers, The Friendly Atheist, WWJTD?, Debunking Christianity, SkepChick

and don’t forget… other SASHA members! We are here for you, too!

Brother Jed today; SASHAtalk & Meeting tomorrow; confirmation bias

Welcome to the official MU SASHA daily blog!
First time here? Read this.

Click here to Like our Page on Facebook (or use the sidebar if you’re logged in).
Local to Columbia? Join the Facebook Group, too!

Hello everyone,

A few quick updates:

The infamous Brother Jed will be preaching on Mizzou’s campus today. We’ll be out doing our Ask an Atheist table and handing out information about our meeting tomorrow. Please stop by Speakers’ Circle, say hello, and show your support!

Brother Jed from last spring, with our Ask an Atheist table in the background

Tomorrow (Wednesday 9/7) at 5:30 PM in the new Mizzou Student Center, room 2213-A, we will have our weekly meeting, including a SASHAtalk by Mizzou law student Maggie Ahrens about the World Trade Center “Cross” lawsuit. Here is the Facebook event. If you need help finding the room or need directions, please feel free to call or text me (Dave) at 573-424-0420 cell.

The other thing I wanted to mention today is confirmation bias. This is something I’m sure you’ve heard of, but just in case, confirmation bias is a tendency for people to favor information that confirms their preconceptions or hypotheses regardless of whether the information is true.

I had to stop myself today, because I noticed that I displayed quite extreme confirmation bias earlier this morning. I was browsing r/atheism over on Reddit and came across some information that indicated one of my favorite Christian counter-apologetics arguments had some factual errors (the alleged parallels between Egyptian hero-savior mythology and Christian hero-savior mythology). I started to surf on and had to say to myself, “Wait. Stop. Go back to the link. Read this.” My brain seemed to go on autopilot and try to get me to move on to the next link, rather than finding out the details about why my argument was incorrect (and therefore, why I would have to stop using it in debates). This is information that I ought to be happy to find out: I don’t like being incorrect, especially in debates when I’m very likely to be called out on it. I want to offer good information to people and persuade them to see the flaws in their religious arguments without making use of any dishonesty or misinformation. Finding out that I had misinformation in my repertoire seems like something I should be eager to read about, but that’s not what happened. I had to make myself go back and read it.

The argument I’m talking about is this one (clip from Bill Maher’s Religulous, relevant portion starts at 4:00). It turns out, upon closer examination, that a lot of the things he mentions are real reaches so far as Egyptian mythos scholarship would seem to indicate. I’m disappointed because I have long considered this a great argument against the truth claims of Christianity, but at the same time, I’m thrilled to no longer be spreading misinformation in this specific regard. I will have to study this some more.

Here’s an interesting link with more information about the hero pattern:

http://department.monm.edu/classics/courses/clas230/mythdocuments/heropattern/default.htm

Signing off for now; see you at Speakers’ Circle today, and at the meeting tomorrow!

- Dave

(573) 424-0420 cell/text

Dave Muscato is Vice President of MU SASHA. He is a vegetarian, LGBTQ ally, and human- & animal-welfare activist. A junior at Mizzou majoring in economics & anthropology and minoring in philosophy & Latin, he posts updates to the SASHA blog every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. His website is http://www.DaveMuscato.com.

Follow Dave on Google+
Follow Dave on Twitter

Helpful resources:

Godisimaginary.com
Iron Chariots Wiki
Skeptics’ Annotated Bible / Skeptics’ Annotated Qur’an
AtheismResource.com
TalkOrigins.org

YouTubers: Evid3nc3, Thunderf00t, TheAmazingAtheist, The Atheist Experience, Edward Current, NonStampCollector, Mr. Deity, Richard Dawkins, QualiaSoup

Blogs: Greta Christina, PZ Myers, The Friendly Atheist, WWJTD?, Debunking Christianity, SkepChick

and don’t forget… other SASHA members! We are here for you, too!