Articles tagged with "jonathan"

A few weeks ago, fellow Skeptics in the Pub member Tim and I went on a visit to an event run by a group in NZ called Thinking Matters. The event was an opportunity to meet and argue with an “atheist” - although in reality the atheist in question was Jonathan Noyes, a Christian from the US who used to be an atheist until his mid-20s. It was a really interesting evening, where the gimmick was that as soon as Jonathan put on his baseball cap he took on the persona of a slightly obnoxious but knowledgeable atheist. Apart from the occasional insult, using phrases like “ignorant goat herders” and “sky daddy”, he did a fairly good job of laying out some of the main reasons atheists have for not believing in God.

I'm sure many of you will have heard of the Free Speech Union (FSU), which formed in 2021 by registering as a Trade Union. They're a successor to the Free Speech Coalition, which formed in 2018 in response to problems Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux had with finding a venue in Auckland in which to spread their weird ideas on topics like immigration (I've watched a couple of Lauren's documentaries, and they're not exactly what I'd call factual).

If you're in or around Christchurch, you may be interested in attending the Christchurch Skeptics in the Pub. One of our NZ Skeptics committee members, Jonathan Harper, is giving a talk about skepticism. It's at the Pegasus Arms, 6pm on Thursday 8th April. You can register your RSVP on the group's meetup page.

A big portion of this week's newsletter content was contributed by NZ Skeptics Committee member - Jonathan Harper.

I am almost certain, that despite the fact the conference was held in a Wellington nunnery, none of the attendees converted to the cloth, and none became extras in the next Peter Jackson dwarf-based epic (please email me if I am wrong: editor@skeptics.nz).

The conference will be held in Wellington on the weekend of November 24th—26th, at the Sisters of Mercy Convent.

I went to see Creation Ministries International speaker Jonathan Sarfati give a couple of talks in Wellington last week. Jonathan was brought up in New Zealand, and was once the national chess champion.

Siouxsie Wiles takes a look at a new medical journal - available at all good supermarkets.

It was refreshing to see Jeremy Wells discussing conspiracy theorists, Paul Holmes, Jonathan Eisen, the Skeptics and wolverines, on TV2's Eating Media Lunch in November. Best line: When it comes to pointing out f*ckwittery, the Skeptics are usually on the money. For those who missed it, the Skeptics Video Library has a copy on DVD.