On Saturday, I attended the Religion Newswriters Association Conference thanks in no small part to the generous donations from a few Dangerous Talkers. The Conference was awesome and I have a lot of material I will be putting out in relation to the experiences I had there. But first, I have to tell you what I can’t tell you.
In journalism and blogging, when we get information that can’t be released until a certain date, it is called “embargoed.” During to conference, I was privileged to hear about a few different pieces of embargoed news. The first is embargoed until Monday the 31st.
Happening now (as Wolfe Blitzer would say), I can tell you that the date for the Reason Rally will be announced next week at DragonCon. Unfortunately, I don’t know what that date is and if I did I couldn’t tell you until next week. But I did properly grill Reason Rally president and friend Sarah Morehead on that as well as trying to get her to give me some of the names on the speakers list. She swore on the FSM’s Noodly Appendage not to talk and as a good Pastafarian, she kept her word. I guess we will have to wait until next week to hear the details for the 2016 Reason Rally.
Another piece of embargoed news is that PEW Research just did a new study on Catholics in America. I have the study and listened to a presentation about the study, but they made me sign legal papers promising not to disclose any information about the study until Wednesday Sept. 2nd. That isn’t too long to wait and there is some information there that I think is valuable concerning atheists who left Catholicism. PEW never disappoints and I was happy to speak with one of the researchers on this study briefly.
I will be posting a lot more of my experiences from this conference later. There is a lot to write about including my lunch with the Focus On The Family contingent and my long conversation with an Opus Dei priest.
Again, I want to thank Dangerous Talkers Dan, Mieko, and other supporters who wanted to remain anonymous. I wouldn’t have been able to go to this conference without your support and super generous donations.
Related articles
- Are Children Raised as Atheists Leaving Atheism? (skepticink.com)
- Why Advocating For Atheism Is Important (skepticink.com)
- Pope invites atheists to desire peace; atheist responds (examiner.com)
- The Pope is obsolete (examiner.com)
