RICHARD DAWKINS, award-winning scientist and author will be the headline speaker at the 34th National Conference of American Atheists, March 20-22, 2008 in Minneapolis, MN.
In addition, the Conference is honored to host writer Robert Lanham and historian Rene Salm.
Robert Lanham - The Sinner's Guide To The Evangelical Right
Robert Lanham is the author of the books The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right, The Hipster Handbook, and Food Court Druids. Neal Pollack calls him "the Margaret Mead of the North American Weirdo." Lanham was born in Richmond, Virginia in the heart of the Bible Belt and was raised in a strict Southern Baptist church. He grew up in an environment where rock music was considered the devil's music and with parents who speak in tongues, vote Republican, and have a vanity plate that says "Prayzin." Lanham's first babysitter was Republican Senator Tom Coburn, best known for advocating the death penalty for abortion providers. As a teen, before his fall from grace, Lanham tried to speak in tongues, but failed. Lanham now lives in the den of iniquity, New York City. Lanham's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Independent, Time Out, Nylon, Playboy, Maxim, and many other publications as well as in the collections The Subway Chronicles and Bookmark Now.
Rene Salm - THE MYTH OF NAZARETH: THE INVENTED TOWN OF JESUS
Rene Salm's meticulous, exhaustive, 8-year-long research on the archaeology of the town now called Nazareth shows irrefutably that "Nazareth" was not inhabited at the time Jesus and his family are supposed to have been living there. This puts Jesus of Nazareth in the same league as the Wizard of Oz. Salm's new AAP book, The Myth of Nazareth, will be released at the conference and is likely to be the biggest challenge to Christianity in centuries. Coming shortly after Israeli archaeologist Aviram Oshri's demonstration that Bethlehem in Judea also was uninhabited in New Testament times and Frank Zindler's discovery that Capernaum was a literary invention, Salm's book is going to be a collector's item for Atheists and all who are interested in the long war between science and religion. Salm is an authority on the origins of Buddhism as well as Christianity, and is a recovered Catholic.
WHAT: 34th National Conference of American Atheists
WHEN: March 20-22, 2008
WHERE: The Minneapolis Marriott City Center Hotel, 30 South 7th St., Minneapolis, MN.
MORE INFO: http://www.atheists.org/conference
