Richard Dawkins Foundation – 2009 Fundraiser
(video: richarddawkinsdotnet at YouTube)
Over at RichardDawkins.net, there’s a fundraiser in progress. The goal is to raise $100,000 by the beginning of 2010. As biologist, and associate professor (at the University of Minnesota, Morris) and blogger PZ Myers puts it: What better way to treat this traditionally religious season than to use it as an excuse to direct all your charitable giving to a bunch of atheists promoting science and reason?
Here’s a taste of the intro from British biological theorist, educator, author and world-class debater Dr Richard Dawkins:
Dear friends,
One of the wonderful things about www.richarddawkins.net is the enormous variety amongst its regular contributors. Old, young, in-between, highly educated, less educated, affluent, less affluent, male, female, straight, gay, serious, fun-loving, angry, mild-mannered, confident, timid, open about their atheism, unable to be open about their atheism, previously religious, never religious … it is this depth and breadth of life experience and personality that keeps comments fresh and lively, and ensures that we all learn more about the world each time we visit the site.
And yet, for all the contrasts, the vast majority of contributors here are totally united in one key area: a commitment to reason, a sense of awe and excitement at the knowledge that has already been achieved through science, and a passionate desire to see reason and evidence-based thinking at the heart of our societies. We listen to the music of the spheres. We gaze into the Hubble Deep Field and intoxicate ourselves with images of distant galaxies in the act of formation, close to the dawn of time itself. We dive through the tube of a microscope and immerse ourselves in a wonderland of the intricately small. Reality is where we are. It is very large; and also very small, where it matters. It is mysterious; but the mystery is yielding to the methods of reason. Reality is comprehensible. And it is the mission of RDFRS to assist others to that comprehension.
There’s much more at the link.
I trust my gay friends will note that we’re mentioned right up there, front and center. There’s a reason for that. It’s called “reason.” Professor Dawkins — a prominent critic of religion, pseudoscience and creationism — scares the crap out of the forces of nonsense, superstition and the irrational. Consider the opposition: The Pope, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, et al when you help the Foundation shine a light into the darkness this coming year.
